Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-06-18-Speech-1-129"
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"en.20070618.15.1-129"2
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"The production and consumption of alcohol are probably as old as humanity itself. Hieroglyphics 4-5 000 years old in Egypt and clay tablets in Mesopotamia prove how active the ancients were in this area too. Following on from the Greek god Dionysus and the Roman god Bacchus, the tradition of spirit production was given a new boost during the Middle Ages by Christianity. The technologies used have improved, while the concepts and labelling have become more precise.
In my country, Hungary, pálinka, a 100% fruit brandy, was already established as part of our gastronomy at the time of the Renaissance. In fact, those technologies and products, the unchanged combination of which we can still enjoy today, were already established across Europe roughly 2-300 years ago. However, over the last 50 years, business, advertising and, later on, consumer society itself have completely muddied the clear picture we had up until then. The chemical and distilling industries nowadays are continually creating new tastes and aromas, offering an amazing selection of drinks. At present, you can basically make everything from anything. This has also been accompanied, of course, by traditions being watered down. There are already fewer and fewer people who know what it is worth drinking, why and when.
Ladies and gentlemen! I am conservative when it comes to my political views and gastronomic habits too. I like things to be exactly what they are, and not what adverts want you to believe they are. This is why I am in favour of a strict definition for every drink, including vodka as well. Pálinka is made from fruit and vodka from grain, potatoes or sugar beet. It is all perfectly clear like this.
If we blur the defining lines, we are not just affecting quality, development and our traditions, but we are clouding further the already murky picture. In that case, we can easily take the approach George Orwell’s hero did in ‘1984’, when he cannot say what he is actually drinking. Like everyone else in the book, he too calls that horrible-tasting, foul-smelling dishwater gin."@en1
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