Because there’s no issue too trivial to latch onto when it comes to nationalistic impulses. To wit, the ongoing Baklava Dispute.
Turkey’s baklava makers are up in arms over European Union posters presenting their sweet, sticky dessert as the national dish of ethnically Greek Cyprus. “Baklava is definitely more Turkish than Cypriot,” Halil Dincerler, owner of Haci Sayid baklava makers, told Reuters.
Evidently, baklava was attributed to Cyprus in some sort of EU “desserts of the union” display.
An aide to Turkey’s EU chief negotiator Ali Babacan has promised to raise the baklava dispute at EU headquarters in Brussels, Turkish newspaper Hurriyet said.
Another Istanbul sweets producer said there would be a demonstration Saturday in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district, with more than 200 baklava makers expected to attend.
No doubt sabres will be rattled, especially when the Cypriots decide to stoke the fires.
In comments unlikely to sweeten Ankara’s mood, the head of the Cyprus Chefs Association disputed Turkey’s claim to sole rights for baklava.
“The basis of Turkish cuisine was Byzantine cuisine,” said Yiannakis Agapiou, referring to the Greek-speaking empire once centered on Istanbul and which fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
Agapiou said “personally I think baklava is a sweet served in Turkey” but noted “Turkey cannot claim it exclusively as its own. It is made in Lebanon, Jordan,Syria, several countries in the region.”
Some things are just impossible to parody.
Well, this does go along with all of the products that the EU says are region specific like Champagne, Romano and Parmesan Cheese. Which, if I remember correctly there is a WTO ruling we are in violation of because we have non-Romano and Parmesan cheeses in this country and Kraft needs to quit calling them by those names…as well as a ton of other products we need to rename (Bologna, Salami, etc). But, as Aruba proved, just because the WTO says that the U.S. is in violation of the treaty, does not mean that the U.S. is going to obey the law. Oops, my bad, I keep thinking that the U.S. is a nation of laws and actually follows the treaties it signs.
So, good for Turkey. If other countries get to control Leeks and Brussels Sprouts then they get to control Baklava.
Hmm. Is there an official Baklava region of Turkey?
Actually, baklava is not a product, per se (as, say, Romano cheese or Champagne sparkling wine) but a recipe. Generally speaking, recipes aren’t copyrighted (hence the lack of massive lawsuits around cookbooks, all of which generally rip off each other), though you do get copyrighted manufacturing processes and trade secrets, which is a bit different. Even from an historic basis, Turkey’s claim is dubious.
I think, though, that Turkey would have a hard time with a WTO suit over baklava, unless it could demonstrate that labeling something baklava misleads people into thinking it’s authentically Turkish baklava — which, unless it’s labeled as “Turkish baklava” doesn’t seem likely.
Here’s an interesting (if old) USDA article on Geographical Indicators, along with a food trade journal article. I wasn’t able to find much about the results of the Cancun WTO summit on the GI matter, but here’s a UPI article from last year about a WTO ruling on GIs in favor of the US, kinda, though not entirely. And here’s a Wikipedia article that, alas, doesn’t answer the current state of treaties and law — I don’t think.
I actually have a fair amount of sympathy for some of the arguments regarding geographical indicators, though if I were King of the World, I’d be a lot less stringent than the Europeans would like — but, then, I come from a country where “truth in labeling” means you can have “CHEESE food” and “CHOCOLATE flavored MILK” and other fine print demurrals. GIs are like trademarks, only with a nationalist/nativist flavor In a global market, I think the question is whether a consumer is going to be confused or misled. In many of these cases, where the “infringing” term has been used for decades or centuries, it makes more sense to me to do something other than alter commercial language that consumers expect (e.g., come up with a way of noting that Kraft “parmesan” cheese is not actually from Parma other than banning the use of the term).
I have seen “Style” used as a suffix to the product in question, and that works for me.
So Parmesan “style” Cheese would more then work.
Yes, though the Europeans don’t think that’s a valid distinguisher. It’s forbidden under TRIPS Article 23 for wine and spirits (so you can’t have a “Bordeaux Style” or “Champagne Style” wine), and the EU has wanted the WTO to extend that GI protection to all other foods (which seems extreme to me). That proposal was to be before the WTO in 2003, but I can’t find anything that details what the results of those negotiations were.
Cool!
Cool?
Yeppers!
Then we can go to something like “Cheese for Pasta”, and just like the cheese case can have 100 things listed as “cheese” (except for the foods from those places).
But then I love it when stupid laws bite people in the butt. Plus, for added bonus, we can have a bunch of Generic Food, or the U.S. can violate yet another treaty.
It’s win/win as far as I can see. 😀
More on the dessert festival.
Alas, the poster is too small to read, but the Beeb does mention “baklava from Cyprus.”