Food fights!
I look at other food sites and food blogs pretty regularly. This morning I saw a post on the EU regulatory labels and was shocked to see them called snobbish and the end of civilization for all but a pointedly described ethnic/religious group. Huh?
You can read the post and the comments here.
Here was my submission to the food fight, and I was wishing it could be a custard pie.
“I mostly know about Italian products, since that’s where I live and cook. Italians are very picky indeed about their food, and snobbery really doesn’t come into it here. Parmigiano Reggiano is one great example. The milk comes from cows that have eaten exclusively the natural growth of that area. It tastes different from similar cheeses made elsewhere. It is checked and rechecked consistently for quality until it is sold at whatever age you are buying, there being a minimum but no maximum– although paying for something more than 5 years would be burdensome. Parmigiano Reggiano is a grana and there are others. Italians know what to expect from the others, depending on where it is made. Grana Padana, for example. There is even a superb grana bufala, made from buffalo milk. Can you use a different grana in a recipe calling for parmesan? Of course you can! Can you buy a bad grana? I suppose so, but all I have used have been at least tasty, versus most of the fake parmesan made elsewhere using milk from tanker trucks of no specific origin in other countries.
When I buy prosciutto, I say which one I want. They ARE different. The pigs eat different things, the curing varies, the age varies.
When I buy olive oil I pick the one right for what I am cooking.
It is not snobbery. Food is expensive here and people have reason for wanting to know exactly what they are buying. All tastes are accounted for. We have lots of choices and we have attitude. If the EU tries to mess with important things, there’s an uprising. They tried to pass a law requiring pasteurizing of all cheese milks and they could not, because no one wants to live in that world. I am pleased that Europe is keeping food supply from going down the generic road. That’s available, too, but we can still rely on the origin labels and it is a good thing.
Would you like to pay Barolo prices for a fake made in Chianti? Me neither! “
2 comments April 8th, 2007
