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BBC - Travel - Italy?s practically perfect foodThen there’s fraud. At the headquarters of the Parmigiano-Reggiano Consortium in the city of Reggio Emilia, president Nicola Bertinelli, whose family has made Parmigiano at their farm since 1895, asked me to take a guess: out of 10 wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano sold in the world, how many are real?
“One?” I guessed, expecting I’d be too cynical.
“Exactly. One,” he said.
What makes it authentic? Same thing that makes scotch and bourbon authentic?
What makes it authentic? Same thing that makes scotch and bourbon authentic?
The article tells you what makes it authentic. And no surprise that most of the inauthentic stuff is made in America. A country that is so lax in food standards, that some American cheese contains up to 9% wood pulp.
With cheese it is some combination of from the right place made by the right people using correct methods.
These people are claiming that others use the name that they should not use.
What makes it authentic? Same thing that makes scotch and bourbon authentic?
...in a 10,000-sq-km geographical area of Italy so carefully defined that you can make Parmigiano on one side of the small city of Bologna but not the other.
Basically yes...
This is a battle between a small group of producers in a small area in Italy wanting to limit the market in order to increase prices, and a consumer who doesn't care much as long as it tastes somewhat similar and accomplishes the same thing. Europe uses this system, but US consumers are under no obligation to go along.
In the US, probably the largest selling Parmigiano is that stuff that comes in the green box and doesn't even claim to be Parm. It does contain sawdust.
The article tells you what makes it authentic. And no surprise that most of the inauthentic stuff is made in America. A country that is so lax in food standards, that some American cheese contains up to 9% wood pulp.
This is a battle between a small group of producers in a small area in Italy wanting to limit the market in order to increase prices, and a consumer who doesn't care much as long as it tastes somewhat similar and accomplishes the same thing. Europe uses this system, but US consumers are under no obligation to go along.
In the US, probably the largest selling Parmigiano is that stuff that comes in the green box and doesn't even claim to be Parm. It does contain sawdust.
Kraft is garbage, but all fine ground cheese contains saw dust, not just American. That's as old a tradition as selling fine grind cheese. Its used for anti clumping. Google it.
You want a soap box to stand on, go after olive oil. That's some Pablo Escabar stuff.
Anthony Bourdain even said that the fish you order in a restaurant may not be what's named on the menu, it will probably be a cheaper fish, but the taste will be the same.
If they are producing a produce that isn't cheese at all, or varies dramatically apart from the place and specific cattle/cattle feed, then that's fraud and should be addressed by local authorities.
If the product is 99% the same, and the principle gripe is taking their name improperly or just that the ingredients aren't of the highest possible quality, then I don't have a bunch of sympathy. I wouldn't be opposed to them being forced to call it something different, but that would require a level of global government I don't believe exists right now.
Also too, they are welcome to increase production. Apparently the fake stuff can't compete with the real. Sounds like a business opportunity, no? I'd guess they limit breeding and herd size of the magic cows so as to maintain control, though possibly there are other limitations that make expansion difficult.
I have no doubt there are significant difference in quality between the "authentic" cheese and the rest, but there are problems with claiming exclusivity as well. It's really just another way of controlling the market artificially.
I know why it's there. I know that it's not just an American thing.
I haven't bought a pre shredded cheese in decades.
And super expensive vintage whiskey.....can be tens of thousands of dollars per bottle....for fraud.
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/rare-whisky-testing-fakes-scli-gbr/index.html
I don't really see it that way. To me an equivalent is, say, Jack Daniels Whiskey. I don't see a problem with only calling a product made in the Jack Daniels distillery in Tennessee "Jack Daniels" versus anyone with a still and a printing press making something close to it and slapping the label on a similar bottle. It might be close, might taste better to some people (I never cared for Jack Daniels myself when I was drinking) but it's not "Jack Daniels" because it's not made in that area, with the same process, spring water, natural yeasts, aged in a similar environment, etc.
And I don't see it as a problem needing a 'global government.' That government protects copyrights, trade marks, patents and all the rest all day every day for thousands of products. Doesn't mean counterfeits aren't sold, but if you start a business making shoes and openly slapping "Nike" labels on it, and grow to any size, Nike will sue and our government will enforce the law, and shut them down. Takes no more than that to protect this product.
If Kraft bought up the exclusive rights to distribute all of that product, the mechanisms for protecting their exclusive right to sell THAT cheese with THAT name is firmly in place, worldwide, and Kraft would see it done I'd guess.
I know why it's there. I know that it's not just an American thing.
I haven't bought a pre shredded cheese in decades.
But your analogy does work...jack Daniels is in a specific location, ergo, they are permitted to call their product bourbon, rather than whiskey. Even though the ingredients and the process is the same.
I dont know why anyone buys ground or shredded cheese. Is it that hard to grind/shred it yourself?
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