Mamma mia! Investigating crimes against Italian food. – POLITICO
Answers on a postcard to the supermarket in the European Parliament and/or the International Criminal Court. It’s been a challenging week for Italian foodstuffs. Italy’s agriculture minister, Francesco Lollobrigida, was livid when he saw a jar of carbonara sauce on the shelves of the Delhaize store inside the Parliament in Brussels that contained pancetta rather than guanciale — the cheek of it! (Guanciale is pork cheek, get it? No? Oh.) Lollobrigida said such products represent the “worst of ‘Italian-sounding’” foodstuffs and called for an “immediate investigation.” Thank goodness there isn’t a war (or several) going on. That said, passing off food as Italian is a big financial deal. Agricultural group Coldiretti reckons the “scandal of fake Italian products” costs the country €120 billion a year. Italy has also applied for Italian cuisine to be included in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list (which basically means you can’t f**k with it). On a side note, already on the UNESCO list is “shrimp fishing on horseback” in Oostduinkerke, Belgium. I didn’t know shrimp could ride horses! Italian Prime …
