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AP - Europe moves to limit cheese names in America
- Thread starter Ripclawe
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Hari Seldon
Member
Euro cheese makers want this, Hollywood wants draconian copyright protection. I smell a trade!
Phobophile
A scientist and gentleman in the manner of Batman.
Seriously, small daries and regional distributors in Wisconsin have good cheeses that rival comparably priced European cheeses.
Thanks.
Interesting that the US has a similar thing, so hopefully this will get support from the US government
I can assure you that American consumers don't buy parmesan cheese and become disappointed it isn't from Italy. That association isn't a thing here and when we buy the cheese we know exactly what we're getting.
It's also hilarious to watch people with absolutely no knowledge regarding what's available speak about the quality of cheese in an entire country. I can't quite figure out if it's ignorance, insecurity or both.
It's also hilarious to watch people with absolutely no knowledge regarding what's available speak about the quality of cheese in an entire country. I can't quite figure out if it's ignorance, insecurity or both.
E Pluribus unum.
I think it's really importanto to point out that this is just a small part of larger free-trade agreement negotiations between EU and the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_Trade_and_Investment_Partnership
It's the issue of the week, and these things go back and forth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_Trade_and_Investment_Partnership
It's the issue of the week, and these things go back and forth.
As a Brit, I see nothing wrong with it. We have lots of food that is protected by origin, cheese being a big one.
You yanks don't quite understand how seriously us Europeans take our cheese, especially Italy, France and the UK. Just as Champagne always comes from the Champagne region, many local cheeses are also protected. We can't have cheap imposter cheese making it's way into our supply.
You yanks don't quite understand how seriously us Europeans take our cheese, especially Italy, France and the UK. Just as Champagne always comes from the Champagne region, many local cheeses are also protected. We can't have cheap imposter cheese making it's way into our supply.
The EU can make demands it's very unlikely that the US changes anything for the most part though.
HerrPalomar
Neo Member
andthebeatgoeson
Junior Member
Should have protected it years ago, like champagne. Like feta, it wasn't marketed by a European company or group. It's been Americans, with a background from Greece, opening up Greek restaurants that have pushed it to prominence. By hiking the price of feta cheese (forced to buy Greek feta cheese or something labeled as 'not' feta), it will hurt them and their business and limit growth. Only benefit Europeans not involved here. Basically take credit for work they have not done.
I don't buy feta because of any European effort. Greek Americans with great restaurants has been my motivation. Provolone: Italian Americans with great pizza shops. Misty Americans associate these cheeses with American businesses. And process going up will directly hurt American businesses.
Champagne has been fought over for years. It's half assed to now come in and ask for the profits or protection for cheese.
Oh, you sure taught me!
Just because Europeans do doesn't mean we have to. Now that's it's been made public it won't happen anyway. The provision might have been able to fly under the radar if attention hadn't been drawn to it. The farm lobby is powerful in the U.S. anyway. So now we'll call your cheese smelly Luxemborg dirt if we want. So what do you think about that?
I totally agree with the Europeans on this. More than just cheese, misidentification of products in the US is a horrible problem. Although to be critical of Europe for a moment the way olive oil is treated in Europe is bull shit. However, it'll never happen in the US. The American government just doesn't care about accurate identifiers.
They will in some areas, and similarly the EU will make changes according to US demands. It's a part of a bigger negotiation process.
It's about building similar regulations and domestic standards to ease the trade in the future free trade agreement that's being built between the US and EU.
To understand why this is important to Europe is explained briefly at European Commission's TTID FAQ (under: What will happen to Agriculture)
European cheese industry is very interested in future American markets. At the same time many European agricultural producers are scared shitless of the future influx of American products into the market where the US is making similar demands on the EU.European Commission said:
I don't know exactly what's going on in the negotiations, but I think the name protection (used as broadly as this) is used as an negotiation tool. You know the type where you say: "If you want X you have to give me Y," where initally both are not agreeable and will eventually simmer down to "You can have these parts of X if you will give these parts of Y."
