State of the European Union

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A recent headline in The New York Times’ travel section posed the question, "Is This the Next Tuscany?" They were referring to the Italian region of Le Marche located about midway down the Adriatic coast, or as the author of the piece put it, on "the calf of Italy’s boot." An area best known for its vineyards and wheat fields, its amber waves of grain go to make some of the country’s best pasta. It is also a place, according to the author, where "a vanishing Italy still exists among the hill towns of Le Marche." The point of the article is that this region, heretofore off the beaten tourist path, is a place where one can still experience the traditional foods, culture, and Medieval and Renaissance cities that Europe is famous for, but that are getting harder and harder to find, at least not without the accompanying flocks of camera-wielding tourists from around the world and watered-down cuisine. After all, these are chiefly the reasons most of us travel to Europe — to savor the art, culture, and food, and not necessarily in that order. If Le Marche was previously Italy’s best-kept secret, thanks to the Sunday Times, the gatto is now out of the bag. So as the people of Le Marche prepare for the increase in tourism, it could serve as an apt metaphor for the whole European Union as countries try to maintain their traditions and cultural identities, and attempt to protect the geographical indications of their most famous products, all when the demand for these products is stronger than ever and the borders are quickly disappearing. Europeans are also struggling to agree on a constitution, one that many fear leaves the door not so much open as unhinged to unfair competition from less-affluent eastern bloc countries that are now entering the EU. They are also struggling with what may turn out to be a more serious development — that the habits of Europeans are changing and consumption of many of what we now consider to be staple foods is diminishing. Now, more than ever, it is beneficial to keep an eye on what’s going on in Europe.

What’s in a Name?

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America owes most of its culinary traditions to Europe. Before we hear the collective European cry of "Don’t blame us for that!," let me hasten to add that I’m not talking about our reputation as the "fast food nation," but rather our traditions that pre-date the Big Mac and super-sized fries (French, not Freedom), but also the very genesis of our specialty food industry. Let’s be honest, if you walked into a specialty gourmet food shop in 1980, you would have had a hard time finding a product made in the good old US of A. In the beginning, specialty food was food from Europe, with a smattering from elsewhere, such as the Caribbean, Latin America, and Asia (though not to the extent we see today). So while our first debt was for cheese, wine, pasta, olive oil, and so on, our debt today is no less tangible as we produce an array of artisanal foods inspired by, or copied from, their European counterparts.
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and if that means a new haircut or a change in one’s fashion silhouette, that may be the case. But too often it comes in the form of copying a great product, one with centuries or even millennia of tradition behind it, and doing it in a way that cuts corners, compromises the quality and source of ingredients, and in effect, perpetrates a deceit. In culinary terms, one of Europe’s biggest challenges today is in the effort to identify, classify, and codify many of the traditional foods throughout the European Union’s 25 member countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, plus the newest members Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia). That’s no small task when you consider that at last count some 650 products were under consideration for receiving Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), or Traditional Specialty Guaranteed (TSG), the new monikers for the effort being made to protect the names and methods of production of some of Europe’s, and indeed the world’s, greatest food products.
The products that have been dubbed with one of the above classifications, as well as those under consideration range from cheeses to spices and include both fresh and processed foods, fats and oils, and even beers. Obtaining these classifications is a long, arduous process but a necessary one to ensure that the products are indeed maintaining traditional methods and living up to the standards the rules are trying to protect. It protects the consumer from buying something that is not genuine, especially when they have paid genuine prices for that item. The EU authorities have worked very hard to design specific logos for each category, plus to define exactly where each product goes since there is naturally a good deal of gray area into which some products fall. The definitions of the designations are as follows:
- PDO products are most closely linked to the concept of terroir — a sense of place discernible in the flavor of the food. PDO products must be produced, processed, and prepared in a specific region using traditional production methods. The raw materials must also be from the defined area whose name the product bears. The product’s quality or characteristics must be due essentially or exclusively to its place of origin, i.e., climate, the nature of the soil, and local know-how. Examples are Kalamata olives, Prosciutto di Parma, and Parmigiano-Reggiano.
- PGI is slightly less stringent than PDO, but still demands that the product be produced in the geographical region whose name it bears. The geographical link must occur in at least one stage of production, processing, or preparation. It is sufficient for only one of the stages of production to have occurred in the defined area. For instance, the raw materials may come from another region. This allows for a more flexible link to the region and can focus on a specific quality, reputation, or other characteristics attributable to that geographical origin. Examples are Black Forest ham and Danablu cheese.
- TSG is the most lenient of the three. These products are linked to traditional production methods rather than to the region in which they are made. They should be produced either from traditional materials or produced using traditional techniques. Examples are Serrano ham and Trappist beers.
- A fourth classification exists for organic products, the rules of which are similar to our own. They define it loosely as "the use of environmentally-friendly methods of crop and livestock production without the use of synthetic fertilizers, growth hormones, growth-enhancing antibiotics, sythentic pesticides, or gene manipulation."
Why should American retailers and consumers care about how the Europeans classify their foods? The most obvious answer is that if one is paying upwards of $14 or $15 a pound for Parmigiano-Reggiano, it’s nice to have some guarantee that the cheese you are buying is in fact Parmigiano-Reggiano. Probably, that cheese is a bad example since it is so clearly marked on the rind that as long as you are not buying it grated, you can see what you’re getting. Other products, however, ones that can look very similar to one another, can be harder to identify without some sort of qualifying certification. Additionally, Europeans have become as concerned about food safety as we have, or as we should be. This new food-labeling system helps to make it much harder for the food to be tampered with and thereby ensure that the food that lands on our shores is safe, authentic, and that it hails from where it’s supposed to. Retailers can also use the system to help merchandise these goods in their store, especially since plenty of imitations sell for far less in some cases, which causes confusion amongst consumers.
Another reason to pay attention to all of this is that American food producers, and especially state organizations, are starting to contemplate doing the same thing. If Prosciutto di Parma and Kalamata olives can be name-protected, why not Idaho potatoes, Maine lobster, Vidalia onions, or North Dakota beef? Of course, a state would have to make the case that these products were quantifiably unique for being produced in these areas. Aside from thousands of years of tradition and history, some differences make such an idea difficult.
"We’re so state-oriented in the United States," said Nancy Radke, director of the U.S. information office of the Parmigiano-Reggiano consortium. "The protected regions of production in Europe are the areas where these foods have traditionally been made. They don’t usually fall neatly into set political boundaries. The official region of production of Parmigiano-Reggiano, for example, covers parts of several regions. It’s a know-how system, an understanding of people in an area of how a particular thing is done. It comes out of our basic sense of community."
"The whole thing goes way beyond simply protecting the individual foods," continued Radke. "It protects the environment and the culture of these areas. A hot product right now is Argon oil from North Africa. The group of women that make the oil would normally make about 50 cents a day. By making the oil, they earn over $3 a day and the forest keeps the area from being nothing but sand dunes."

