Imsil is a county in North Jeolla Province, Republic of Korea, approximately 30 minutes south of Jeonju by car or bus, where purely domestic Korean cheese was first produced. Imsil County encompasses several important towns, mountains, and natural areas.
Imsil Cheese Village
Imsil Cheese Village is located near the town of Imsil (within the county of Imsil). It offers a one day or more vacation program for children and tourists to learn how to ferment cheese.
The cheese is called Imsil cheese, following the county name. A pizza franchise using Imsil cheese has become a widespread business in South Korea since 2004, under the name of Imsil Cheese Pizza.[1] Nearby livestock farms produce dairy products required for the manufacture of the cheese.
Imsil cheese is the unusual mission legacy of a Catholic priest from Belgium who took the Korean name of Ji Junghwan. He arrived in the farming village of Imsil, in the mid-1950s, when the economy was still shattered from the Korean war. He started a farmers’ milk cooperative. This cooperative eventually became the Imsil Cheese Factory, which exists today and produces high quality cheese and yogurt for the Korean market.
A group of enterprising cheese manufacturers decided to branch out into making cheese pizza. In time, Ji Junghwan’s Imsil Cheese Pizza became one of the most popular brands, and today it can be found throughout Korea. Pictured on every box is the Belgian missionary priest, probably the only missionary in the world to have left a pizza chain as part of his legacy.
