Friends! We are the brothers Mircea and David Todoran, and ever since we’ve known each other, we’ve been dedicated to bringing you the pure, unadulterated taste of Romanian dairy products.
What we do, our products, the way we manufacture them, everything that means “dairy product from Ibănești” is somehow outside the general term “milk product”.
Yes, we’re aware that nowadays everyone talks about the “100% Romanian product,” boasting milk sourced from the farm just over the hill, processed “according to a recipe passed down from the great-grandmother on the father’s side.” We’ve been saying this since 1994, when we opened our cheese factory in Ibănești.
And we don’t just talk about it, we actually do it: we source milk for our products only from the Gurghiu Valley, from farmers who raise their animals on pastures so remarkable they’re not worth talking about — they’re worth coming to see.
But honestly, since we’re on the subject of convincing you, you don’t even have to take our word for it. Go to any Auchan, any Mega store, look for us in the smaller neighborhood shops too, and if you’re lucky, you’ll find us (if you’re not lucky, we’ll find a way to make that luck happen).
Taste the Telemea de Ibănești. Or the sour cream. Or the cheese. Or, why not, the Urdă de Ibănești. Taste any Ibănești product. And if you don’t like it, we’ll give you your money back.
The story is long, with its ups and downs, like any Romanian business story. It wasn’t easy for us. We’ve had moments — and not few of them — when we wanted to give up. Because with us, nothing is “easy” and nothing is “normal”.
But somehow, through all the obstacles, we managed to get the European Union’s “Protected Designation of Origin” (PDO) certificate for Telemea de Ibănești — the first Romanian product to have this recognition officially at a European level.
Do you think we got it for our good looks, or for our stories? The over 400 pages of documentation didn’t do half as much as a piece of Telemea de Ibănești put on the table in Brussels.
Where does the uniqueness of our products come from? From hard work, from hundreds of sleepless nights, from the love with which we and our people make our products. And from a few small tricks Mother Nature has left within our reach, so we can put this mountain of taste on your table.
Did you know, for instance, that we don’t salt our products with salt? We use the brine from the Orșova spring for salting, exactly as the earth gives it to us. We’re not the first to do this. For hundreds of years, the people of the Gurghiu Valley have salted their cheese, pickled their vegetables and made their soup with this same brine. Exactly as the earth gives it to us.
We’d have a lot more to tell. And if you want to taste our stories too, come see us. A warm bed, a sip of pălincă and a hearty meal — we’ll always find a way to put them in front of you.
But before that, so you don’t think you made the trip for nothing, go to the shop, get a tub of 35% fat cream (the only one in Romania) and taste it. Not with a plastic spoon, it’ll snap in it. Use a wooden one. If you happen to have a piece of fresh bread nearby, even better.
Let it sink into your taste buds, let it get into your blood, let it make you miss it after just 5 seconds. And then, if there’s anything left to say, let’s say it all over a story at Ibănești.
Stay healthy and enjoy your meal.
God bless!
— Mircea and David Todoran
