Why the French have it right

2:31 PM

As I was walking to lunch today I got to thinking about terroir. If you've spent anytime tasting wine, you will soon come to realize that although it may be the same grape it tastes different depending on where it is grown. A riesling will always taste like a riesling, but in general you can pick out whether it was grown in Washington, California, Germany or France. All of Europe seems to recognize this. Which is why we have Sancerre versus Pouilly Fume and Tinto Ribera Del Duero versus Rioja even though they use the same grapes. It goes beyond grapes though. We have Asagio and Parmigiano cheese, Bresse chicken, Dijon mustard, etc. Europeans are very comfortable with this concept. And it makes sense. Evolution and human selection make it obvious that over time you can breed animals and agricultural products to best suit the environment. They've also had almost 2000 years of agricultural experimentation to get it right.

My question is this. Why isn't this a big deal in the United States? Sure there are a few exceptions (Vidialia Onions, Florida Orange Juice, etc), but in general no one cares where any of their food comes from. Does Washington Asparagus taste better than the stuff from Chile or Mexico? What happens if you grow the same tomato in two different locations? Does it taste different, probably. Does it have different nutritional values? Most likely. So why don't we seem to care?

Kathrine Said:
May 9th 2007 1:12 PM
I think no one cares because it is too easy to go to the store and pick up anything you want, especially produce that is out of season for your area but is coming from all over the world. If people ate seasonally and were forced to eat locally, they might take more pride in their local foods, appreciating them for their special qualities.

Also, the French just care way more about food than we ever will and "terroir" is just one way to differentiate "us" from "them."

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