Full Description
In Europe a number of production and communication strategies have long tried to establish local products as resources for local development. At the foot of the Alps, this scenario appears in all its contradictions, especially in relation to cheese production. The Heritage Arena focuses on the saga of Strachitunt, a cheese that has been designated an EU Protected Designation of Origin after years of negotiation and competition involving cheese-makers, merchants, and Slow Food activists. The book explores how the reinvention of cheese as a form of heritage is an ongoing and dynamic process rife with conflict and drama.
Contents
List of Tables, Figures and Maps
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Why cheese?
Calibrating cheese
Post transhumant timescapes
PART I: THE WAR OF THE CHEESES
Chapter 1. Patrimonio and Tipicità
The Entrepreneur as Sovereign
The Language of Tipicità
Chapter 2. Cultures of Resistance
The 'Mother of all Battles': Slow Food Bitto versus PDO Bitto
The Niche PDO: Formai de Mut
The Unachieved PDO: Branzi
Conclusion of Part I
PART II: WE, THE PEOPLE OF VAL TELEGGIO
Chapter 3. A geography of Opposites
Straddling uplands and lowlands
How Taleggio cheese failed the Taleggio valley
Chapter 4. The Best Cheese in Italy
PDO Italian Style?
The public trial of Strachitunt
Conclusion of Part II
PART III: DULCAMARA'S SENSES
Chapter 5. Marketing the Sensorium
Slow Food and the Geometry of Val Taleggio
Taliban and Improvers
Chapter 6. Reinventing Stracchino
Deciphering a Meal
Performing Cheese
Conclusion of Part III
Conclusion
References
