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It’s not a matter of using the language properly; it’s a branding matter. It also isn’t just about the origin. "Gruyere", "Cantal" or "Champagne" aren’t only a
by ElFitz 4y ago
It’s not a matter of using the language properly; it’s a branding matter.
It also isn’t just about the origin. "Gruyere", "Cantal" or "Champagne" aren’t only about where the thing is made, but also how it is made, and using what.
It also isn’t just about consumers. Those who stand the most to loose from deceiving bad actors are the other producers.
Like what happened with cheddar. Most people know it as a pleasant and yet tasteless plastic-encased slices of yellow whatever that they put in their burger. When it actually is a nice and tasty cheese.
- djbusby 4y agoThose cheeses are Kraft Singles, they are American Cheese - not cheddar. The real crime of those slices is calling them cheese.
- sokoloff 4y agoThey’re labeled as a “pasteurized prepared cheese product”, not as cheese.
- mastax 4y agoKraft Singles are only about 50% cheese, so it's fair to call them "not cheese". You can get process cheese that is actually cheese from brands such as Boars Head. The "process" part just means there's an emulsifier added so the cheese doesn't break when it melts. Despite the sciencey name, there's nothing bad about emulsifiers. https://www.seriouseats.com/whats-really-in-american-cheese https://www.seriouseats.com/whats-really-in-american-cheese
- ElFitz 4y agoOh, I’m definitely with you on that. It’s just that all around the world American Cheese is now often, although wrongly, mistaken for cheddar. And most people have no idea what actual cheddar looks or tastes like. Which is precisely what these stringent and sometimes somewhat absurd rules try to prevent.
- scottLobster 4y agoUh, yeah it is just about the origin. You could fly in all the ingredients used in the Champagne region to an exact replica of a Champagne winery in the same climatic zone manned entirely by French immigrants who formerly worked in an actual Champagne winery, and wouldn't be allowed to call it Champagne. One of Europe's prime exports is its "culture". People pay a lot of money to vacation in various European locales to taste "authentic" whatever where it was originally produced, even if they couldn't tell the difference between it and something made down the road in an Illinois industrial park. Without location-based brand enforcement those locations would lose a big income stream, never mind the "authentic" mark-up they get on their exported products. As for cheddar, you can buy fancy imported cheddar at Walmart, never mind Whole Foods and the other upmarket chains that will have entire dedicated sections to fancy cheeses imported from all over the world. The reason it got the reputation you describe is simply cost. Same reason Folgers and Maxwell House are still on the shelves despite the insane variety of better coffee available these days.
- jsnell 4y agoFor it to be "just about the origin", what you describe is not enough. You'd need to establish the inverse as well: that you could bring in the raw materials from outside the region, use a different production method, and still call it Champagne. That all that matters is the production region. And that's demonstrably not the case.
- scottLobster 4y agoThe origin is the only factor that has no theoretical impact on the quality of the finished product. It's a purely political poison pill for any would-be producer, which means at the end of the day it is all about the location. If I offered you a perfectly functional car, but added an unnecessary kill switch that prevented you from starting it without my express and arbitrary permission, would the deciding factor in your purchasing decision be the build quality of the engine, or that kill switch?
- ElFitz 4y agoYou are quite frankly proving my point: that it is, first and foremost, a branding matter.