Testing the limits of geographical indications: The curious case of baklava

Baklava is a famous, culturally significant and rather contentious dessert. In Turkey, Antep Baklava/Gaziantep Baklava, from Gaziantep, was granted national and international Geographical Indication (GI) designations. GIs, protected by national regulations and international agreements, require considerable involvement from state institutions for establishment and maintenance and are designed to protect farmers and other food producers from inequalities created by the current food regime. The decline of state institutions has been considered as a significant characteristic of the current food regime and scholars of food regime theory primarily focus on social movements when analyzing opportunities to resist the inequalities within the food system. I argue that GIs are valuable tools of resistance and should be included in the analyses that utilize food regime theory. Thanks to its GI designations, baklava has a realistic chance to withstand the challenges present within this food regime and retain its specific qualities for years to come.