EU doubts Yorkshire pudding initiative

(BRUSSELS) - Yorkshire pudding is unlikely to be granted protected designation-of-origin status by the European Union despite a campaign by Yorkshire food producers, an EU official said Thursday.

Citing a 18th century recipe, the Regional Food Group for Yorkshire and Humber says the wheat-flour, milk and egg dish -- a staple of Sunday roasts throughout Britain -- originated in the northern English region.

Protected status would mean that anyone outside Yorkshire would no longer be able to call their Yorkshire pudding, well, Yorkshire pudding -- just as champagne can only come from the French region of Champagne.

But in Brussels, a European Commission official -- speaking on condition of anonymity -- said: "European protection for Yorkshire pudding is unlikely."

Such a proposal would likely be opposed within Britain by a large number of longtime manufacturers from outside Yorkshire, who would argue that Yorkshire pudding is in fact a generic food.

Last month the European Commission granted protected status to Yorkshire rhubarb, produced within a 23-square-kilometre (nine-square-mile) chunk of Yorkshire using a candle-light "forcing" process.

Protection of Geographical Indications 
and Designations of Origin

DOOR - Database of Origin and Registration