[Sca-cooks] Regional Foods was sandwich names

[Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach johnna holloway:
>If they were to completely succeed, no U.S. manufacturer
>  would be able to use the names of the 600 products, including the
>cheeses
>   Parmesan, Grana Padano, Roquefort, provolone, Romano,
>  Asiago, Gorgonzola, Fontina or dozens of lesser-known names. Nor could
>they call their products Parma ham or balsamic vinegar.

OK, so what region does the name balsamic describe? (knowing the
answer, just pointing out that that particular example doesn't hold
water).

Maybe some Italian-American pig farmer could copyright and apply for
trademark registration on porco. After all, it _is_ a regional
food... The EU will just have to come up with a different name. We'll
own it now. How about chevre cheese? Will the fine people of Chevre
object?

So is this in response to the extant and fairly comprehensive rules
and standards of identity preventing this sort of thing in the US, or
has there been some relaxation of the rules? I've seen American
prosciutto, but never Prosciutto di Parma made in America. Ditto
Parmigiano cheese, and never alleged Parmigiano-Reggiano made in the
US. Romano (well, they can keep that anyway). Apart from the Cheddar
referenced in the article (and US Cheddar has been known as Cheddar
outside of that particular English neighborhood for almost as long as
it has been in the UK), and Champagne, which American champagne
clearly is not, how much income is being lost to EU manufacturers and
suppliers because of this practice, and how much will it gain to play
the name game?

Adamantius

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