Protecting Traditional Origins - was Re: [Sca-cooks] Hot offthepresses: A new Feudal Gourmet pamphlet!

[grizly]

-----Original Message-----
<<<<No one in Walla Walla ever claims to grow Vidalia onions.  They grow
their own
Walla Walla Sweets, which taste different, and, in my humble opinion, better
than
Vidalias.  Sweet onions also come from Maui and Mexico and each tastes
different
from all the rest.  >>>>
THEN
<<<I was under the impression that any onion labeled "Vidalia" had to come
from that area of Georgia!  I thought it was a kind of trademark for
that specific area and type of sweet onion...something like anything
labeled "Champagne" has to come from that region of France (except for
American vintages, because the US refused to sign the agreement.
Kiri>>>>

The above are actually why I mentioned the Vidalias as an example of
"Protecting Traditional Origins".  1)  Georgia onion growers registered an
official and legally binding trademark that 2)  Has been very effective in
protecting their product's origins and branding their product for market.
Another less local example is the 'Parma' products in Italy.  Gotta be from
the right region and right cows to get proscutto di parma and parmegianno
regianno.  These are to rather limited modern successes in definiing an
exact geographical region for products, and will be remembered through
centuries and centuries (it would appear) rather than having speculation by
future historians as to where the name came from.

niccolo