Special Neapolitan pizza to symbolise Expo Milano 2015
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Special Neapolitan pizza to symbolise Expo Milano 2015

Special Neapolitan pizza to symbolise Expo Milano 2015

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(AGI) Rome, March 26 - A special Neapolitan pizza certifiedwith Controlled Designation of Origin (DOC), to be the symbolof the Expo Milano 2015, was presented at a meeting of theRome-based Italian National Commission for UNESCO, convened togive the green light to including the Art of Neapolitan PizzaChefs in the Intangibile Heritage List. The news was announcedby Coldiretti, the Italian farmers' association, highlightingthat the new pizza was created by the Antica Pizzeria Brandi ofNaples. Legend has it that in 1889, chef Raffaele Esposito wassummoned to the Royal Palace of Capodimonte, the summerresidence of the royal family, to prepare his famous pizza forthe King and Queen Margherita of Savoy. Esposito created thepizza Margherita in honour of the Queen, with tomato,mozzarella cheese and basil representing the colours of theItalian flag. Now, in the era of globalisation, it has becomeimportant to defend the national identity, and this is why thesymbol of Expo Milano 2015 was made with DOC Neapolitaningredients: "Mozzarella di Bufala Campana", "PenisolaSorrentina" extra-virgin olive oil, "Pomodoro San Marzanodell'Agro Sarnese-Nocerino" tomatoes and "Pomodorino delpiennolo del Vesuvio" cherry tomatoes, all of which arecertified by the European Union with the Protected Designationof Origin (AOC after the French) quality assurance label forItalian food products. The Expo's iconic pizza capitalises onthe national identity of Italy, in a situation in which two outof three of the nation's pizzas (63 percent) are made out of amix of flour, tomato, mozzarella and oil produced thousands ofkilometres away, with no specific indication for consumers. Toooften the mozzarella 'cheese' is derived not from milk but fromindustrially semi-processed curd produced in eastern Europe,the tomatoes are from China or America, Tunisia and Spainprovide the olive oil (or even seed oil) and the flour isFrench, German or Ukrainian - "an avalanche of raw materialsthat unfortunately have considerably undermined the originalthree-coloured product and also the promising employmentopportunities that could arise in the national agro-foodsector", said Coldiretti's president, Roberto Moncalvo. Hecontinued: "Guaranteeing the national origin of the ingredientsand the processing methods means defending a piece of ourhistory but also Italy's distinctiveness in the face of unfaircompetition." The Italian character of pizza is an importantfactor because 39 percent of Italians consider pizza theculinary symbol of Italy, according to a poll carried out onthe www.coldiretti.it website, while an online survey of theDante Alighieri Society revealed that Pizza is the most widelyknown Italian word abroad, with 8 percent of the votes,followed by Cappuccino (7 percent), Spaghetti (7 percent), andEspresso (6 percent). See #hashtag #pizzaunesco on Twitter.(AGI) . .
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