A soft Highland cheese by the name of Bryndza Podhalanska became Poland's first food product to be awarded an official EU trademark yesterday.
The mild, slightly salty cheese, which spreads easily over a slice of bread, making for a tasty snack, joins the hallowed ranks of such regional treasures as Parma Ham, Gorgonzola and Roquefort.
From henceforth no clever international marketeer can launch the product into the supermarket - or indeed anywhere else - unless it has been made in the Polish highlands themselves.
Historians tracing the heritage of Bryndza have found records dating back to 1527. It is believed that it was sometimes used as a form of payment.
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