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Comment by tuukkah | Hacker News Reader

And cheese variety such as the Italian provolone. (It's weird that the cheese shelves in a big supermarket basically only contained cheddars.) EDIT: To be honest, this was Tesco Ireland some 15 years ago. There may have been cheese in other forms such as soft mozzarella and powdered parmesan, but definitely no provolone, gouda, manchego, emmentaler, port salut etc. It's just natural that you might not know a cheese if your supermarket doesn't stock it.

And African fish such as the tilapia.

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cheese variety such as the Italian provolone

Provolone seems to be a fairly 'American' cheese. I almost never see it anywhere in Europe, even in stores that otherwise have a wide selection of quality French and Italian cheeses. In the US it's far more of a staple cheese. I've also noticed that at least some cheese sold as "Provolone" in the US isn't actually from Italy, something which would not be allowed in Europe.

> Provolone seems to be a fairly 'American' cheese.

It's definitely quite common in Italy (together with the smaller "provola"), but not so much in other EU countries.

> I've also noticed that at least some cheese sold as "Provolone" in the US isn't actually from Italy

This doesn't surprise me... I hear that there is also plenty of "Parmesan-like" cheese sold in US supermarkets too (not sure how good or bad it resembles actual Parmesan).

"Muenster" Cheese in the US is another one that surprises people. Tastes nothing like real "Munster" cheese from Alsace. Which is making me wonder if Provolone in the US tastes anything like Provolone in Italy.

Cheddar isn't PDO even in the UK, but I'm (unusually I think for me/other views) all for more of it - otherwise you get this: https://www.qisofreshtohome.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/K...

I'm fairly sure that almost none of the "parmesan" cheese you can buy in a US grocery store is actually parmesan. I'd have to look it up, but I think the stuff that comes in a plastic shaker is mostly "filler" of some kind.

If you want actual parmesan cheese in the US, you're probably looking for "Parmigiano Reggiano".

In Europe does champagne need to the from the Champagne region of France? Burgundy wine?

Champagne, yes. Not too sure if Burgundy is just a word used to describe the style of wines from Burgundy, rather than being protected under EU regs.

EDIT: "AOC Bourgogne" is the official term, possibly Burgundy would also be enforced

You can describe your wine as a "burgundy style" in your marketing material, just like you can say your wine is made using the "champagne method", but the words "Burgundy" or "Champagne" cannot appear on the label of your wine.

I'm reminded of legal requirements regarding bourbon whiskey in the United States.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourbon_whiskey#Legal_requirem...

As the other commenters said, yes. And of course, at least Italy (but probably more countries in the EU/the whole of the EU) would really like to enforce the same limits on denominations in the US.

Absolutely.

See DOC (Italian), AOC (French), and PDO (EU).

It's common in my town in the UK, but then a fifth of the population of this town is of Italian descent.

To be honest I only knew about manicotti because of the sopranos, not necessarily because I'm American. Although it's possible that's why more Americans know about it.

Even my sainsburys local has a lot more to purchase than just cheddar

Which big supermarket only stocks cheddar?

Probably one in a country that exited their trade bloc full of countries known for a variety of cheeses.

I think you're hinting at the UK, but even if it were true that imports of cheese has fallen to nothing (it hasn't), there are a lot of local cheeses.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_cheeses

> Probably one in a country that exited their trade bloc full of countries known for a variety of cheeses.

We still get EU cheeses in the supermarket - and photos of bare shelves/shortages in the media are pandemic-caused not Brexit-related (for the record I was a remainer so would gladly blame Brexit if that were the case).

However, even if we didn't get the EU cheeses we'd hardly be desperate given that some estimates put the varieties of cheese produced in the UK as high as 700 placing us alongside (or above) both France and Italy. We're certainly in the running for most varieties by most measures (though only around 10th or 11th for volumes, and to be fair a number of our varieties are more like variations though that doesn't take away from the point that the UK is a great cheese-producing nation in it's own right).

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