Seminar - How "Place-based" are Terroir Products? Reflections on Scale, Movement and Change in the Making of Artisan Cheese and Cider

Abstract: The terroir concept suggests that some food and drink products profoundly express the environments in which they are made, including the natural ecology and the "local knowledge" of producers who have historically worked within it. The terroir idea also underpins geographical indication regimes which reserve the use of designated place names for producers working within delineated regions and following agreed-upon methods. But how far can terroir claims be extended before they unravel? In this talk I explore the limits of terroir through presentation of two bodies of research—the first with apple cider makers in Devon, England, and the second with artisan cheese makers in several European countries. I ask to what extent terroir claims hold when applied at opposite ends of a scalar continuum—on the one side to micro-organisms (bacteria, fungi, yeasts, etc.) that are essential to food and drink ecologies of production, and on the other side to macro-cultural phenomena (folklore, rituals and other forms of expressive culture) that are essential to local knowledge systems. I conclude that while terroir serves a vital purpose in calling attention to the importance of place, we must not lose sight of the way that even "place-based" products reflect movement and change.

Biography: Harry G. West is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Exeter (UK), with expertise in agrarian history and political economy, and food and cultural heritage. His research explores artisan cheesemaking and the cultural economy, including how cheesemakers have embraced and transformed the idea of terroir, and how they have adopted innovative methods while reproducing cheesemaking traditions in changing historical contexts. His publications on these themes include numerous journal articles and book chapters. He is Convener of the Masters in Food Studies, Co-Director of the Centre for Rural Policy Research, and Lead of Exeter Food: A University Research Network.