# Scottish vs Irish vs English Cheddar **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 7, 2006, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scottish-vs-irish-vs-english-cheddar/379391 "2006-11-07T04:16:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scottish-vs-irish-vs-english-cheddar/379391/21 "2006-11-09T21:28:53Z")
[QUOTE=si\_blakely] It actually surprises me that Cheddar (the region in England) has not tried to gain a protected appellation status for the name _Cheddar cheese_. I mean, if Champagne can only come from the Champagne region, and all other champagne style wines have to be labeled “Sparkling White Wine - method traditionale” (or some such nonsense) [/QUOTE] I don’t know any European law, but if we were talking American law, then there would be a problem, because “cheddar,” even though it originated in a geographic term has for a long, long time been a generic term for a _type_ of cheese. Whereas, I believe, that “champagne” has been protected for quite some time. If you want protection for a term (again, this is under American law), you have to use it from the beginning as a distinctive term rather than as a generic. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scottish-vs-irish-vs-english-cheddar/379391/22 "2006-11-09T21:34:16Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] I don’t know any European law, but if we were talking American law, then there would be a problem, because “cheddar,” even though it originated in a geographic term has for a long, long time been a generic term for a _type_ of cheese. Whereas, I believe, that “champagne” has been protected for quite some time. If you want protection for a term (again, this is under American law), you have to use it from the beginning as a distinctive term rather than as a generic. [/QUOTE] I read the comment about protection as being that awarded under European rules - the list of geographicl protection is [here](http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/qual/en/1bbaa_en.htm). There’s a dozen British cheese with protection. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scottish-vs-irish-vs-english-cheddar/379391/23 "2006-11-09T22:06:57Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] I read the comment about protection as being that awarded under European rules - the list of geographicl protection is [here](http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/qual/en/1bbaa_en.htm). [/quote] I understood that. That’s what my **if** was about. I was just offering an American legal perspective on the situation. > [@](#): > > There’s a dozen British cheese with protection. And under U.S. law, there very well could be cheese names that are protected under certain circumstances. At least in this case, according to **GorillaMan** ’s content, protection was rejected under European law for much the same reason that it would be rejected under American law. So there is some degree of similarity in the regimes here. ---
**Author:** ![Ross\_Grumet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a88e4f/32.png) [@Ross\_Grumet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross_Grumet)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scottish-vs-irish-vs-english-cheddar/379391/24 "2006-11-09T22:45:59Z")
There is no difference per-se in any of the Cheddars. It’s differences in the milk, based largely on the diet and health of the cows, and the respective preparation and aging processes. The term “Cheddar” other than being the place-name of Cheddar Cheese is also the name for the process by which Cheddar is uniquely produced. It’s elementary. The rest is as I think has already been suggested, functions of marketing. By the way, there are no Cheddar manufacturies left IN Cheddar today. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scottish-vs-irish-vs-english-cheddar/379391/25 "2006-11-09T23:49:55Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] I don’t know any European law, but if we were talking American law, then there would be a problem, because “cheddar,” even though it originated in a geographic term has for a long, long time been a generic term for a _type_ of cheese. Whereas, I believe, that “champagne” has been protected for quite some time. If you want protection for a term (again, this is under American law), you have to use it from the beginning as a distinctive term rather than as a generic. [/QUOTE] Trademark protection is somewhat different to Regional names. Champagne has been used as a generic term for sparkling dry white wine for rather longer than it has been protected. I remember it happening in the late 80s/early 90s. Most of the protected regional names are even more recent than that. **Port** became protected very recently. I fail to see how Port or Champagne was any less generic than Cheddar. However, the fact that no-one actually makes Cheddar in the gorge probably mitigates against it - though there are enough cheese shops in Cheddar - all trucked in I guess. :smack: Si [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scottish-vs-irish-vs-english-cheddar/379391.md?page=1)