Napa's Vineyards at Sunset (photo by Doug Ferber)

The French term "terroir” refers to the way foods and wine express the soil, climate, culture and tradition of a region. The concept is familiar to many wine lovers, but using terroir to explain the signature flavors of America’s regional foods is a relatively new trend among specialty food lovers.

Jane Black of the Washington Post has written an excellent article on marketing regional foods using “identity preservation” or “geographic identity”. She writes that “an unlikely coalition is joining forces to invent American tradition by linking foods to the places they come from and, like American winemakers before them, to romance.”

Her report cites salmon fishermen on Lummi Island, off the coast of Washington, who have formed a co-op to sell local sockeye salmon caught in reef nets, a traditional Native American method. Researchers in Iowa have studied bringing back the Muscatine melon, a variety that owes its juicy fragrance to the sandy soil on the banks of the Mississippi. Vermont’s maple syrup producers are exploring how terroir can make their product stand out from cheaper, but less flavorful imports.

If you’d like to read Jane Black’s article in the Washington Post go to: The Geography of Flavor