What I presume will happen is that some European cheeses will get their names protected in the US, but not all that are on the table.
except that the cheese makers came to America and made the cheeses that they enjoyed in their home country. It's not America's fault that we're better at it and sell more of it.
None of the names are used to identify anything but style in the US. No one expects Kraft grated parmesan cheese to be from Parma or even Italy, and the thing even says exactly where it's made. This confusion doesn't exist here at all.
I legit lol'd mate. Thanks for the laugh!
Back to Topic:
Please don't turn this into a nationalist bar fight. Both continents have excellent cheese to offer, and damn well know how to craft it. Apart from some cases, where the name represents a location (like Parmigiano-Reggiano) and thus should be protectes, the name represents a recipe.
I'm greek, I've been to the USA, and for the record, the best damn fucking greek yoghurt (and one of the best feta) I've eaten comes from Germany, out of all places, because their Allgäu milk is damn close to unbeatable.
EDIT: i almost forgot my most important point:
This is just politics, people. The EU has been ordered to do this by its huge grocery processing industrie, and the EU might use this topic as a trade-off - meaning; It's really not that important to them, so they will drop it if the USA drops a demand of theirs. It's all part of a strategy.
Wow. There are a lot of people here unfamiliar with both the concept of a negotiation and of a protected product.
Also, cheeses (and many other foods) made in the same way but in different regions do indeed taste differently. And are mostly called by different names. For fuck's sake, red wines made from the same variety of grapes but half an hour away will taste different.
Also, cheeses (and many other foods) made in the same way but in different regions do indeed taste differently. And are mostly called by different names. For fuck's sake, red wines made from the same variety of grapes but half an hour away will taste different.
It's not just location but style and content as well. In the US, there is often no distinction between mozzarella di bufala and mozzarella fior di latte. In fact, I regularly see mozzarella di bufala cut with cow's milk, but still advertised as "fresh mozzarella". Similarly with feta. Feta is specifically made from sheep's milk (or can be cut with goat's), but in the US it's regularly made with cow's milk. That's the general problem. I'm fine knowing "Parmesan" doesn't come from Parma (unless they try to trick me into thinking it does), but the bigger issue is that they very often aren't made to style, and unless you read the fine print, you may not know that.
As a side, some regional identifiers American's do think are from those areas are not. Kobe beef for example - it's not likely to be Kobe beef.
edit:
I agree, but in the US, cheese manufacturers usually don't follow the recipe. Most everything here is cut with cow's milk.
I agree completely about your trade concessions part though.
You realise this is most cheeses right?
I was only trying to annoy all the Americans in this thread going on and on about the superiority of American cheese. The truth is that when Americans do make good cheese, they don't just give it the name of a similar, famous European cheese. They give it an original name, as they should.
American "parmesan" or "cheddar" aren't made by people that really care about cheese and are just following classic recipe. They are industrial products made by unscrupulous businessmen who are making money off reputations that they had no part in building (and btw, Parmesan in particular was famous for centuries before America even existed. America companies didn't do jack shit to make it well known in America).
Coming in this late in the game, with many cheeses having been around for many, many decades, and demanding that we change names is an effort to crow-bar your way into a very established market with a distinct advantage and directly harm all the companies which made said market successful is fucking bullshit. EU, come up with a new cheese from a specific region, then we can make an international agreement. Otherwise, everything else that's been established stays.
Machine
Member
I don't give a fuck about naming conventions. As long as authentic imported parmesan cheese costs two or three times what the domestic version costs, I'm not going to buy it anyways. I have to live within my means.
I do find it interesting that if an Italian family which had been making cheese in Parma for hundreds of years decided to immigrate to the US and continuing making cheese in their new homeland, they would no longer be able to give it the same name even if they were using traditional methods and equipment. Is mere physical location that important?
