Camembert causing trouble: microbial entanglements, dissociated geographies, and the war on terroir

This paper examines how Camembert de Normandie, a symbol of French gastronomic heritage, becomes contested amid tensions between microbial life, intellectual property, and branding. At the heart of this trouble is the system of Geographical Indications (GIs), which legally protect terroir-based products while prescribing specific multispecies entanglements. Drawing on more-than-human perspectives and Haraway’s call to “stay with the trouble”, we trace how raw milk bacteria are alternately celebrated, disciplined, or erased in regulatory and marketing practices. We analyze both domestic disputes between artisanal and industrial producers and international trade conflicts where GIs are framed as monopolistic barriers. These conflicts reveal divergent framings of microbial agency, shaped by legal, scientific, and marketing discourse. The paper contributes to critical market studies by foregrounding the microbiopolitics of place-based commodities, demonstrating how they enact troubled nature-law-value relations. It also highlights how consumers are responsibilized as moral arbiters of risk, taste, and authenticity.