Origin food schemes and the paradox of reducing diversity to defend it

Abstract

Origin food schemes (OFS) aim to protect and promote a unique product resulting from a specific place and know-how whose qualities are objectified in the product specifications. This paper explores the standardisation effects of OFS on the diversity of local practices and knowledge by analysing the emergence of the specifications of four origin cheeses recognised as Geographical Indications and Slow Food Presidia (Chefchaouen goat cheese in Morocco, Piacentinu Ennese in Italy, and Béarn mountain cheese and Ossau-Iraty in France). Results confirm that specifications directly preserve some genetic resources, taste, and know-how, whilst they also show that traditional production practices are taken into account differently, depending on negotiations among stakeholders during which opposing motives, strategies, and forms of knowledge may emerge. We argue that paradoxically this process results in adapting and reducing existing diversity, including in OFS that are more oriented towards localising practices and promoting a diversity of tastes.

Protecting Food Cultural Biodiversity: From Theory to Practice. Challenging the Geographical Indications and the Slow Food Models

“…Furthermore, OFS promote direct relationships between producers and consumers, and, by doing so, foster exchanges and creation of knowledge between them [65]. Our findings showed that GIs and Presidia can be considered 'communities of practice' which include consumers, and are strengthened by practical experiences, with different casedependent results [53]. Although sharing knowledge within a renewed network of personal and practical relationships is a main feature of both studied OFS, our results show that Slow Food surpasses the GI model in this respect for two reasons.…”

“…(i) Participant observation in the production and market of origin cheese, including on-farm cheesemaking with selected producers, farmers markets and Slow Food events, to unfold the practical experience of different communities and the actor's point of view; (ii) Semi-structured interviews with producers, technicians, trainers and public administrators to determine the governance ideal type of both Presidia and GIs (motivation associated to launch of the initiative, actors' involvement and management system), and the most relevant challenges they are facing (estimated results and pitfalls); (iii) Informal interviews with producers, consumers and cooks designed along 3 axes: background (context, motivation associated to the initiative, estimated results), discourses on CB (understanding and value), practices of CB (learning experiences, production practices, changes); (iv) Written sources that helped to design and develop the field analysis and the following data analysis. These mainly ethnographic data are extensively presented and discussed in previous works [53,54]. The present paper results from the cross-comparison of such multi-site information to reflect on each case study from a broader perspective and to allow for the development of an explanatory model.…”

“…These results shed light on specifications as a crucial element in the knowledge dynamics of OFS. In fact, specifications operate simultaneously as selection and reduction of the variety of local practices and variants [53], creating awareness among actors of the relevance of a selection of practices and determining a final result, i.e., the intrinsic and extrinsic quality attributes [61] of the product, and, more generally, the organization of the production system. All such features of specifications constantly change according to changing environment and individual trajectories.…”

“…Afterwards, industrial producers appropriated this labeling idea and introduced a double-labeling system that was applied to on-farm and industrial Ossau-Iraty GI. However, the two labels (a frontal and an in-profile sheep head) are similar, and thus distort consumers' choices, as they tend to forget that, behind such labels, there are highly different production practices (e.g., industrial pasteurization or on-farm production methods based on traditional tools and practices) [53].…”

Recognising, Safeguarding, and Promoting Food Heritage: Challenges and Prospects for the Future of Sustainable Food Systems

“…The entry of the products into new social and economic networks requires adaptations to consumer tastes and regulations posed by the institutional actors therein [103].…”