ABOUT THIS BOOK

Offering the first broadly comparative analysis of place-based labeling and marketing systems, Knowing Where It Comes From examines the way claims about the origins and meanings of traditional foods get made around the world, from Italy and France to Costa Rica and Thailand. It also highlights the implications of different systems for both producers and consumers.

Labeling regimes have moved beyond intellectual property to embrace community-based protections, intangible cultural heritage, cultural landscapes, and indigenous knowledge. Reflecting a rich array of juridical, regulatory, and activist perspectives, these approaches seek to level the playing field on which food producers and consumers interact.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Fabio Parasecoli is an associate professor and director of food studies at The New School in New York City. His books include Bite Me! Food in Popular Culture, Cultural History of Food, coedited with Peter Scholliers, Al Dente: A History of Food in Italy, and, with Laura Lindefled, Feasting Our Eyes: Food, Film, and Cultural Citizenship in the United States.

REVIEWS

“This is a definitive account of place-based food labeling. Whether comparing the legal terms of European protected designations of origin versus U.S. trademarks or detailing the cultural imaginaries of Slow Food’s Arc of Taste, Parasecoli is a savvy guide to the political intricacies and social consequences of geographical indications.”

— Heather Paxson, author, The Life of Cheese: Crafting Food and Value in America

“This lucid investigation of place-based food and drink labels lays out the intersection of trade networks and intellectual property regimes over the past century and provides important new insights. The legal and political engagements with these labels have complex, contradictory, and inconsistent consequences, thus providing a crucial cautionary tale to both producers and consumers.”

— Amy B. Trubek, author, The Taste of Place: A Cultural Journey into Terroir

“This book demonstrates the global importance of place-based labels in contemporary food culture, fusing issues of development, heritage, and food security along the way. I particularly found Parasecoli an expert guide through the complex trade agreements, legal codes, and practical considerations that make ‘place’ matter for the future of food.”

— Michaela DeSoucey, author, Contested Tastes: Foie Gras and the Politics of Food

“Knowing Where It Comes From is a singular achievement on the construction of local food in our contemporary societies. The critical and experienced perspective of Parasecoli reveals successfully the hits, interests, needs, and contradictions of the world of today’s food.”

— F. Xavier Medina, director, UNESCO chair on food, culture, and development at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations and Acronyms

Chronology of Laws, Treaties, and Administrative Measures

Introduction: Food, Place, and Power in the Global Market

1. What Are Geographical Indications?

2. Geographical Indications: The Sui Generis Systems

3. Geographical Indications: The Mark-Based Systems

4. Geographical Indications, Global Trade Wars, and Local Development

5. Civil Society in Action: The Slow Food Presidia

6. Place, Landscape, and Cultural Heritage

7. Food, Communities, and Indigenous Knowledge

Conclusion: The Future of Place-Based Labels

References

Index

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