The laughs of Italian tourists abroad when seeing the most ridiculous imitations of Italian specialties.
28/07/2015
Italy, for years, has been fighting to obtain recognition of authenticity and international safeguards against food piracy and imitation of typical Italian products.
The United States, Canada and Mexico are the biggest consumers of products made locally but carrying Italian-sounding names. To fight Italian sounding, country-of-origin food labeling is one of the contentious issues at the heart of negotiations between EU and abroad government authorities.
But something hilarious in this history exists: the names of products. Besides the many possible misspelling of pizza toppings and spaghetti sauces, you can find thousands of clumsy imitations of Italian food. If you want the irrefutable prove that you are in front of an Italian sounding product, you can ask to an Italian to read the name on the label and if he or she laughs, well that’s not an authentic Italian product.
Some example, and ridiculous, names are:
- Pepperoni salami to describe pickled peppers
- Daniele Prosciutto
- Salam Naples
- Parmesao or Parmasello
- Reggianito
- Fontiago
- Bovizola and Combozola, as cream cheeses
- Toscano oil, produced outside of Italy and colored with chlorophyll
These names, rather than be very funny, mask a lower-quality food and damage the Italian brand reputation. Counterfeiting is the perfect imitation of a brand or product, but it differs from the original in substance, value or country of origin. A food and beverage products can simulate its Italianness with a mix of Italian names, logos, images and slogan that sound as originated from Italy.
Now, if you want recognize an authentic Italian product and you haven’t Italians around, read the article What does Italian sounding means?
