Lon Times: taly's pizza police will leave no tomato unturned

Times (London)
May 27, 2004

Italy's pizza police will leave no tomato unturned
From Richard Owen in Rome

PIZZAS, the Italian Government has decreed, are made with a thin
crust, fresh plum or cherry tomatoes and mozzarella. Basil, oregano,
garlic and olive oil are acceptable toppings but everything else is an
affront to Italian cuisine.

An announcement in the Official Gazette — normally reserved for rather
drier government regulations — confirmed that the Government is going
on the offensive after 20 years of gastronomic hand-wringing about
inferior imitations of Italian food.

Government inspectors will tour pizzerias awarding a "seal of
guarantee" to restaurants that comply with the rules. Inspectors will
also be enlisted to expose "imposters" among the 60,000 "so-called
Italian restaurants around the world" and issue certificates of
approval, Gianni Alemanno, the Minister of Agriculture, said.

Pizza derives from the flat bread common to Mediterranean cultures and
has enjoyed near-mythical status in Naples since the Margherita,
topped with tomato, mozzarella and basil, was invented in 1889 in
honour of a visit to the city by Queen Margherita, wife of King
Umberto I. Its ingredients were chosen to echo the red, white and
green of the Italian tricolour.

The initiative was applauded by Neapolitan pizza chefs, including Ciro
Moffa and Vittorio Triunfo, who brought "real pizza" from Naples to
Rome a decade ago.

"Pizza is not just a food, it is a way of life," said Signor Moffa.
"Vittorio and I grew up together in the back streets of Naples, and
our fathers and grandfathers made pizza before us," he said.

"A pizza should bring you the soft warmth of Naples, the sounds of the
streets, the aromas and textures of herbs, tomatoes, and mozzarella."
Signor Moffa said he had been to London, "and frankly what passes for
pizza abroad is all too often a travesty. Enough is enough".

The announcement of the "Pizza DOC" — the abbreviation used to
guarantee the provenance of a bottle of wine — took up three pages in
the Official Gazette. It has European Union sanction, and will be put
to the test this week in Brussels at a pizza fest involving a dozen
pizzaioli, or pizza chefs, brought to EU headquarters by Signor
Alemanno.

"It is time to draw a line between what is really Italian and the
misleading imitations" he said.

The problem extended also to pasta and other Italian foods which "all
too often barely resemble what is served and eaten in Italy itself",
he added.

At La Pergola, Rome's top restaurant in the Hilton Hotel overlooking
the city, Heinz Beck, the award-winning chef, said that standards of
cooking had declined in Italy, partly because of the pressures of
globalisation and fast food. "Pizza chefs often fail to allow enough
time for the dough to rise because of the high turnover. The result is
difficult to digest and causes acidity.

"Cooking is often not what it was, even in Italian homes. Women
nowadays tend to work and are too tired to cook as their mothers and
grandmothers did," he said.

There are 23,000 pizzerias in Italy, making an estimated 56 million
pizzas a year in a business with an annual turnover of over ?2 billion
(£1.3 billion).

Sergio Miccu, president of the Italian Pizza Makers' Association,
said: "We are not training enough pizza chefs." He had been
"horrified" to learn that aspiring chefs in Naples' catering schools
were no longer given specific courses in pizza making.

THE REAL STUFF

The rules specify three types of approved pizza:

* Margherita, made with fresh San Marzano plum tomatoes, basil and
fresh mozzarella from the southern Appenines

* Margherita Extra with cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella

* Marinara, made with tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and oregano

* Dough must be hand-tossed, not rolled, and cooked in a wood oven at
200C-215C

* The crust must be 1-2cm on the rim and 3mm in the centre

* Deep-pan pizzas are unknown in Italy


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspap...123754,00.html

Sufaud schrieb:

Times (London)
May 27, 2004

Italy's pizza police will leave no tomato unturned
From Richard Owen in Rome


what, no more Quattro Staggione? I'm cancelling my Italian vacation!


THE REAL STUFF

The rules specify three types of approved pizza:

* Margherita, made with fresh San Marzano plum tomatoes, basil and
fresh mozzarella from the southern Appenines

* Margherita Extra with cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella

* Marinara, made with tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and oregano

* Dough must be hand-tossed, not rolled, and cooked in a wood oven at
200C-215C

* The crust must be 1-2cm on the rim and 3mm in the centre

* Deep-pan pizzas are unknown in Italy

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspap...123754,00.html

On 27 May 2004 01:23:48 -0700, (Sufaud) wrote:

Times (London)
May 27, 2004

Italy's pizza police will leave no tomato unturned
From Richard Owen in Rome

PIZZAS, the Italian Government has decreed, are made with a thin
crust, fresh plum or cherry tomatoes and mozzarella. Basil, oregano,
garlic and olive oil are acceptable toppings but everything else is an
affront to Italian cuisine.

It's just Neapolitan pizzas they're trying to define. In my mind, it's
counterproductive. The surest way to kill a culinary tradition is to
cast it in stone.

Some of Italy's efforts to trademark their produce are a bit
ridiculous. I read in this morning's paper three egregious examples of
counterfeit Italian products. One was a wine that's produced in
Australia and sold with an Italian varietal name. One was Italian
truffles that weren't really Italian. OK, The first is debatable and
the second is downright fraud. The third was San Marzano tomatoes
grown in the US. If I plant the seeds of a San Marzano tomato in the
US, what are the fruits? I don't see how you can call them anything
but San Marzano tomatoes. If not, there are lots of Italian garden
centers that are selling counterfeit English rose bushes.


