Gruyère and Camembert—An Exploration into Food, Identity, and the Securitization of Cheese

Food encompasses visceral dimensions of being (taste, texture, smell, sight, temperature) and security (from identity and belonging, to borders and access, to sovereignty) that bring interconnected political challenges into focus. In this article I focus on us/them dynamics of inclusion and exclusion around food. Such dynamics can include politics and power (for example, grain shipments out of Ukraine), cost and access (for example, implications from climate change and inequality), and individual expression and collective identity (for example, debates over who “belongs,” who is “authentic,” and what historical memories are voiced, or silenced, to legitimize political claims). Temporally, identities and borders are often associated with foods that maintain a past, authenticity politics that assert present selves, or challenges that confront juxtapositions of tradition and innovation. In spatial terms, food labels are often associated with specific geographies and production processes through legal and discursive paths. This can be seen in historical practices of colonialism around food, as well as more recent legal rulings, such as what cheese can be identified as “authentically Gruyère.” Through this article I employ an interpretive discourse analysis into us/them identity dynamics by engaging with the politics of food, authenticity, and (non)belonging through an empirical snapshot into Gruyère, Camembert, the Washington National Cathedral, and a United States legal ruling.