2012 is the year to watch out for fake Italian food. The Italian farm bureau Coldiretti recently carried out a survey on Italian products outside Italy and two out of three turned out to be fake!
Many of the ‘bad’ imitations try to catch the consumer’s eye with words, colors, pictures and recipes reminiscent of Italy, but which alas contain little or no relation to Bel Paese in regard to ingredients…or taste.
The most creative emulators of our fair cuisine are the United States, Australia, New Zealand and, unsurprisingly perhaps, China.
Some of the ‘bad copies’ are hilarious, such as the “Cambozola”, a German cheese that claims to be comparable to Gorgonzola, the “Pompeian” olive oil made in Maryland (US), Peppino’s green, white and red pasta directly produced in Austria, the San Marzano tomatoes “grown domestically in USA” and lastly the Chianti wine made in Napa Valley, California.
Unfortunately it’s hard to find the ‘True’ taste of Italy beyond the country’s borders, because what makes an Italian product truly special is not just the ingredients, but the allied traditions, relations and passion of the Italian people…
