ABSTRACT
This chapter offers two examples how the protection of food as cultural heritage may not be disjoint from a degree of 'invention' or even 'reinvention'. The two examples are the ecomuseums of the Valli del Bitto and the Case of Taleggio and Strachitunt. In particular, the chapter highlights the link between typical products and the food industry as well as the role played by regional and national institutions in supporting the concept of food 'typicity' and its value as a form of cultural heritage and territorial patrimony. Boundary-marking being a key element in the social construction of food as heritage, the hotly debated issue is whether Bitto cheese is a patrimony of the Bitto valleys only, or of the larger province of Sondrio in northern Italy. Taleggio is protected by a protected designation of origin(PDO).
