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6 Food & Drink Products With A Sense Of Place
New food experiences are such an important part of any trip away, but the UK and Ireland have their own fantastic food heritage that begs to be explored and appreciated.
St. James' Gate, Dublin
The legal means to protect a product based on geographical factors vary significantly across the world. Geographical indications, as they are often referred recognise the historical significance and cultural importance pertaining to a product and its place of origin. Failiure by consumers and manufacturers to appreciate such products for their artisan-like origins and time honoured traditions is a failiure to acknowledge that such reputable quality and depth of character is a precious commodity these days.
The idea of protecting a product and linking it to a region was first put into practice by the French government back in the 15th Century with Roquefort Cheese. A system known as the Appellation of Controlled Origin (AOC) was later created to protect wine makers. A Protected Geographical Status Framework came into force within the EU in 1992, and attempts to expand it globally are ongoing.
These products are not all protected but all are inextricably linked to their place of origin.
- Maldon Salt (Maldon, Essex) – www.maldonsalt.co.uk
- Arbroath Smokies (Arbroath, Angus) – www.arbroathsmokies.net
- Cheddar Cheese (Cheddar, Somerset) – www.cheddargorgecheeseco.co.uk
- Stilton Cheese (made in Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire)
- Guinness (Dublin, Ireland) – www.guinness.com
- Cromer Crabs (Cromer, Norfolk) – www.cromeronline.co.uk/pages/crab.html
Food is often itimately linked with our desire to travel, and the foreign experiences to which we subject our tastebuds are so often remembered long after returning home. Tasting a real Italian pizza at a table in the Piazza Navarone, Rome; drinking in the beauty of sweeping vineyards around Hawkes Bay in New Zealand; eating Pad Thai cooked in two minutes on a Bangkok side street. These experiences are so precious and real privileges – a great example of the appreciation and understanding that travel promotes. You will never look at supermarket wine aisles in the same way once you’ve visited the wine regions and vineyards you see marked on the bottles; you’ll wander down to your nearest asian supermarket desperate to recreate those noodles you ate in Thailand; you’ll never again pile your pizza high with ham and pineapple, or maybe you will but atleast you’ll know you’d be laughed at in Italy. The UK has its own wealth of age old products that beg to be savoured and visited.
Stephen Chapman
Founder of Make Travel Fair and editor of Make Travel Fair UK. Recently returned from an around-the-world trip taking in the Cook Islands, New Zealand and Indonesia amongst others. He is always planning his next escape but in the mean time is learning to appreciate the surroundings he grew up in.
