In France especially but throughout Europe I find that consumers have a different relationship with food. The savour it, take time to enjoy it and it has a much more regional basis to it. I have not had a meal in France that was less than three courses. The food and the regions have a notoriety to them. That is ultimately one of the reasons why I am in France, to learn about European consumers one must visit the country that is know around the world for their fine cuisine. I have found on this trip and others that I have taken to Europe that consumers want to eat food produced in the region they are living in or visiting. A number of years ago I visited Belgium because why wouldn’t I want to go to a place that is internationally recognized for their beer, french fries and chocolate. The regional pride in food in similar to Canadian’s loyalty to our team of choice.
There is a pride in Normandy for example, that their food products; meat, cheese, caramel sauce in their opinion is the best. They show off their products in restaurants and stores, competitions are held and ribbons and trophies are displayed in butcher shop windows and hung on the wall of the restaurants. There is a loyalty to the traditions and an innovative spirit to work towards perfection.
I saw this in Northern Ireland as well with Food NI’s Taste of Ulster program. This program publishes a list around 150 restaurants in Ulster each year that use a high proportion of locally sourced food products. Annually, the establishments are inspected and audited to ensure they are of the highest standard and truly sourcing certain proportions of their products from Northern Ireland. Taste of Ulster also works with farmers and suppliers to highlight their specific product and make the connections to the retail and food service providers when necessary.
The Back British Farming campaign by the National Farmers Union (NFU) in the United Kingdom is doing something different yet similar. They work to increase public awareness of what food is produced in the country and encourage consumers to ask for British produced products. They are encouraging and maintaining the demand for locally produced food products. They also have a verification program called Red Tractor Assurance to ensure the highest standards are used to maintain quality and confidence.
PGI (Protected Geographical Indicator) and PDO's (Protected Designation of Origin) are a big part of this. Since 1992, PGI's are a way to ensure that foods or food products originating in a certain region can only be labelled as such when produced within that geographic region. Champagne is a perfect example; only grapes grown in the Champagne region of France can be labelled as such. Products originating from a different region must be called Sparkling Wine. This law allows producers of specific products to obtain a premium price for their authentic products and ensure that regional branding is maintained and that there is no opportunity for copycat products of possible inferior quality to enter the market place. 
In the end, all of these programs are about a brand. Branding of agricultural products will be the key moving forward. Historically the farming community as a whole has not been great at telling our story and a brand is largely about the story behind it. This is starting to change and change is welcomed by those in the industry and by the consumers. These three regions are prime examples of how it can be done successfully and can be tailored to individual needs. The strong ties to specific regions in Europe means that it must be done at this level to have the most impact. At home perhaps the best approach would be to have greater Canadian branding on products but I feel that an argument can be made that in the Maritimes there could be a regionally based program and be very successful with it. Either way something needs to be researched, investigated and steps need to be taken to strengthen the relationship with our most important customers, those at home in Canada. We are lucky to have great support from them especially in the meat industry and we need to ensure that they continually have the best Canadian products available to them. We also have the ability to showcase our beef, milk, cheese, bread etc to visitors and to the world. Let’s make it easy for them to identify Canadian made and produced products so they can help us spread the word. A strong brand at home will be crucial to having a strong brand internationally. 
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