Eva Vila: "Catalunya is a pioneer in the world of cheese"

In the world of cheese, few people can match the depth of knowledge and passion of Eva Vila. Her dedication to creating new varieties and her ability to connect producers with customers of Vila Viniteca have positioned her as an essential figure in the sector.

In the Born store, Vila welcomes us with a cheese board prepared for the occasion; as she will tell us later, each board must be designed for each person and each season of the year, because cheeses, yes, also have a season. The visit will end with a shropshire, "the cheese that made me realize that we had special things in the store," she tells us, accompanied by a Tokaji Château Dereszla Aszú. And it is that one comes to Vila Viniteca to be happy and to learn a little more about the world and its senses. A verb, that of learning, that Vila practices daily.

--- Tell us about the origins of Vila Viniteca.

--- The original store belonged to my grandparents, Colmado Vila, which opened in 1932. They had food, cleaning products, and a telephone; everyone came to call here. Imagine that, in an interview in El Correo Catalán, my grandmother says they were the first to sell Dutch Edam cheese.

--- How did the business evolve?

--- Colmado Vila changed to Vila Viniteca in the nineties with my older brother, my mother, and me. The name is a play on words: Vila for the family, vini for the wines, and teca for the food. We all studied what we liked; I studied fashion design and worked in costume for theater and cinema, combining that job with the family business. When I was 25, I decided to stay in the store.

--- How did you come to specialize so much in cheeses?

--- Well, I've been lucky that this world came to me. When I started, we had a good variety of cheeses: Roquefort, Manchego, Mató, and some Canarian cheese. We also had customers who traveled a lot and came looking for wines that my brother managed to get. I remember very well a customer who told me: "Do you have pecorino?" I didn't know what it was, but I replied: "I can get it for you." I remember going to the Biblioteca de Catalunya to look up what it was. You learned a lot from people.

"I know all the varieties with designation of origin, but not all the cheese dairies that make each type of cheese; a new cheese can come out every day"

--- Our client always has been. Think that people with fur coats used to come here, but also simple people who worked or lived in the neighborhood, and port workers.

--- Do you still discover new cheeses?

--- Of course! This morning, in the store, there was a lady with an internet photo of a cheese I had never seen. I told her: "Let me take a photo of it and I'll look for it." Luckily, I do know all the varieties with designation of origin, but not all the cheese dairies that make each type of cheese, nor all the cooperatives or companies. A new cheese can appear every day.

--- You said that cheeses speak of the culture of a place. What are Catalan cheeses like?

--- We have a privileged region, with diverse ecosystems and with cows, goats, sheep, and even buffaloes in Empordà. There are also many new cheese dairies, led by very competent people, who produce seven, eight, or up to twelve varieties. Catalonia has been a pioneer in the world of cheese since the late 20th and early 21st centuries. We are the ones who turn things around, as in art or cuisine.

--- Tell me how the Catalan Oaxaca cheese came about.

--- I lived in Mexico for a long time, and there I discovered this cheese with which they make quesadillas. When I returned, I met Paloma Ortiz, who then worked at the Oaxaca restaurant of the Sagardi group. One day she asked me: "Could you get this cheese?"

--- It's very difficult to import, isn't it?

--- Yes, because it's a spun fresh cheese paste. I told her no, but I thought I could propose it to a cheesemaker I knew, who has cows in Cerdanya. He accepted the proposal, and we developed the project with Paloma's recipe. We had a great time.

"I always try to eat cheese with my hand"

--- With a retired cheesemaker, Toni Chueca, we developed the first sheep's milk acid-curd cheese from here. He already made a delicious square goat cheese, with vegetable charcoal on the outside. I suggested he make a soft one with sheep's milk and geotrichum, looking like camembert but square and with an acid curd. It took him more than a year to develop it, and we named it Santa Maria, after the basilica we have next door. Now David Blanco continues to make it.

--- You have also rescued some pieces from oblivion.

--- Yes, after the pandemic we bought some cheeses made in a monastery in Denmark, as during that period they couldn't sell anything. Now we have a relationship with them and they make us some pieces of another cheese.

--- Being a cheesemaker is a very tough profession.

--- As a profession, it's very tough, especially if you have a flock. It's what the French call fermier cheese, farm cheese. This is 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. If you are small, it's very complicated to survive. They close every day.

--- What do you look for or what do you notice when you see a cheese for the first time?

--- The first thing I like is to observe its shape, touch it, smell it and, then, cut it. I always try to eat the cheese with my hand. Depending on the family it belongs to, the texture may or may not be correct, be at the right point or not, be cold or too creamy... And, when I taste it, I close my eyes and keep silent. Then I ask for all the information.

"The ideal cheese board should have different textures, milks, and origins"

--- Yes, of course. Depending on the season or the country, the animal can live on farms due to the cold and feed on cereals, or graze outdoors and eat fresh flowers and herbs. The milk is not the same. The best milks, in general, are those from summer.

--- What should the ideal cheese board be like?

--- It should have different textures, milks, and origins. Of course, you can make a single-themed board from one cheese shop or focus only on seasonal cow's milk. But, if there are no conditions, I personally like to have a bit of everything: a soft paste, semi-hard, cooked pastes, and always a blue cheese to finish, accompanied by a sweet wine, a muscatel, or a sherry. Like friends, have a bit of everything.

--- Have you ever managed to get a friend who doesn't eat cheese to start enjoying it?

--- Look, one New Year's Eve some friends invited me to their house. There were four people who couldn't stand the smell of cheese. They told me: "Eva, don't bring cheese." And I replied that I could bring a cake. I brought a truffled brie and simply placed it on the table. Then, someone asked: "What is this?", and I told them it was a truffle cake. Everyone ate it.