Life News

Yorkshire looks to EU to protect its famous pudding

By Annette Reuther Mar 25, 2010, 4:06 GMT

London - It may look like a typical pudding, but Yorkshire pudding has a well-earned reputation as the caviar of British cuisine.

Not surprisingly, the people from this windswept part of the north of England are proud of their world famous dish. Now, the region's pudding producers are looking to prevent cheaper puddings made elsewhere from using the name 'Yorkshire pudding.'

To help them in their fight, the pudding makers are looking to the European Union, where they hope their product will be granted Protected Designation of Origin status from the European Commission's Protected Food Name scheme alongside other household names such as Champagne, Nuremberg Bratwurst and Parma Ham.

The Regional Food Group for Yorkshire and Humber is leading the campaign, saying it wants to ensure that the flour, milk and egg dish, which is part and parcel of Sunday roasts throughout Britain, has to be produced there to be called Yorkshire pudding.

EU protection 'would prevent people from other parts of the world from making the dish and marketing it as Yorkshire pudding,' explains Sarah Knapper of the Regional Food Group.

However, such a move is unlikely to prove popular even in Great Britain where thousands of pubs would have to rename their Sunday dishes.

The move by the Regional Food Group follows the success of having Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb added to the EU protected name list. Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb has been grown by candlelight since the 1950s in an area of the county known as the Rhubarb Triangle.

Previous efforts to achieve protected status for Yorkshire pudding have failed and European Commission experts believe the same will happen again this time around, arguing that the dish is in fact a generic food.

There are even doubts as to whether the move will get enough domestic support to succeed with many other English regions where Yorkshire pudding is produced likely to lodge protests.

Producers in Yorkshire, though, are optimistic that they can at least achieve the EU's 'Traditional Speciality Guaranteed' (TSG) status. Rather than looking at areas of origin, TSG highlights traditional character, either in the composition or means of production, with Pizza Napoletana a recent example.

In order to gain TSG status, producers are going to have to present a traditional recipe for Yorkshire Pudding, which the Regional Food Group claims dates back to the 18th century.

So far, around 40 British products have managed to attain protected EU status, including Clotted Cream from Cornwall, Whitstable oysters and Stilton cheese. In comparison, around 300 Italian and French products enjoy protected status.



COMMENT

blog comments powered by Disqus

Latest Headlines in Life

Older Talkback

Follow Us

Follow M&C on Pinterest

Search

Custom Search

Also Check Out

Queen Elizabeth loves to laugh with her grandkids

Queen Elizabeth loves to laugh with her grandkids
Britain's Queen Elizabeth loves to share a laugh with her grandchildren and find out about their lives outside of their royal duties. ... more

David Hasselhoff to buy bar for Hayley

David Hasselhoff to buy bar for Hayley
David Hasselhoff wants to buy his Welsh girlfriend Hayley Roberts a bar which he will call the Hoff & Hounds. ... more

Gavin Rossdale refuses to speak to ex after DNA test

Gavin Rossdale refuses to speak to ex after DNA test
Gavin Rossdale has refused to speak to Pearl Lowe since she allowed their daughter Daisy to take a DNA test which revealed he is her father. ... more

Gary Barlow's odd queen meetings

Gary Barlows odd queen meetings
Gary Barlow does find meeting Britain's Queen Elizabeth is 'really odd' because it can be 'relaxing'. ... more

Chace Crawford wants to date Cheryl Cole

Chace Crawford wants to date Cheryl Cole
'Gossip Girl' star Chace Crawford has admitted he has a huge crush on Cheryl Cole. ... more

Frankie Sandford is ready for marriage

Frankie Sandford is ready for marriage
Frankie Sandford has admitted the upcoming weddings of her The Saturdays bandmates Una Healy and Rochelle Wiseman have made her want to get married. ... more

Queen Elizabeth loves royal blunders

Queen Elizabeth loves royal blunders
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip find it hilarious when something goes wrong at royal events. ... more

David Hasselhoff: 'I am anti-Viagra'

David Hasselhoff: I am anti-Viagra
Former 'Baywatch' actor says he would like to die in bed with his girlfriend. ... more

Kanye West gives Kim Kardashian style tips

Kanye West gives Kim Kardashian style tips
Rapper wants the reality TV star to be more daring. ... more

Michelle Obama wishes she was Beyonce

Michelle Obama wishes she was Beyonce
First Lady of the United States would like the 'Love On Top' star's singing ability. ... more