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TradeUpper Midwest Dairy Production Rises as Global Expansion Pressures Commodity PricesIndiaHC seeks replies on plea against non-dairy products sold as paneerMakersThis New Jersey Creamery Is Absolutely GoatedHeritageThe Murray’s Cheese Advent Calendar Is A Two Week Charcuterie PartyIndiaDelhi High Court seeks FSSAI stand on PIL against non-dairy, analogous 'paneer'AwardsSimply Better: six generations of cheesemaking at Gubbeen Farmhouse Cheese 13 October 2026 FreeAwardsSwiss Cheese Awards: Zwei Kategoriensiege für Käse aus der RegionIndiaThe great ‘paneer’ fraud: PIL in Delhi HC seeks clear disclosure by hotels on non-dairy substitutesTradeCOUNTRY LIFE: Benchmark falls 60 cents from August, $1.55 less than September 2025MakersThey know cheese better than anyone else. Meet the Master Cheesemakers at SartoriTradeUpper Midwest Dairy Production Rises as Global Expansion Pressures Commodity PricesIndiaHC seeks replies on plea against non-dairy products sold as paneerMakersThis New Jersey Creamery Is Absolutely GoatedHeritageThe Murray’s Cheese Advent Calendar Is A Two Week Charcuterie PartyIndiaDelhi High Court seeks FSSAI stand on PIL against non-dairy, analogous 'paneer'AwardsSimply Better: six generations of cheesemaking at Gubbeen Farmhouse Cheese 13 October 2026 FreeAwardsSwiss Cheese Awards: Zwei Kategoriensiege für Käse aus der RegionIndiaThe great ‘paneer’ fraud: PIL in Delhi HC seeks clear disclosure by hotels on non-dairy substitutesTradeCOUNTRY LIFE: Benchmark falls 60 cents from August, $1.55 less than September 2025MakersThey know cheese better than anyone else. Meet the Master Cheesemakers at Sartori
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Next: 2 May 2027

Fasika, Ethiopian Easter

Ethiopian Easter, when a fifty-five day fast without meat or dairy ends with doro wat, kitfo and fresh ayib cheese.

A tile drawn for this day, not a photograph.

Cheeses for Fasika, Ethiopian Easter

The Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox churches keep a long Lenten fast, Hudade, of about fifty-five days, during which observant Christians eat no meat, eggs or dairy. The fast ends after the Easter vigil in the small hours of Sunday, and the first meal brings all of them back: doro wat, chicken stewed with berbere and hard-boiled eggs, kitfo, and ayib, a fresh, crumbly curd cheese made from buttermilk. Ayib is served beside spicy dishes to cool them and mixed with greens such as gomen. Families slaughter a sheep or chicken for the day and visit one another.

The cheeses

Cottage cheeseThe closest familiar cheese to ayib, Ethiopia's fresh curd.
About this page

Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Fasika" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

The weekly digest

Every Monday: seven cheeses you may not know, the cheese days of the week ahead, and one dish explained step by step.