"
Give me a ride!"
Who remembers this advertisement for Basque ham which today would startle certain leagues of virtue?
Nobody, no doubt.
It is in any case in the area of communication - even with such slogans - that the emblem of South-West charcuterie prevails over its Corsican cousin, the prisuttu, the salted, dried and refined.
Nantes pork
An explosive match, laughs Céline Destève who, for the sake of renewing the gastronomic documentaries of France 5, has decided to oppose these two lands of mountains, herds and shepherds.
In addition to ham, it puts two cheeses in competition which, alas, have nothing really comparable, ossau-iraty, sheep's milk cheese from Béarn and the Basque Country, and brocciu from the Isle of Beauty ( pronounce “broutch'”), which is not a cheese in the classic sense since it is made from whey from the production of other cheeses (tommes, bastellicaccia, niolo, etc.).
Not to be confused with the bush produced in summer from milk powder from the continent.
Unsurprisingly, this opposition of two PDOs shows that the cheese makers of the South-West are once again experienced in marketing techniques and that they export their know-how much better throughout the world and as far as… Las Vegas!
But it is in the not restrictive enough specifications of these products that some wolves are hiding.
Especially on the Basque side where nitrates and nitrites are not banned in the ripening process.
A ham whose pork can be farmed and come from Nantes or from the depths of Lot or Corrèze.
Worse, a Basque breeder, Julien Guérard, recognizes that some of these animals can be fed GMOs.
This is what must be provided.
Bayonne ham brings in 100 million euros in profit per year compared to ten times less for all Corsican charcuterie.
Small producers
Salted meats which, for many, have no “nustrale” (“ours”, in Corsican) except in name.
Christelle Maniccaci, a wholesale seller based in the suburbs of Bastia, makes no secret of it.
There is, she says, farm and industrial production with pigs which are processed on the Island of Beauty but which come, at best, from France, but most often from Italy, Spain, even from Poland or other eastern countries.
"Given the demand, it's physically impossible to produce enough, otherwise Corsica would be covered in pigs
," she laughs.
A situation that does not make small producers laugh who, in Corsica as in the Basque Country, want to tirelessly defend their land.