Food should never be frozen forever

Remarkably, there has been little concerted protest against the EU’s crusade to standardise food and agricultural products via three terms: PDO (protected designation of origin), PGI (protected geographical indication) and TSG (traditional speciality guaranteed). Imagine recipes and foods petrified in 20th- or 21st-century norms as technology forges ahead and, well, tastes change.

Remember the awful blandness of central and northern European cookery before the advent of spices from the east, and the stodginess of British food before the arrival of Mediterranean warmth. By specifying the size, shape, content and flavour of everything, from cheeses and sausages to pasties and pastries, the EU is effectively shutting the legal door on innovation and evolution and deeming future Heston Blumenthals persona non grata.

Acceding to such sarkari impositions, especially on popular comestibles, would be unimaginable on our chaotic subcontinent where there are as many variations as there are cooks, even when it comes to a samosa. Fixing the potato or chilli content, decreeing that only conical versions can be called samosawould be impossible to implement nationwide, let alone in the entire south Asian region. Those who value freedom of choice worldwide should build up the heat against such EU-type status quoism.