Discovering the secrets for an authentic italian meal!

While living in the UK I have met a lot of people who love Italian food and love to try our classic Italian recipes. I have also seen a lot of Italian restaurants with red, white and green flags, pizza and pasta places with Italian names but… fake menus!!!
Unfortunately this is something I see quite often… so it’s in fact quite difficult for me to suggest good, genuine Italian restaurants when someone asks me.

So at this point I’m asking: what makes an Italian restaurant genuinely Italian? What do you think are the secrets in creating a proper Italian restaurant?

On the 6th of July, the Italian government decided to create a  DOC badge for 1,000 real Italian restaurants abroad to help the "Made in Italy. The reason was to support "Made in Italy" all around the world and to help the consumers finding the right place for their Italian meals. The characteristics chosen to determine these as genuine Italian restaurants are: first of all at least 50% of the restaurant’s menu had to consist of typical Italian dishes. The restaurant has to have a chef qualified to cook classic Italian recipes as well as a correct written Italian menu. The use of Italian extra-virgin olive oil is also an important criteria but most important of all is the presence of at least 5 recognized Italian PGI or DOC products in the menu.

So the menu and the atmosphere and especially the quality of real Italian products are some of the secrets behind an Italian restaurant. However none of these elements alone can create a good Italian restaurant itself!

Some of the restaurants following those basic rules in London are:  Tinello,  Semplice  and Locanda Locatelli. Locanda Locatelli belongs to the famous Italian chef Giorgio Locatelli who at one point this summer was interviewed by the Sunday Times for their column “Eating in”. During the interview the chef revealed some typical Italian recipes as well as his favorite and essential and original ingredients. Among others the pasta from Pastificio dei Campi was on the list! We are proud to be recognized from a chef like him.

Now of course I'm not saying that without these specific pasta you won't have a real italian restaurant and meal but, as mentioned earlier this is one of the GPI products a restaurant needs to have. So try to be aware about what kind of products a restaurant uses, what dishes are in the menu and what’s the story behind the place! And if you want to have a laugh about some of the most common fake italian dishes, ingredients and products abroad, please check out this hilarious blog post from Elena. It's great!
  

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The truly pasta's charm

There is no better way to introduce you in the world of Pastificio dei Campi starting with  "Festa della Pasta di Gragnano".

Festa della Pasta di Gragnano it's a very important event held in the Hometown of pasta, taking place since years in Gragnano, city near Naples and on the amazing Sorrento's peninsula. This year the subtitle of this festival will be "L'incanto della Pasta" or "Pasta's charm".

This year the festival has been even bigger and well deserved because just at the end of July, the pasta from Gragnano obtained the PGI, Protected geographical indication (IGP in Italy).

What does this exactly mean? In other words, to receive the PGI status, the entire product must be traditionally and at least PARTIALLY manufactured (prepared, processed OR produced) within the specific region and thus acquire unique properties.

This is really a great news for all the pasta factories in the area, and a very big recognition of their secular story as pasta makers and place of traditions. Basically they admitted the unique value of this pasta, for the place where it born and the way it is made, but this also protects the tradition, the consumers and the pasta makers too.

Have you never tried this pasta? I think you will understand everything at the first bite and with the time I will help you to discover the rest of the secrets behind this product.

In the meantime enjoy the pictures from the marvelous Festival here and on the italian blog.

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