"Hunger is the best sauce in the world."

Those were the famous words of the brave knight errant, Don Quixote, as he traveled through the region of La Mancha in Spain.

It's been almost 400 years since he first sampled Spain's most popular cheese, Manchego, in the famous book and now the creamy delight has been formally protected as a brand with the help of a landmark EU-China agreement.

Protecting a 2000-year legacy

CGTN Europe traveled to Toledo in La Mancha to see how the bilateral agreement affects the people who make their living producing Manchego.

Maria Teresa Gonzalez runs the local Manchego Cheese Museum with her husband, where visitors can find out about Manchego's history, and how it has been produced over the years.

"We have been making this cheese for over 2000 years and the importance of the protection is crucial, it can only be made in La Mancha, which has a unique climate and vegetation," Gonzalez said.

"The sheep eats what it finds around it and drinks almost no water since it doesn't rain much here, that makes this cheese so special and unique," she added.
 

The stamp of authenticity

Manchego is indelibly linked to the La Mancha region, but in recent years an increasing amount of cheese falsely claiming to be Manchego was being exported to China.

The new deal which comes into force next year should put an end to that. It names 100 food and drink products from both China and the European Union that will be recognized and protected through the Geographical Indications seal, or GI, to ensure quality and authenticity.

For a Manchego cheese to be considered truly authentic it needs to have been made in one of the four regions of La Mancha of which Toledo is one. It also has to be made from sheep's milk from the manchega breed.

For companies such as Manchego producer Artequeso, the deal is great news.

"We export our cheese to many countries in the world: to France, Germany, the U.S., England and even Italy and the fact that Manchego cheese's Geographical Indication is protected in China is a big help for us producers, if we have the chance to export our cheese there, we will for sure," Artequeso owner, Santiago Álvarez, told CGTN Europe.

The new deal from the EU also allows ideas and associations to help with the promotion of key brands.

So maybe the famous Don Quixote can also help put his favorite cheese back on the world stage.