Coldiretti slams FT for 'surreal attack' on Italian cuisine

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 27 - Italian farmers' association Coldiretti on Sunday slammed an article published by the Financial Times that it claims mounts a "surreal attack" on traditional Italian food.
    The article, titled 'Everything I, an Italian, thought I knew about Italian food is wrong', challenges received ideas about some of the "classics" of Italian cuisine, suggesting that they are "actually recent inventions".
    Coldiretti described the article as "a surreal attack on the iconic dishes of Italian cuisine, precisely on the occasion of the announcement of its candidacy for UNESCO's Intangible Heritage of Humanity." The article "tries to trivialize traditional national food, from carbonara to panettone, from tiramisu to Parmigiano Reggiano," said the agricultural organization, adding that many of the claims were "imaginative".
    Coldiretti also warned of the possible economic consequences of such claims, as well as of the damage to image.
    "The lack of clarity on Made in Italy recipes in fact provides fertile ground for the proliferation of fake Italian food products abroad," it said. (ANSA).