On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:52:35 -0800, Don Martinich >
wrote:

>
>
>
>I love the Italians. They're so human! Despite all DOP's and DOC's and
>other bureaucratic attempts to codify wine and food products and,
>amazingly, recipes, they manage to circumvent regulation. The following
>article is typical of those I've seen coming out of Italy for decades
>describing dilutions and "sophistications" of wine and food.
>
>'Latest Italian Food Fraud Charge Involves Mozzarella
>By NICK FOX
>Italy¹s agriculture minister ³said he had disbanded the consortium of
>producers which guarantees buffalo mozzarella quality after routine
>inspections had shown that even mozzarella produced by Luigi Chianese,
>the consortium¹s president, had been Œwatered down¹ with cow¹s milk,²
>The Times of London reports.
>
>The minister, Luca Zaia, said, ³In November, checks in major
>supermarkets in Italy found that 25 percent of the cheese sold as
>buffalo mozzarella was fake because it contained 30 percent cow milk.²
>
>It¹s not the first scandal involving buffalo mozzarella. In 2008, some
>was found to be contaminated with dioxin.' -from the New York Times
>
>Another aspect of this kind of regulation is well expressed by Daziano
>of the Italialicious food blog-
>
>"In Italy, now there¹s a tendency to define the original and true recipe
>of Italian staples: the original recipe of pesto Genovese, the true and
>only one ragù alla Bolognese recipe, the ultimate Neapolitan pizza, and
>so on. In its very conception, this search is a contradiction with the
>soul of Italian cuisine. In fact, it¹s impossible to choose only one
>recipe because in Italy each region, each town, each village and each
>mamma has their very own recipes."
>
>There is a possible plus side to this but it will never be seen here in
>the U.S. And that is consistency of menu terminology. For example, the
>term 'Bolognese' is currently used for almost any pasta dish with sauce
>containing tomatoes and meat. No, there's too much emphasis on novelty
>and fashion in today's restaurants to be so banal as to serve truly
>traditional dish.
>
>D.M.
FYI, we are trying to get the same exact thing for real & 100% Kona
Coffee. There is a International group Origin which wants the
geographic identity to be the name of the subject. Not as easy as you
may think!!

For Example----As posted in alt.coffee this morning: "A tea blend
can become the signature of one's style, or that of an entire
restaurant chain, in the same fashion as one might favor Kona coffee
over French Roast."

Egads, as another poster in a.c. said: "That's pretty sad.
(Favoring strawberries over bad copywriters)".

aloha,
Cea
PS In case you were not aware, French Roast is NOT a geographical
coffee- it's a roast profile and could be made with Kona...