Worth the local, worth the world

From local value to global value, this was the topic chosen for the recent meeting discussing how to safeguard local products of exceptional significance. We always talk about the taste of our childhood fruits, grandmothers lament about the flavor of vegetables and cooks complain about the blandness and toughness of beans and chickpeas, it is more than often that we long for the good old products that we can no longer find. Most of the time, the reason is that the market is dominated by a few varieties of products only, those that are mass-produced, leaving no chance for special regional products. One way to turn around this situation is to give the recognition they deserve to the products of exceptional quality, even if they remain a small-scale production. Furthermore, global recognition of such regional products emerges as one of the necessary tools for the survival of those products. For this, geographical indication is of critical importance.

The aim of the fourth International Istanbul Geographical Indications Summit held last week on Jan. 17 was to focus on this topic. The summit was hosted by Metro Türkiye and organized in cooperation with TÜRKPATENT, Turkish Patent, Turkish Trademark Office and the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB). The theme of this year's meeting was "Yerele Değer-Dünyaya Değer" which can be translated as "Worth the Local - Worth the World," bringing together a wide participation of local civil society representatives and producers and all relevant stakeholders. The one-day summit program was full of inspiring talks, provided with tasty bites of regional cheeses, sweets, and a vast display of local products all with geographical appellation. Lunch was a display of regional dishes which were listed with...