There is an item on the menu at Outback Steakhouse which bothers me. I have never ordered it - in fact, I have not even been to the American-headquartered chain - but had it pointed out to me by friends in the United States.
'Toowoomba pasta' it is called and rather mouthwatering it is, too, judging by the description: 'Flavourful fettuccine alfredo topped with seasoned shrimp, mushrooms, chives and parmesan.' A heaped plate would go down quite well right now, in fact.
Outback calls itself an 'Australian steakhouse concept' and it would appear to be doing quite well with that formula, having more than 900 restaurants, including three in Hong Kong. The company does not have me fooled, though: as tasty as its 'Toowoomba pasta' sounds, the dish is an Outback Steakhouse invention, rather than a genuine slice of Australian culinary life.
As it happens, I hail from Toowoomba - a dot on the map halfway down Australia's eastern coast, 120km inland and home to 100,000 people. Not only have I never before encountered 'Toowoomba pasta', but none of the ingredients are indigenous.
That is not to say that the gentle folk of Toowoomba would be alarmed to find that their city has been immortalised in American minds by a dish. More likely, they would scratch their heads as to why they have become renowned for pasta, shrimp and Italian cheese when their forte is being a place of retirement, holding an annual festival of flowers and being a railhead for livestock and grain.
Such misplaced name-calling pales into insignificance, though, beside the dilemma facing European cheese-makers after the European Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday that only Greeks may use the word 'feta' on their products. Now the others are confused: what, exactly should they call their white, salty, crumbly cheese made with sheep or goats' milk?
They should have seen it coming. For the past decade, the European Union has been putting in place a system of protecting the names of food products that are regionally made, such as champagne, Parma ham, Kalamata olives and Newcastle Brown Ale. It is also pushing for an international register of protected foodstuffs under the Doha Round of World Trade Organisation talks, which has run into trouble with some countries, including the US.