In the EU, many foods fall under protected labeling law and it goes well beyond Parmesan and italy.
I'm personally all for it, fuck the waste they sell in the US such as wood pulp with cheese flavoring sold as Parmesan.
I'm personally all for it, fuck the waste they sell in the US such as wood pulp with cheese flavoring sold as Parmesan.
The Parmesan they make in Wisconsin is closer to the cheese they made in Parma a hundred years ago than today’s Parmiggiano Reggiano [1].
Italy went through in a decade, after WWII, the wealth expansion Britain did over a century in its Industrial Revolution. A lot of “classic” Italian culture is carryover from America, e.g. carbonara, or modern mythology.
[1] https://www.ft.com/content/6ac009d5-dbfd-4a86-839e-28bb44b2b...
The quality Wisconsin Parmesan's are usually very very good, served in wheels or chunks like quality Reggiano (though as you mention a slightly different cheese to Parmiggiano Reggiano) and I don't know of anyone, Italian or otherwise that would describe them as 'wood pulp with cheese flavoring'.