"Kyle Phillips" > wrote in message
...
>
> "D.A.Martinich" > ha scritto nel messaggio
> oups.com...
>> IMHO, Danish Fontina does not compare with the Italian. A similar
>> cheese from Northern Italy is Fontal which is available at TJ's for
>> about $7 a pound. And yes, they are both sinful... You should try the
>> Italian and see for youself.
>>
>> D.M.
>>
> Um,
>
> Danish "Fontina," if it's made in Denmark and not by some Dane in Podunk,
> is
> illegal. Fontina, like a great many other European foodstuffs, is DOP
> (Denominazione di origine protetta -- don't know the English equivalent),
> which roughly translates as Denomination of Certified Origin, in other
> words, only the people in the traditional production area who follow the
> traditional production techniques can use it. If you're a cheesemaker in
> neighboring Piemonte you can't make Fontina (not that you'd want to,
> considering the richness and variety of Piemonte's cheeses) and you
> certainly can't make it in Denmark.
>
> It's high time the US and other non-European areas started using local
> names
> for their foodstuffs, rather than aping European names. Vermont and
> Wisconsin Cheddar, for example, can be superb, but if you've ever had the
> real stuff from England you'll realize they're not Cheddar. Perhaps just
> as
> good, but different because the cattle are different, as are the forage
> (sp?) and the air. So why not give them names that people will recognize
> and
> seek out. Say, Cabbot cheese for Vermont? It will take food producers a
> while to build up their reputations, but it will be worth it. Smithfield
> means ham in the US, much the way Parma means Prosciutto or Parmigiano for
> lots of people worldwide.
>
> Kyle
> http://italianfood.about.com
>
Thank you for your reply. I had an inkling about this Denmark Fontina
cheese when I was buying it that it was not the Fontina that Giada was
using. I'll be on the lookout for Fontina from Italy. I try to use cheeses
from the areas named for their areas, as you write about. This will be a
new search for me, not living in a metropolitan area; although I do get to
"civilization" now and then. In the end, there's always ordering on-line -
during the proper months of the year.
My appreciation,
Dee