Mr. Ľuboš Manica is known among motorists for organizing the Off Road 4 × 4 Tisovec. This year's April event is already the fifteenth. However, his main activity is managing the bryndza dairy in Tisovec. Sometimes it is as adrenaline-filled as motor racing...
How long have you been running the bryndza dairy?
Since 1991. I was 24 years old then; you could say I have devoted my entire professional life to bryndza.
They say you are the only bryndza maker in Slovakia who has it in the family...
Today, there are many small bryndza makers who produce bryndza at home and sell it from their yards. But if we talk about industrially produced bryndza, then probably yes. My great-grandfather Rudolf Manica started making bryndza in 1921. The bryndza dairy itself was built by Mr. Makovický for his son back in 1898; on the ceiling beam of the castle, the date 2. 10. 1898 is inscribed. However, the family business was nationalized in 1953. After 1989, my grandfather Dušan Manica opened a wooden suitcase where he kept nationalization decrees, and we started restitution.
What were your expectations?
Honestly, I did not know what I was getting into. My father had dairy school and several years of practice, but the trade license was given to me, and in March 1991, my father and I made the first bryndza. Before that, we had to bring machine equipment from Zvolenská Slatina, where it was taken in 1990. We were happy that my grandfather Dušan lived to see it.
The market situation was different than today...
There were 8 to 10 bryndza makers in Slovakia. From mid-April to mid-September, we produced 100% sheep bryndza and created a stock of barrel bryndza from sheep cheese stored for consumption in winter months when sheep do not graze and fresh milk is not milked.
How does bryndza from Tisovec differ from other Slovak bryndza?
There is not much difference; all are made the same way if prescribed procedures and standards are followed. Slight differences may be in the environment where sheep are raised; milk quality varies depending on the soil where grass grows because different plants grow on different soils. But basically, the microbiological value of bryndza is more or less the same. Slovakia is not so large, and milk diversity is not so extreme to show measurable differences, such as in eastern Slovakia versus central Slovakia. Every Slovak bryndza made from unpasteurized milk has a beneficial effect on the human body.
Regarding the difference in environments where sheep are raised, you got to France. How did that happen?
Through geographers researching the influence of geographic substrate on sheep milk quality. They invited me to an exhibition where the Slovak House was present with representatives of traditional Slovak products: cheeses, honey, mead, and so on. We presented Slovak bryndza there. I realized that the French respect traditions much more and strive to preserve original food products.