An announcement in the Official Gazette — normally reserved for rather
drier government regulations — confirmed that the Government is going
on the offensive after 20 years of gastronomic hand-wringing about
inferior imitations of Italian food.

Government inspectors will tour pizzerias awarding a "seal of
guarantee" to restaurants that comply with the rules. Inspectors will
also be enlisted to expose "imposters" among the 60,000 "so-called
Italian restaurants around the world" and issue certificates of
approval, Gianni Alemanno, the Minister of Agriculture, said.

Pizza derives from the flat bread common to Mediterranean cultures and
has enjoyed near-mythical status in Naples since the Margherita,
topped with tomato, mozzarella and basil, was invented in 1889 in
honour of a visit to the city by Queen Margherita, wife of King
Umberto I. Its ingredients were chosen to echo the red, white and
green of the Italian tricolour.

The initiative was applauded by Neapolitan pizza chefs, including Ciro
Moffa and Vittorio Triunfo, who brought "real pizza" from Naples to
Rome a decade ago.

"Pizza is not just a food, it is a way of life," said Signor Moffa.
"Vittorio and I grew up together in the back streets of Naples, and
our fathers and grandfathers made pizza before us," he said.

"A pizza should bring you the soft warmth of Naples, the sounds of the
streets, the aromas and textures of herbs, tomatoes, and mozzarella."
Signor Moffa said he had been to London, "and frankly what passes for
pizza abroad is all too often a travesty. Enough is enough".

The announcement of the "Pizza DOC" — the abbreviation used to
guarantee the provenance of a bottle of wine — took up three pages in
the Official Gazette. It has European Union sanction, and will be put
to the test this week in Brussels at a pizza fest involving a dozen
pizzaioli, or pizza chefs, brought to EU headquarters by Signor
Alemanno.

"It is time to draw a line between what is really Italian and the
misleading imitations" he said.

The problem extended also to pasta and other Italian foods which "all
too often barely resemble what is served and eaten in Italy itself",
he added.

At La Pergola, Rome's top restaurant in the Hilton Hotel overlooking
the city, Heinz Beck, the award-winning chef, said that standards of
cooking had declined in Italy, partly because of the pressures of
globalisation and fast food. "Pizza chefs often fail to allow enough
time for the dough to rise because of the high turnover. The result is
difficult to digest and causes acidity.

"Cooking is often not what it was, even in Italian homes. Women
nowadays tend to work and are too tired to cook as their mothers and
grandmothers did," he said.

There are 23,000 pizzerias in Italy, making an estimated 56 million
pizzas a year in a business with an annual turnover of over ?2 billion
(£1.3 billion).

Sergio Miccu, president of the Italian Pizza Makers' Association,
said: "We are not training enough pizza chefs." He had been
"horrified" to learn that aspiring chefs in Naples' catering schools
were no longer given specific courses in pizza making.

THE REAL STUFF

The rules specify three types of approved pizza:

* Margherita, made with fresh San Marzano plum tomatoes, basil and
fresh mozzarella from the southern Appenines

* Margherita Extra with cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella

* Marinara, made with tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and oregano

* Dough must be hand-tossed, not rolled, and cooked in a wood oven at
200C-215C

* The crust must be 1-2cm on the rim and 3mm in the centre

* Deep-pan pizzas are unknown in Italy


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspap...123754,00.html

-----------
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

On Thu, 27 May 2004 11:59:42 +0200, Thomas Peel
wrote:



Sufaud schrieb:

Times (London)
May 27, 2004

Italy's pizza police will leave no tomato unturned
From Richard Owen in Rome


what, no more Quattro Staggione? I'm cancelling my Italian vacation!

They just can't call it Pizza Napolitano any more. But then they never
did, I'm sure.
-----------
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup

B Vaughan wrote:
Italy's pizza police will leave no tomato unturned
From Richard Owen in Rome

PIZZAS, the Italian Government has decreed, are made with a thin
crust, fresh plum or cherry tomatoes and mozzarella. Basil, oregano,
garlic and olive oil are acceptable toppings but everything else is an
affront to Italian cuisine.

It's just Neapolitan pizzas they're trying to define. In my mind, it's
counterproductive. The surest way to kill a culinary tradition is to
cast it in stone.

It worked for Germany in the Beer Purity laws.

--
Julie
**********
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm

"Thomas Peel" wrote
| Sufaud schrieb:
| Italy's pizza police will leave no tomato unturned
| what, no more Quattro Staggione? I'm cancelling my Italian vacation!

I suppose the doner kebab meat pizzas were never really popular anyway, but
I think people will mourn the loss of Chicken Tikka Masala pizza.

Owain

"Owain" wrote in message
...
"Thomas Peel" wrote
| Sufaud schrieb:
| Italy's pizza police will leave no tomato unturned
| what, no more Quattro Staggione? I'm cancelling my Italian vacation!

I suppose the doner kebab meat pizzas were never really popular anyway,
but
I think people will mourn the loss of Chicken Tikka Masala pizza.

The broccoli and chicken pizzas sighted in New York looked pretty disgusting
to me, but I suppose someone must buy them. I also find it difficult to
accept pizza with pineapple on it.

Lana