[Melting_Harps]

> The geographical indication in the EU is used to protect a product's name/brand, not stop it from being produced outside that area. I can make Aceto Balsamico in my basement the traditional way (I'd need a basement first), and can sell it, but not call Aceto Balsamico.

And this is exactly what happens in Italy, too; I did my apprenticeship there and ran a Kitchen in Emilia Romanga, where quite honestly it seems everything that comes out of there is protected (restricted is more like it) with that seal.

However, after a few months I got invited to what can be best described as an underground Farmer's Market to Industry only guests that moves around people's farms/properties where they sell their products, be it Aceto, or Parmigiano, Culatello, Lambrusco etc... as a white label product sold strictly for 'personal use' only, but a poorly kept secret was that it was possible it also somehow found its way to the tables of certain restaurants as an accompaniment to an apperativo or as an anti-pasti. They're amazing products, made by artisans with great care, but they simply lacked a that designation as they were done in such small batches that even considering acquiring it would set them back economically.

It was entirely like a faire with karaoke and music and dancing as well as make-shift stalls for these kind of products and they made food, and since it was mainly made up of a curated list of local chefs and farmers everything was amazing, it was the one of the highlights of my career to have been allowed to join and I wish I could have gone more often but work restricted me from going as it was mainly held during service hours and only announced a few days ahead of the event.

[ceilingcorner]

I don’t see the issue with these kind of protections. If there were none, some massive corporation would come in, make a cheaper, worse version with the same name, and put the original makers out of business. Consumers lose, small businesses lose, local communities lose, and the only winner is BigCo.

[jaclaz]

I don't want to seem too much a nitpicker on your spelling but:

>to an apperativo or as an anti-pasti

should be written as "an aperitivo or as an antipasto".

[atdrummond]

Is antipasti not the plural of antipasto?

[jaclaz]

Yes, antipasti is the plural of antipasto, and as such you cannot say "an antipasti", but anti-pasto or anti-pasti is improper as it would sound as someone that is "against meals".

Antipasto is a composed word, made from ante- (the prefix of latin origin meaning before) and pasto (meal). The ante in composed words is sometimes changed into anti, but the word is a known one and has no hyphen.

Whilst there are a number of accepted words including the prefix anti- (which comes from Greek and means "against") the prefix (usually including the hyphen) is instead used to make new derivatives/neologisms, i.e. if you are against (say) smoking, you are anti-fumo or antifumo (and then antifumo without hyphen might become an accepted word in the dictionary if it becomes of common use)

[Melting_Harps]

Mi dispiace...

I learned Italian via solely listening to it only while working in the country, best from an Austrian ex-lover who was from a border town in the North no less... so much like the other 3 languages (non-English) I speak, my grammar and syntax are admittedly usually off.

Thanks for the correction, though. Antipasto, no hyphen, got it.

As for this:

> I don’t see the issue with these kind of protections. If there were none, some massive corporation would come in, make a cheaper, worse version with the same name, and put the original makers out of business. Consumers lose, small businesses lose, local communities lose, and the only winner is BigCo.

That's exactly what has happened anyway in food without those things at the very source, farms are mainly a consolidated conglomerate all over the World; but in Italy the biggest food monoliths are able to have amazing clout, especially in ER, but the truth is that Italy has an integral counter-balance as it has a deep and rich history with it's cuisine such that the consumers are far better educated and entirely unlikely to fall for the the allure of a 'race to the bottom' as ER prides itself as 'Il Paese del Buon Gusto.'

It was such a pleasure cooking in ER where many of our patrons would give me direct feedback and come back to see the improvements as we went throughout the season(s) as many were locals and how so many invited me and my staff into their own homes to hang and show us how they make those aforementioned products without the labels. And just so it's clear, its not like they don't have some that are protected along side as well.

Modena is best known for it's Aceto, but one of the patrons I mentioned had vats going back over 500 years that were moved to Maranello during WWII due to damage and re-purposing of what was mainly farm land and not only did it have that regional seal, but he had proudly stated that he had sold out his entire foreseeable inventory (at the times) for the next 3 years. He had no desire to expand, and he took great pride in just making an amazing product that embodied his family's traditions and his local culture.

The situation is just a lot more nuanced than what you're making it out to be, and also you have to understand that Italy is a country with 50+ types of cheeses, and probably well over 100 types of pasta, that are really just colloquially named to differ from the others and are only slightly different, if at all, than others.

What I'm trying to say is that Italy specifically is so fragmented that I don't think what you propose is a real threat after having lived and worked there.

Ironically, this is also why they say Italy is entirely ungovernable as well.

[jaclaz]

Don't worry, no need to be sorry, Italian as a language is "tough" for a foreigner, or - maybe better said - once you get over the basics (which appear simple)it gets nuanced, and - generally speaking - Italians tend not to correct too much foreigners as long as they can understand them.

Besides the fragmentation you noted, you have to add also the language one, even if today almost anyone can speak and understand Italian and normally uses it, in many areas local dialects are still widely in use, often partially mixed with Italian, to the point that the Italian you learned from a girl from the north, border with Austria, will be (slightly) different from the one you would have learned if she was from - say - Rome, both for the accent and for the use of one word instead of another.