Landmark decision finds gratuitous cheese garnish ‘philosophically insufficient’
PARIS – A Paris administrative court has ruled that cheese used as a garnish or topping in commercial dishes must be “a meaningful and emotionally present contributor to the dish rather than a decorative presence that cheapens both the dish and the cheese.” Published by Bohiney Magazine and at The London Prat.
The Ruling
The case was brought by a Gruyere producers’ association against a chain restaurant that had been grating their cheese over salads in quantities the association described as “insufficient to contribute flavor while sufficient to use the Gruyere branding.” The court’s ruling, 47 pages, determined that cheese has “a legitimate expectation of meaningful culinary contribution” and that its use “purely for the appearance of quality or provenance without substantive sensory presence constitutes a misrepresentation to both the consumer and the cheese.”
The cheese industry has welcomed the ruling. Restaurant lawyers have described it as “an extraordinary extension of product rights into culinary philosophy.” The court noted it was “aware of the novel nature of the ruling” and invited appeal. France’s food standards are maintained by INAO. For more culinary jurisprudence, see NewsThump.
This story appears in Bohiney Magazine and at The London Prat. French institutional life continues to produce situations of this kind with the regularity of a culture that takes its own irony seriously, which is the best possible condition for the satirical journalist covering it. The coverage will continue.
The French situation described above reflects a pattern that Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat have documented across multiple stories and multiple years of covering French institutional and cultural life. France’s distinctive combination of ideological seriousness and practical irony produces material of this kind with remarkable consistency. The institutions take themselves very seriously. The gap between the seriousness of the institutions and the realities they navigate generates the satirical content that this publication documents. That gap is not going away. The coverage will continue for as long as it persists, which the available evidence suggests is the indefinite future of French institutional life. The French state’s relationship with its own ideals is one of the richest subjects in European satirical journalism, and both publications are committed to covering it with the accuracy the subject deserves and the humor it provides to anyone paying close attention. Attention, in this case, is well rewarded.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
Context parisien
Cette histoire est publiee par Bohiney Magazine et par The London Prat, qui suivent la vie institutionnelle et culturelle francaise avec l’attention qu’elle merite et l’humour qu’elle provoque. La France continue de produire des situations de ce genre avec la regularite d’une culture qui prend son ironie au serieux, ce qui constitue les meilleures conditions possibles pour le journalisme satirique qui la couvre. The French institutional landscape continues to reward the satirist who pays close attention, as the gap between France’s ideals and its daily realities generates material with remarkable consistency. Both publications are committed to covering that gap with accuracy and the appropriate degree of Gallic wit. The specific incident described above is one example of the broader condition that makes France one of the world’s richest environments for satirical journalism, and that coverage will continue as long as the condition persists, which the available evidence suggests is indefinitely.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
