Would A Pepper steak under any other name, taste as juicy? What if it only contained imitation “meat”, cleverly recombined plant proteins disguised as beef? For traditionalists in France – starting with the farmers who raise future steaks – the answer is resounding. No. A decree passed in February and which must come into force on May 26 specifies that all substantial clauses, whether it is a entrecoteA ham or even a sausages, should be reserved for cutting dead animals and nothing else. Those who fear that Europe will be consumed by war and economic torpor will be heartened to see that its leaders still find time to remove the vile vegan burgers from the menu. But not everyone is happy. A burgeoning industry of startups increasingly capable of producing cutting-edge fake flesh in petri dishes is wondering if this is another case of Europe regulating first, and not therefore never innovates. Will Charlemagne manage to find his way through this meaty debate?
While Americans indulge in soy milk or vegan yogurt, Europeans have to make do with “soy drink” and what is ominously called “oat gourd.” Imposing this strange nomenclature on non-dairy substitutes mattered little in the 1980s, when the European Union first caved in to the farmers’ lobby selling real mammaries. (Peanut “butter” and “ice cream” were among the few exceptions allowed.) These days, supermarket shelves are stocked not only with oatmeal, but also with vegan hamburger patties and “fishless sticks.” . After convincing politicians that champagne must come from the eponymous French region and Parmesan only from Parma, Big Farm attempted to extend its grip even on generic agricultural terms. An attempt to ban vegetarian sausages – or at least call them sausages – has made progress EU level in 2020 but narrowly failed. Today, some countries are taking on this task. France has reinstated a previously shelved ban on meat terms, which it unveiled (not coincidentally) at the height of farmers’ protests earlier this year. A few months earlier, Italy had reserved “salami” for pork products; Poland has considered a similar approach.
