4 ms·

Why can't we categorize things by quality rather than origin? I don't know why the EU has an obsession with further entrenching the big old rich companies. Same

Why can't we categorize things by quality rather than origin? I don't know why the EU has an obsession with further entrenching the big old rich companies. Same with champagne or chianti classico wine. Plus it's not like average consumers will have the hardware to verify this new custom chip. Even if it's "un-clonable" as they claim, which I doubt. So if they have to just go to the store and hope anyway, nothing's really changing.

debesyla 3y ago
We can and we do. It's just that some product names are limited by origin - like a piece of (other) cultural art, food also has a locational history. But I do agree that maybe average customer don't care about that.
- sneak 3y ago
  In the US at least, I am fairly certain that the vast majority of consumers fail to recognize any _categorical_ difference between "parmesan" cheese and "parmigiano-reggiano" cheese (except perhaps the price). Indeed, even the headline of this article about P-R just calls it "parmesan", which is the same non-DOP term used to refer to similar-style cheese produced in many other places (eg Hungary) and sold in the USA.
  - wil421 3y ago
    My three year old daughter can tell the difference. We keep reggiano on hand and if you give her an inferior Parmesan she will ask for the “good one”. My grocery store buys the wheels from Italy and it’s much better to grate it on demand.
    - sneak 3y ago
      My comment is not to say that people can't distinguish them, but that they are ignorant of the fact that "parmesan" is not DOP and "Parmigiano-Reggiano" is, and that they are not the same category.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
      I agree that we should make America grate again
      - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
        My karma is crumbling. My comment just melted into the background. Perhaps it will improve with age.
vasco 3y ago
Because the US did the same through IP law and would do it to all foodstuffs from EU without this protection. One could say, why can't the US produce sparkling wine or sweet red wine without calling it Champagne or Port wine? I don't agree with the concept of cultural appropriation for anything, but having huge American conglomerates pump money into a mass produced product and slapping it with the name of a tiny region of a small country to eliminate all the local small producers is the single exception where I think it applies. Plus it doesn't even lock anyone out, you can (and people do), buy land in the region and produce locally if you really want to. What you can't do is sell California wine and market it as something it's not to protect small producers.
- inglor_cz 3y ago
  Interestingly, both Budweiser and Pilsner are "culturally appropriated" from Czechia. These used to be beers brewn in Budweis (České Budějovice) and Pilsen (Plzeň), respectively.
  - SoftTalker 3y ago
    And then there's Miller, which calls itself "The Champagne of Beers"
    - mauvehaus 3y ago
      ... which is clearly false on at least two levels.
      - lobsterthief 3y ago
        3 if you include “beer”
- hyperhopper 3y ago
  > why can't the US produce sparkling wine or sweet red wine without calling it Champagne or Port wine? Anybody could do that. Rather problem is it won't be successful since people recognize "champagne" and they will order that. Even if they know that sparkling wine could be the same type of beverage they will immediately assume it is inferior regardless of the actual quality. It's a nigh-insurmountable obstacle to overcome centuries of advertising, legal entrenchment, and habit for any new start up company that just wants to make a high quality good. The status quo only helps the large corporations that have been advertising and lobbying for the last century.
jtriangle 3y ago
For some things location really, really matters because the processes involved have too many variables to control reliably and at-scale. Weather/temperature/pressure patterns aren't trivial things to control, neither are soil conditions, or atmospheric composition (particulates, organisms, pollutants, etc). So to say that XYZ cheese or wine or whiskey isn't unique because of where it comes from is a falsehood, that is something that should remain in use unless you can prove that it doesn't matter (which so far all meaningful attempts have failed). What the issue is, really, is that naming rights/conditions/etc are by and large too restrictive in the EU. The US is much better in that respect, though still far from perfect, but what winds up happening, like you've said, is that large corporations leverage government in order to create regulations that benefit them in some way. That's a huge problem to solve, and exists in every industry that matters and many that don't.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
PeterisP 3y ago
The target audience for this verification quite clearly is not consumers but store chains (or possibly restaurant chains), so that they can verify what their suppliers are selling them.

debesyla 3y ago

We can and we do. It's just that some product names are limited by origin - like a piece of (other) cultural art, food also has a locational history. But I do agree that maybe average customer don't care about that.

sneak 3y ago
In the US at least, I am fairly certain that the vast majority of consumers fail to recognize any _categorical_ difference between "parmesan" cheese and "parmigiano-reggiano" cheese (except perhaps the price). Indeed, even the headline of this article about P-R just calls it "parmesan", which is the same non-DOP term used to refer to similar-style cheese produced in many other places (eg Hungary) and sold in the USA.
- wil421 3y ago
  My three year old daughter can tell the difference. We keep reggiano on hand and if you give her an inferior Parmesan she will ask for the “good one”. My grocery store buys the wheels from Italy and it’s much better to grate it on demand.
  - sneak 3y ago
    My comment is not to say that people can't distinguish them, but that they are ignorant of the fact that "parmesan" is not DOP and "Parmigiano-Reggiano" is, and that they are not the same category.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
    I agree that we should make America grate again
    - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
      My karma is crumbling. My comment just melted into the background. Perhaps it will improve with age.

vasco 3y ago

Because the US did the same through IP law and would do it to all foodstuffs from EU without this protection. One could say, why can't the US produce sparkling wine or sweet red wine without calling it Champagne or Port wine? I don't agree with the concept of cultural appropriation for anything, but having huge American conglomerates pump money into a mass produced product and slapping it with the name of a tiny region of a small country to eliminate all the local small producers is the single exception where I think it applies. Plus it doesn't even lock anyone out, you can (and people do), buy land in the region and produce locally if you really want to. What you can't do is sell California wine and market it as something it's not to protect small producers.

inglor_cz 3y ago
Interestingly, both Budweiser and Pilsner are "culturally appropriated" from Czechia. These used to be beers brewn in Budweis (České Budějovice) and Pilsen (Plzeň), respectively.
- SoftTalker 3y ago
  And then there's Miller, which calls itself "The Champagne of Beers"
  - mauvehaus 3y ago
    ... which is clearly false on at least two levels.
    - lobsterthief 3y ago
      3 if you include “beer”
hyperhopper 3y ago
> why can't the US produce sparkling wine or sweet red wine without calling it Champagne or Port wine? Anybody could do that. Rather problem is it won't be successful since people recognize "champagne" and they will order that. Even if they know that sparkling wine could be the same type of beverage they will immediately assume it is inferior regardless of the actual quality. It's a nigh-insurmountable obstacle to overcome centuries of advertising, legal entrenchment, and habit for any new start up company that just wants to make a high quality good. The status quo only helps the large corporations that have been advertising and lobbying for the last century.

jtriangle 3y ago

For some things location really, really matters because the processes involved have too many variables to control reliably and at-scale. Weather/temperature/pressure patterns aren't trivial things to control, neither are soil conditions, or atmospheric composition (particulates, organisms, pollutants, etc). So to say that XYZ cheese or wine or whiskey isn't unique because of where it comes from is a falsehood, that is something that should remain in use unless you can prove that it doesn't matter (which so far all meaningful attempts have failed). What the issue is, really, is that naming rights/conditions/etc are by and large too restrictive in the EU. The US is much better in that respect, though still far from perfect, but what winds up happening, like you've said, is that large corporations leverage government in order to create regulations that benefit them in some way. That's a huge problem to solve, and exists in every industry that matters and many that don't.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

PeterisP 3y ago

The target audience for this verification quite clearly is not consumers but store chains (or possibly restaurant chains), so that they can verify what their suppliers are selling them.