A Global Society

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Language barriers and electrical outlets aside, in the brave new world in which we live — which includes such technologies as cell phones and the internet, Europe and the United States are becoming more alike. We spoke with Inigo Canedo, the director of European Gourmet Products, a consortium of 40 food producers from around Europe who is based in Madrid. He shared some thoughts on the trends he witnesses throughout the EU, and they sound remarkably like our own trends.
"There is a growing interest in quality, quality food labels, and in a guarantee of safe products," wrote Canedo. "There is a lot more competition in the EU internal market due to the joining of ten new members that collectively have a large production of agricultural goods. Also, supermarkets are growing at a faster rate than hypermarkets and we are seeing a continuing concentration of distribution chains. The bigger European and international chains are buying smaller chains to obtain a bigger market share, and consequently, the more traditional shops are losing market share."
He went on to point out some of the trends gaining ground in the EU, such as the growing importance of healthy food products, increasing sales of ready-to-eat meals, and an explosion of natural waters and new healthy drinks. Sound familiar? Sagging wine sales due to a marked decrease in consumption and the increasing production of prepared foods for younger consumers would seem to indicate that young Europeans are not ready to follow their parents’ traditions, opting instead for a more global (and perhaps more American?) outlook. While most Americans may shrug their shoulders and say so what, it is of major concern for Europe’s wine industry, especially in France, an industry that is a significant contributor to the EU’s bottom line.
"The European economy is sour right now," said David Biltchik, the U.S. representative for the Prosciutto di Parma consortium. "There is less consumption in Europe of many of these traditional products, particularly in France and Italy, and of course, the smaller producers are hit the hardest. The PDO system is important because where they [Europeans] are strongest is in the production of unique, traditional products that are carefully regulated, and where year after year, century after century, the products are really good. Fortunately, in the end, American consumers are willing to pay more for things like authentic Camembert."
Surely, Europe will continue to be a source and an inspiration to both American retailers and producers for a long time. It is to be hoped that the new systems for guaranteeing the authenticity of traditional foodstuffs and foodways will help ensure that these products will remain the same and be available as we progress through the 21st century. And while we will continue to look to Europe for products and ideas, it is also likely that they will increasingly look back at us as they try to reconnect with their traditions. Areas such as organic farming, artisanal cheese production, small craft brewing, and the marketing of healthful, whole foods have gained enormous ground here in the United States and Europeans are taking notice. As we go forth and continue to grow and improve these areas and others, it will provide many benefits for people on both sides of the Atlantic. And maybe, just maybe, one day Europeans will have to stop making fun of American food.