I do find it interesting that if an Italian family which had been making cheese in Parma for hundreds of years decided to immigrate to the US and continuing making cheese in their new homeland, they would no longer be able to give it the same name even if they were using traditional methods and equipment. Is mere physical location that important?
All cheese produced in Parma, regardless of style, is Parmesan cheese, its cheese from that location. Think about it.
I literally burst into laughter reading this. Good one, mate.
"A reduced-fat Gouda-style cheese", you can't make that up.
perfectchaos007
Member
Have you tasted the food over there??...cheese here tastes like plastic compared to Europe....
But no one is mad about being fooled by these variations. Different brands have different recipes and it's something we're very, very used to.
"Cheese here" is a bit vague, don't you think?
andthebeatgoeson
Junior Member
Why would I want to spend a ton of money and leave the cradle of freedom and liberty just so a bunch of snooty Frenchmen can diss me in frogspeak, when I can visit Paris, Idaho and do some glorious bald eagle watching instead?
Seriously, this is how trade negotiations work. Each side makes a few hundred demands that were originally proposed by the special interests their politicians are beholden to, and the negotiators pick and choose until they're able to come to a disagreeable agreement.
I don't necessarily think we should be banned from using the term parmesan, but I think American-produced cheese should cut the "fresh off the boat"-style packaging/marketing. It's embarrassing.
andthebeatgoeson
Junior Member
Are you trying to tell me Olive Garden is not like how mom used to make? And I'm not family?
So the EU wants to limit naming rights for cheese products in America? If applied you can still have the same cheese you always had just with a different name, or you can pay a bit extra for a European equivalent from the actual region.
The EU just wants to protect it's own farmers, it's nothing new. They want to protect the names of the cheese types, it may be petty, but the Coca-Cola analogy is similar. I go into a restaurant and ask for a coke, they say they don't have Coca-Cola but have pepsi or some other equivalent, I accept the difference. If the same thing applied to Cheese in America would it be that bad?
The EU just wants to protect it's own farmers, it's nothing new. They want to protect the names of the cheese types, it may be petty, but the Coca-Cola analogy is similar. I go into a restaurant and ask for a coke, they say they don't have Coca-Cola but have pepsi or some other equivalent, I accept the difference. If the same thing applied to Cheese in America would it be that bad?
'murica
LightofRohan
Member
Haha, stupid americans with no taste! Of course you can tell the difference between cheeses. Its instantly apparent when you eat a piece of European cheese created from the finest air dew. American cheese should be called artificial cat-pee "cheese".
But please change the name, cause it confuses people and you can't tell the difference.
(Wut?)
But please change the name, cause it confuses people and you can't tell the difference.
(Wut?)
Yeah, but what cheese? All of it? That would require an awful lot of eating. I couldn't even imagine trying half the types in the local grocery store cheese section.
Some of the more unique cheeses are good..very few rare types, but all this "kraft" cheese and the cheddar/Parmesan/mozzarella cheese is just plastic and it all tastes horrible....
...on the other hand..the cheese and wine selection and quality in Italy and Croatia is amazing.
also partly because of the high tariffs for the European dairy products in the US. Imported cheese was and still is way overpriced. To make something popular it has to be affordable, and the only way to get affordable cheese is to make it domestically all the while the European producers were effectively kept out from the market.
There's mass produced crap in every country. No one buys Kraft cheese because they think it's fine dining. If someone wants really good cheese they can get it easily because there's a huge selection.
This is true, but let's not pretend agricultural tariffs only go in one direction.
DUFFMCWALIN
Member
Yup.
exactly. name it something different.. like "plastic cheese sawdust"... this is how the "mass production" brands get shit sold, they label it the same and people think they're getting the same thing...false advertising?
Of course not. Europe has similar tariffs in place for many American products to protect their industries. European producers have exploited that opportunity to make "American style" products for cheap in Europe while imported stuff is super expensive. Same goes for basic agricultural commodities.
Have you ever wondered why that could be?
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