When British grownups spoke of European food in the 1980s, there could be a certain tetchiness, or so I remember. What the grownups meant, though they could not quite bring themselves to admit it, was that European food was delicious. British food benefited from the PDO system (protected designated origin), giving protected status to special regional foods of Europe, from Treviso radicchio to Sorrento lemons. European food laws left us better fed, healthier and safer than we would otherwise have been. The EU – which is separate from the human rights organisation the Council of Europe – has a similar genesis.

Source: The Guardian November 18, 2017 07:52 UTC