Italian restaurants put to the test


The Italian Government is launching a new initiative to put some authenticity back into Italian restaurants which dot almost every corner of the globe.

The scheme, to be announced by the Agriculture Ministry, will test the red, white and green credentials of trattorias, pizzerias and ristorantes around the world - many of which are Italian in name alone.
Italians are also irritated when they go abroad to find the most basic terms mis-spelled on so-called Italian menus.
I don't know what's the power of the Italian government abroad, but if they really can force standards on world-wide Italian restaurants, then it's going to bring a lot of confusion. Imagine all Japanese Italian restaurants having to change their name because they don't serve authentic Italian food. On the other hand, I understand Italian people. Japanese do the same abroad ; they wouldn't trust Japanese food to be authentic if the cooks are not Japanese using only imported Japanese produce. I've read somewhere that China wanted to patent traditional food name. So you couldn't call a dish Peking duck if the restaurant is not approved by the Chinese gov.