Hi, my name is Mario. I was born in Vienna to an Italian father and an Austrian mother. From 6 months old I was brought up by the sea in Sardinia. My Papa is a fisherman who has always encouraged my love of good fresh produce.
Having worked in catering both by the coast and in the Italian mountains, ready for a change, I moved to Yorkshire in 2001. The original purpose was to learn the English language. However, having met my partner, Sonia and finding I loved Gods Own County I never went home! After working as a delivery driver and various jobs in catering I saw an opportunity to start my own business, selling homemade Italian produce at Leeds Farmers Markets. This gradually expanded to include more produce at several farmers markets. Where, in pride of place, is always my own award-winning Yorkshire Pecorino (Pecorino being the Italian for Ewes milk).
I have always been a strong believer that if you put your heart and soul into the food you produce, it really does show in the end product. I am really proud of the various cheeses we produce and truly believe they are some of the very best you can get. I would love it if you also felt the same. We have a number of real crowd pleasers, please do take a look at our Products page to find out a little more.
At Yorkshire Pecorino we are a small scale, award-winning artisan cheese maker. You will not find us in your large super markets. We genuinely do want our focus and dedication to be on each of our cheeses, made to perfection on an individual basis, where quality really does come first. I get up at around 3am each day to start the process of making the cheese, in small batches then individually moulded and cared for until they are ready to be enjoyed. Nothing is rushed. I ensure we only use the very best ingredients, where possible sourced as local to our dairy in Leeds as possible. I personally hand pick the supplier of our Ewes milk, to ensure that they feel as strongly about the welfare and wellbeing of the animals as I do. If the Ewes are well cared for, it shows in the quality of the milk, which in turn ensures the cheese I can supply to you is as good as it can be.
I am really passionate about what I do, which is why I don’t see this as a job or work. I am as enthusiastic today as I was when I first started making my cheeses. I love to try new ideas and recipes, so please do keep checking back for any seasonal specials. Like I said before, I can be found at many of the local farmers markets in Leeds. I would love to meet you there, where I can tell you more about any of my products, equally if that is not possible for you to get to, please do contact me and I will get back to you.
Thank you for taking the time to find my website.