A Russian monk has been skipping off to Italy to learn the secrets involved in making cheeses.
After Russia banned the import of food from Western countries in response to Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, citizens have felt the loss of certain delicacies.
Monks at Valaam monastery (pictured), on a lake near St Petersburg, rose to the challenge. They ordered milk and cheese processing machines from Italy and sent one of their own, Father Agapy, on a fact-finding mission to Italy.
"Father Agapy did a course on how to make several types of Italian cheese and now he will teach the other monks and we will have our own small cheese factory," said spokesman Mikhail Shishkov.
Mozzarella appears to be high on the list.
The fruit of their labours is mainly intended for internal use in the monks’ and pilgrims’ refectories, although a little may be sold on the external market, according to Mr Shishkov.
The food import ban started in August this year, initially for one year. It prohibits import of beef, pork, fruit, vegetables, poultry, fish, cheese and dairy from EU countries, the US, Australia, Canada and Norway.
This week, an official admitted that sanctions against Russia had done “a certain amount of damage” but insisted “99.9%” of Russians were not bothered about the loss of imported foods.
The remaining 0.1% could "calmly board a plane to Tallinn or Helsinki, it's not even necessary to fly to Zurich or Paris, to buy up lots of cured ham and Parmesan," he said.
