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Australia and EU on verge of striking free trade deal long stalled by beef, parmesan and prosecco
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2026
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Yes, it is. Some dumb fuck ultra conservative European laws don't change that. Australian law doesn't currently protect the name, and I can go out right now and buy parmesan cheese that wasn't made in Italy.
The law changing would make it illegal to keep doing that, but it wouldn't change reality. Reality being that the type of cheese they sell today is the same as the type of cheese they're selling in the future.
edit:
Let me put it this way: parmesan is a type of cheese. Think of it like "milk chocolate". I could buy milk chocolate made in Switzerland, or in Belgium, or the UK, or here in Australia. Differences in ingredients and the sources of those ingredients would all affect the ultimate taste and texture of the chocolate. But they don't change the fact that it is chocolate. There's no good reason that cheese and wine should be any different, except for nationalism and conservatism. If you want to call it "parmesan made in northern Italy", be my guest. And that should be protected, because "made in X" is a clear descriptor, and you shouldn't be allowed to lie about things like that. But the name of the product itself should not allow some conservative fucks half a world away to have special privileges. And a so-called "free trade" agreement shouldn't be honouring those strict restrictions on the act of free trade.
Beer, wine, cheese, etc all come from the ingredients and one of those ingredients is usually the water.. Which you cannot get the same taste and profile no matter how much you try, unless you're in the region where it comes from.
If they think their ingredients are so much superior than the same product made elsewhere, they should be fine with calling it "parmesan from Parma". As it is, in places that respect this form of intellectual property, they're essentially given a state-backed artificial monopoly that props them up more than their product can earn on its own merits.
TFW Parma, Champagne are places
Soon you'll say Scotch Whisky can be made in Adelaide.
Whisky is a fantastic example of exactly what I'm talking about. Nobody has a regional claim preventing you making whisky wherever you want. Scotch whisky uses Scotch as an adjective telling you it's the type of whisky made in Scotland.
If the town of Parma didn't want people calling their cheese parmesan, they shouldn't have named it using their town name as the noun for the whole style of cheese.
Parmesan is allowed, but not Parmigiano Reggiano, because its not from there.
I appreciate your fervour, and I too want Australia and the EU to grow closer and to have a strong foundation of middle powers and free democracies.
Just a short idea about "you can call it parmesan made in northern Italy". You might want to look up, where the city of Parma is located, from which the cheese gets its name.
I don't think our countries' relationship should break on this rock. But just my perspective: I think it's a battle of culture vs. capitalsm. To the people of Parma, the Parmigiano cheese means quite a lot. If I found out, there was a big cheese maker in my area, I honestly would rather he represented my region in the name, than some Italian region to get a bit more profit.
Why would you think I need to look anything up?
I think you're right that capitalism is involved. But the capitalists are the ones rigidly trying to enforce one of the most ludicrous types of intellectual property. If someone says "parmesan cheese" or "champagne", I don't care where it was made. I care about the qualities of the product itself. Which can be made anywhere. All that happens when they restrict it is they're artificially supporting businesses in one area by giving them a state-sponsored monopoly on an entire class of product.
It's not super different from trademarks. And while I'm not necessarily in favour of the total abolition of trademarks, I am in favour of legal genericisation being much, much easier. Velcro, frisbee, and bandaid, for example, are so obviously genericised now in practice, they should be legally. Words like parmesan and champagne are no different. Indeed, geographic indicators are always like this, because they by definition can't be limited in the way a true trademark is.
If the people of Parma believe their parmesan is superior, they should be able to survive by calling it "parmesan made in Parma". And if they didn't want their region's name to be part of the generic name for the product...they shouldn't have insisted on conflating their region with the type of cheese in the first place.