A spinach pizza from Torino Photo: Nova / Wikimedia
Amar, the association of Italian pizza-makers is demanding a law setting standards for training and licensing pizza makers to preserve the heritage of one of Italy’s most widely-known foods…and they are threatening to take the fight elsewhere if they don’t get it.
“If we don’t have an answer by September we will take the proposals to another country and try to get the law passed there,” Enzo Prete, president of Amar, told TheLocal.it. “We’re already in discussions with a country but I can’t say which one for reasons of privacy.”
The bill they want, which has been introduced in the Italian Parliament, and states “The preparation of pizza is an art that has been handed down over centuries. Italy is responsible for ensuring the quality of it’s traditional foods and should institute a roster of pizza makers through a European pizza makers license.”
Under the proposals, aspiring pizza makers would have to attend a course of at least 120 hours. These would be broken down into 70 hours of practical pizza making, 20 hours of food science studies, 20 hours of hygiene and food safety classes and 20 hours of foreign languages.
Gumbo added up the course hours listed above and suggests adding 10 hours of math.
