To a country that considers boiled beef as "mouth watering", it might seem as much a waste of time to talk to them of "cuisine", as to recite the "classics" to a monkey.

Yes, we understand that some "sharp" foreign dishes might have to be "muted" to suit local tastes, BUT unless you start with Good Ingredients, you are going downhill ab initio.

Therefore, Antonio Carluccio, who owns the eponymous restaurant chain in Britain is "speaking to the hand" in attempting to inform Britons about anything epicurean. But then again, who can teach anything to anyone who is still "living" the British Empire?

With the massive growth in popularity recently in England of Italian fare, the Chef Boyardee franchise would seem very valuable in Britain. :)

Carluccio berates supermarkets for offering wrong ingredients
and unauthentic recipes

The London Guardian
Sandra Laville
Tuesday September 7, 2004
 

First the curry fell victim to the British habit of taking liberties with a national cuisine. Now Italian food is being subjected to a form of culinary colonialism with the big supermarkets serving up a diet of "Britalian" food that tastes nothing like the real thing, according to a leading Italian chef.

Antonio Carluccio, who owns the eponymous restaurant chain, believes classic Italian dishes such as spaghetti napolitana are being made with the wrong ingredients and not to authentic recipes.

Even the Italian government has taken up the issue, lashing out at the production by supermarkets of bland pasta sauces in the belief that they are genuinely Italian.

Mr Carluccio believes the supermarkets are capitalising on a massive growth in the popularity of Italian food. With the British market for Italian ready meals, pasta, sauces, olive oil and bread, forecast to grow by 33.3% between 2003 and 2007 - making it worth £1.38bn - Mr Carluccio believes the big chains are not doing enough to ensure they are using the best, most authentic ingredients.

His complaints echo those who criticise the anglicisation of Indian food, something which has reduced the culinary diversity of a sub-continent to the chicken tikka masala. "Supermarkets have committed huge crimes when it comes to Italian food," Mr Carluccio said in The Grocer magazine. "It's often what I would call Britalian food ... Everyone has jumped on the bandwagon."

Quality was compromised, he said, because the supermarkets put cost first. With such a large share of the market they could drive down prices and shop around for the cheapest, but not necessarily the best, products.

The diluting of traditional Italian cuisine into a hybrid anglicised version comes at a time when increasing numbers of people are experimenting with the Mediterranean diet. Italian trade commission information reveals that the fastest growth areas for Italian suppliers are cheese, cured meats, bakery, nuts, balsamic vinegar and selected olive oils and pasta sauces.

A recent survey by Mintel in The Grocer magazine of 1,019 adults revealed the under-35s in particular are turning to Italian cuisine for their staple daily meals.

Cheeses, risotto rice and Italian meats such as Parma ham, Milano or Napoli salami are popular choices but dried pasta remains the most purchased Italian product, with 78% of those surveyed saying they had bought it in the past three months.

Sainsbury's, which uses Jamie Oliver to promote its Italian range, said while the popularity of Italian food was growing, the British palate was just not ready for too much authenticity.

John Wood, the supermarket's executive chef, said: "We are using recipes we have developed ourselves. We try to make them a bit authentic but it's like the case of Thai, Indian or Chinese cuisine. If we did 100% authentic produce and recipes, the customer base would not be ready for it."

Customer taste-tests of Italian sauces for pastas had shown the British public did not like too much garlic or very acidic Italian tomatoes, he said. People had also been averse to the more traditional Italian way of presenting pasta which is much drier than the English version, with just a coating of sauce on top. Sainsbury's customers rejected this dish in favour of more sloppy, tomato-based varieties, Mr Wood said.

"I agree to a certain extent with what Carluccio is saying. But there is a niche market for the produce he has in his delis and we have to develop our range over time and respond to what British people want."

Tesco, however, saw no merit in the warnings of the Italian chef.

"The creators of our Italian foods go to great lengths to develop the best products for customers, consulting top Italian chefs, sourcing the finest ingredients and using the best recipes. It remains a hit with customers," a spokesman said.

Taste test - The deli owner's verdict...

We put two of the leading supermarket green pestos to a taste test. Joseph Gazzano, 55, is the owner of Gazzano's delicatessen in London, which has been in his family since 1901.

He was unimpressed by British versions of the Italian pasta sauce.

Mr Gazzano said pesto, a speciality of the Liguria region where basil grows plentifully, should always be made with extra-virgin olive oil, pine nuts, pecorino romano cheese, salt and a touch of garlic. In the supermarket products he found rogue ingredients such as cashew nuts and potatoes.

"Too many things are being called Italian that aren't," he said. Sally James Gregory

Marks & Spencer
Classic pesto £1.79 (190g)
Taste: Somewhat acidic, and catches a bit in the throat.
"Urgh, tastes rancid," was the final verdict
Smell: Not a nice clean basil smell, as pesto should have
Score: 4/10

Sainsbury's Green pesto £1.46 (190g)
Taste: Saltier; too salty in fact. More cheese though, which is why the
salt content is higher. A pleasanter taste, but not an even basil taste
Smell: Too cheesy
Score: 6/10

Carluccio's Pesto genovese £4.25 (180g)
Taste: Made with sweet basil as it should be, but has a taste of dry basil as well. Best of the lot.
Smell: You can actually smell the basil
Score: 9/10

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Chef sticks knife into 'Britalian' fare
http://www.guardian.co.uk/italy/story/
0,12576,1298766,00.html