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Australia and EU on verge of striking free trade deal long stalled by beef, parmesan and prosecco (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/australia@aussie.zone
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[–] 3 points 7 months ago (6 children)

To be fair if I bought a product advertised as "Australian made" I would expect it to be made in fuckin aus. The fact that they have their own special word for it is irrelevant to me. Most of the time the word for the thing is just the name of the place it's from too. Not really their fault if the product gains more notoriety than the place.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (5 children)

    The problem is when the region is the name of the product. That shouldn't be allowed. Using words like "made in" should absolutely be protected and required to be honest, because anything else is dishonest marketing. But parmesan is a type of cheese, and the fact that it's named after a region in Italy doesn't change the fact that you can make exactly the same type of cheese in Victoria.

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  • [–] 0 points 7 months ago* (4 children)

    It’s definitely not a type of cheese. You only think that because you have seen so many imitations. The type is a hard crystalline structured cheese made in a wheel. Many have this profile, but when that’s made from the region with the methods perfected by the history of makers in that region with specific ingredients from that region (lots of history to get to the point where are now), then it’s known as Parmesan. Anyone else that eats a cheese similar to that specific cheese made elsewhere has had a copy, which while being similar, is not from that region and not Parmesan cheese. Globalisation doesn’t change a villages history or countries culture of identifying produce, and yes, that’s something worth protecting for them.

    It’s like calling a Lepatata from Botswana a Dodgeridoo because they are both wind instruments. It’s their type of horn, like a Didgeridoo and you might call it a Didgeridoo, but it’s not. Most people would get what you mean but to the people that it matters to, you would be wrong.

    In geopolitics and when it comes to free trade, respecting the history and origin of a product is diplomatic and the right thing to do, especially since the point of the trade deal is to exchange these goods. Once actual Parmesan hits shelves more freely, it shouldn’t have to be labelled as “real” Parmesan, or vice versa with the local produce because it just doesn’t make sense in the context of the thing you are talking about.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (3 children)

    It’s like calling a Lepatata from Botswana a Didgeridoo because they are both wind instruments

    No, it's not. It's like calling a didgeridoo made in Botswana a didgeridoo. Which would be fair, because that's what it would be. A didgeridoo has a different shape to a lepatata. Saying that any two woodwind instruments are the same is absurd.

    Australia already has plenty of parmesan cheese on the shelves. If parmesan from Parma is a superior product, it can succeed on its own merits. Government crony capitalism protecting it shouldn't be forced on us to make it succeed.

    Take the chocolate example I made above. In addition to the countries I listed, you can also sell chocolate as being "made in America". And because of the reputation, I would avoid the American chocolate and buy the Swiss or Belgian chocolate. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't be allowed to call their product what it is.

    This is just yet another shitty example of the EU forcing its protectionism onto the rest of the world while claiming to be a bastion of free markets and capitalism. The hypocrisy is laughable. And even more laughable is the amount of people who back them up on it.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    You are conflating the produce “cheese” with a specific cheese product made in a specific place. You can make cheese where ever you want, but it won’t ever be from that place unless it’s from that place, that’s how the naming scheme works. The name isn’t that name because they named it and gave it a label, the name is the name because it’s where it came from. The only compromise that would make what you are saying more accurate would be to say that all cheese you are taking about outside of the Parma region is “Parma style” cheese.

    Trade works both ways, so if the Victorian cheese you are talking about gets its way to Parma shelves, then it’s a mislabelled product.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago

    No, I'm pointing out that one particular style of cheese has been conflated by the region. But parmesan cheese is a style of cheese. You wouldn't start calling a smooth, creamy, yellow cheese "parmesan" just because it was made in Parma. No, that's still gouda. Likewise, a hard granular aged cheese doesn't become gouda when you make it in the town of Gouda. In fact, if that was true, I'd probably have more respect for the geographic indications. If any style of cheese was Parmesan when made in Parma, then the word "Parmesan" would be an accurate adjective worthy of protection, in the same way I'm saying "Belgian chocolate" should be protected for chocolate made in Belgium. But they insist on saying it's one specific style of cheese. But they want you to only call it by the name of the style of cheese that it is if it's also made there. No thanks.

    The name belongs to the style, and the EU's protectionist policies don't change that fact.

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