Some organizations have specified a minimum number of years after which a product can be defined as traditional; this may be 50, 30, or even just 25 years. Slow Food believes that a given number of years is not enough to guarantee that a product is traditional. Golden Delicious apples, for example, are grown around the world (from Chile to Europe and Australia) and account for 80% of world apple production, but this is not a traditional product because the link to a local community and territory is much less important than the genetic component (i.e. the variety, which is the same everywhere because it is propagated from plant material and not seed). Yet this variety is 100 years old, having been selected at the beginning of the 20th century. The same situation applies to a vast number of commercial varieties of peaches, grapes, plums, etc., which are at least 50 or 60 years old. Slow Food answers the question of how to determine whether a product is traditional by considering the collective memory of a community. To decide whether a product can be considered traditional, the following questions must be asked: Does the product belong to local culture? Is the knowledge required to cultivate, process, and consume it passed down through the generations? You can answer these questions by approaching the oldest producers in the community and asking them whether the product was already cultivated or processed by their parents and grandparents. But one response is not enough; it is necessary to see whether there is a shared memory. Some pointers that may be helpful: Has the product left a trace in local artisan crafts? Are there any special implements (made of wood, copper, stone, reeds, etc.) used to work or preserve a particular cheese, or to collect and dry a particular fruit? Are specific kinds of mortars or baskets associated with a particular grain? Do the product and associated practices influence or appear in local language, dialects, or folk songs? Has the product influenced local architecture, such as old mills, small huts perched on the mountainside, dry stone walls? In addition to older people, it is useful to engage with women, cooks, food journalists, and technical experts (agronomists, veterinarians, food technologists, etc.). It is also important to search the available literature: Are there cookbooks? Books on festivals and local traditions? Catalogues of products? It is essential to carry out cross checks using as many sources of information as possible.
