Europe's Food Fight

In recent years, however, the EU has also ruled in favor of several countries that sought to retain the names of their native products. The Greeks, for example, won the exclusive right to produce cheese marketable as feta -- much to the chagrin of Denmark, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, all major European cheese producers. And the Italians won similar rulings regarding Parma ham and Parmesan cheese, both products of the Parma region.

Success has not been limited to food and drink. The Latvians, after much debate, are being allowed to carry on their ancient tradition of hunting lynx; the Danes have managed to reverse an EU ruling that would have prohibited the sale of a traditional children's toy because of EU safety standards; and, during their bid to join the union, the Maltese requested and were awarded a temporary ex-emption from a law that prohibits trapping several species of finch.

The victories are moral as well as economic. As the European Union continues to expand eastward, as the euro becomes the sole currency of the region, and as the economic and political barriers between member states continue to be dismantled, the European landscape could begin to look increasingly homogenous. But these quarrels over definitions, titles, and traditions suggest that beneath the bureaucratic surface, European cultures are still intent on being themselves.