”Finito!” to fake mozzarella. Down with pesto ground by agro-industrial giants who don’t know their basil from parsley. Say ”adio” to sickly sweet tomato sauce.
Italian restaurants around the world are about the get a lesson in authenticity. With a new ”Made in Italy” label, the Italian agricultural ministry, along with the International Association of Restaurants of Italy (ARDI) and Confcommercio business federation, are making sure their beloved cuisine is not kicked around by knock-offs off the Boot.
In order for thousands of pizzerias, trattorias and ristorantes worldwide to qualify for the official label, they must follow a ”chart of good behavior” that will respect veritable Italian culinary traditions.
Forget about sprinkling Parmesan cheese that is not produced in central city of Parma. Mozzarella cheese should come from the southern region of Campania where it was invented.
Pesto should hail from the northwest city of Genoa, where some genius first had the happy idea of marrying basil, garlic and pine nuts. Dishes must be served with appropriate wines. The program will require participants to make a ”leap forward in quality,” the ministry said, stressing that travelers should be filled with the desire to visit Italy with every bite.
One of the few things not to be regulated in the restaurants is the thickness of waiters’ Italian accents. Dean Martin crooning ”That’s Amore” may still be allowed.
A pilot program will be organised during the first half of 2003 in Belgium. And qualified restaurants elsewhere could be awarded a ”Made in Italy” statute by next September, the ministry added. Italian restaurants last year bought 27-billion euros worth of Italian goods, according to Sergio Bille, president of Confcommercio.
With the ”Made in Italy” program, the numbers of exports could rise swiftly. Rome has fought to preserve the distinctiveness of its regional products as global food fights have grown increasingly messy. Officials here proudly announced last April they had beat out Argentina and the United States to keep the hard-fought right to the international Parmigiano trademark for two more years, following a UN Food and Agricultural Organisation decision.
The European Commission recently gave Greece the exclusive right to use the name feta, causing a stink among other EU states Denmark, France and Germany who have their own version of the Mediterranean goat’s milk cheese.
Representatives from the bubbly wine-making region Champagne have joined forces with other European regions trying to assert their international rights over age-old names, including winegrowers from Porto in Portugal, Chablis in central France, Jerez in Spain (which makes sherry), and Chianti in Italy. The United States, resisting France’s legal challenges, has refused to follow the lead of countries like Australia and Japan in making it illegal to label homegrown sparkling wine ”Champagne”.
Facing a world hungry for foreign flavors, Agricultural Minister Gianni Alemanno said the new project should ”define the limits between what is truly Italian and what is not”.
Restaurants participating in the program will be subject to the judgment of a committee under his command. ”The public and private must play a collective role to ensure that Italy safeguards its identity and does not run the risk of melting into the mass at a time of globalisation,” Bille said.
Regional flavours must be respected, but the ”Made in Italy” rating will allow for certain slips to please a local palate and respect sanitation laws.
”Our biggest challenge will be to avoid counterfeit of our products,” Alemanno said. Even the universal fast food pizza may end up with a more distinctly Italian flavor.
”Adio”, Chicago-style thick-crust, which is not Made in Italy. – Sapa-AFP