real Neapolitan pizza, says EU December 11, 2009 ROME: The pizza makers of Naples have been awarded the coveted ''traditional speciality guaranteed'' label by the European Union, winning protection from imitators. Neapolitan pizza is regarded as the benchmark for pizzas around the world and the guardians of the city's centuries-old pizza-making tradition have been fighting a rearguard action for years against shoddy foreign imitations. But now pizza restaurants from New York to Nice will be forced to conform to a strict list of ingredients - only San Marzano tomatoes will suffice - and a specific method of cooking if they want to give their food the Neapolitan label. Genuine pizza napoletana must be no more than 35 centimetres in diameter, have a raised crust of 1 to 2 centimetres and a base no more than a third of a centimetre thick. The dough must be stretched by hand and cooked in a wood-fired oven on a stone slab. The Italian Agriculture Minister, Luca Zaia, said the best-known product of Naples had ''for too long been the subject of imitations which have nothing to do with the real and unique Neapolitan pizza''. Historians believe that something very much like pizza dough was used by the Etruscans between 1200BC and 550BC. But, though authorities disagree, pizza in its modern form seems to have appeared in Naples in the 18th century. The Margherita version was created in 1889 and named after Queen Margherita of Savoy. Its ingredients reflected the colours of the newly unified Italian state - red from tomatoes, white from mozzarella and green from basil. The ''traditional specialty guarantee'' label, created in 1992, says that a product has to conform to traditional ingredients and cooking methods but does not have to be made in a specific area. The EU's ''protected geographical status'' prevents regional foods from imitation or copying in other areas. Telegraph, London; Guardian News & Media

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real Neapolitan pizza, says EU

December 11, 2009

ROME: The pizza makers of Naples have been awarded the coveted ''traditional speciality guaranteed'' label by the European Union, winning protection from imitators.

Neapolitan pizza is regarded as the benchmark for pizzas around the world and the guardians of the city's centuries-old pizza-making tradition have been fighting a rearguard action for years against shoddy foreign imitations.

But now pizza restaurants from New York to Nice will be forced to conform to a strict list of ingredients - only San Marzano tomatoes will suffice - and a specific method of cooking if they want to give their food the Neapolitan label.

Genuine pizza napoletana must be no more than 35 centimetres in diameter, have a raised crust of 1 to 2 centimetres and a base no more than a third of a centimetre thick. The dough must be stretched by hand and cooked in a wood-fired oven on a stone slab.

The Italian Agriculture Minister, Luca Zaia, said the best-known product of Naples had ''for too long been the subject of imitations which have nothing to do with the real and unique Neapolitan pizza''.

Historians believe that something very much like pizza dough was used by the Etruscans between 1200BC and 550BC. But, though authorities disagree, pizza in its modern form seems to have appeared in Naples in the 18th century.

The Margherita version was created in 1889 and named after Queen Margherita of Savoy. Its ingredients reflected the colours of the newly unified Italian state - red from tomatoes, white from mozzarella and green from basil.

The ''traditional specialty guarantee'' label, created in 1992, says that a product has to conform to traditional ingredients and cooking methods but does not have to be made in a specific area. The EU's ''protected geographical status'' prevents regional foods from imitation or copying in other areas.

Telegraph, London; Guardian News & Media