1.What will the government award to the deserving restaurants abroad? ...
2.What is one of the dual aims of the plan of taste police? To promote ...
3.Why do some argue Italy's taste police will be toothless? Because restaurants will decide whether they ...
So long soggy spaghetti, tasteless tagliatelle and papery pizza ? at least if the Italian government's taste police get their way. Ministers said they wanted to clean up the red-white-and-green credentials of the estimated 60,000 restaurants around the world passing themselves off as Italian. So the government is creating a certificate that will be awarded to deserving establishments abroad from the 300 or so in the Middle East and 25,000 in Europe. The dual aim is to promote Italy abroad and ensure tastebuds are being tickled by authentic Mediterranean fare. "There are people out there who don't realize pizza is an Italian word and ask us what we call it," lamented Adolfo Urso, deputy industry minister, at a news conference. And Agriculture Minister Gianni Alemanno said even if eateries did flaunt Italian roots, it was often a false claim. "Most have nothing more Italian about them than the name above the door or a tricolor flag draped outside," he said. The certificate, still without a name, would ensure restaurants offered genuine Italian menus and used authentic produce, instead of ingredients such as a German cheese marketed with the Italian-sounding name of cambonzola. Some argue that Italy's taste police will be toothless because restaurants will have the final say on whether or not they want to be tested under the voluntary scheme.