Another small victory for Grandma’s wisdom: Italian researchers have found that hot pepper is good for digestion and helps combat nausea.

A team from Bologna’s University, lead by Marco Bartolotti, studied the properties of one of Italy’s favorite condiments, called peperoncino.

Volunteers, who frequently lamented digestive troubles and chronic stomach pain, were given 2.5 grams of hot pepper before meals for five weeks. At first, symptoms worsened, but by the end of the trial they reported 60% less pain and digestion difficulties. The effect is attributed to capsaicin, a substance in the hot pepper which blocks pain messages sent to the brain. Poor digestion afflicts between 25-30% of Italians aged 20 to 65.
Bartolotti, however, doesn’t recommend home treatments with hot pepper until a doctor ascertains the individual causes of stomach pain.

www.fiery-foods.com/dave/peperoncino.html
Simple ways to serve up the spice…

Chalk up another one for Italian ingenuity: the pizza vending machine. Entrepreneur Giovanni Demaggio, 35, has created a machine which serves a four-slice pizza in 90 seconds, for about $3.
Remains to be seen whether Wonder Pizza be a hit with foreign consumers, since two out of three pizzas offered probably aren’t the most popular among non-Italian palates: Neapolitan (oregano, anchovies and capers), Quattro Stagioni ( olives, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, ham) and the Margherita (cheese and a sprig of basil.) By the end of 2002, Wonder Pizza will be sold in 1,000 European outlets including airports, train stations and offices.

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Take some time out for a real treat….

+32.8% increase in number of restaurants
+29% increase in bars & nightclubs
+127% increase in bed & breakfasts
+658% increase in fast food & delis

Fast food in becoming big business in Italy, according to statistics from Milan’s Chamber of Commerce. Italians are eating out more than ever, but the big boom is snack & run eating.
"People really want to forget all the hassle of supermarkets, cooking and just enjoy food more," said restaurant owner Angelo Gagliardi. "They want to treat themselves and buying food instead of preparing it is starting to become very common, even here. " Only ten years ago, busy Milan had only 57 take-out pizza places and delis, now there are 417; cafeterias serving hordes of office workers increased from from 15 to 42.

Foodartisans.com
An innovative cooking school dedicated to preserving Tuscany’s food heritage…

Although dried salted cod (baccal?) is probably not the Italian dish coveted by most visitors, it has become precious merchandise on the black market.
Refrigerated trucks bringing baccal? to Italy from Norway have been hijacked so frequently in recent months that insurers now refuse to guarantee shipments anywhere south of Rome. A traditional favorite on Italian tables during the holidays, often served fried or with garlic and parsley, the Bel Paese spends ? 187 million (approx. $166 million USD) on baccal? yearly.
Gunnar Apeland, spokesperson for the Norwegian Truck Owners Association, says these hijacks have become business as usual in Italy. As a result Apeland has urged truck drivers to use guarded parking lots and to take as few rest stops as possible. Newspapers have reported that some refrigerated trucks have even hired armed guards to deter possible attacks.
Mario Esposito, president of the Italian Association of Norwegian Royal Stockfish, smells something fishy, "I hope they’re not trying to discredit us, once again, with the insinuation that all Italians are members of the Mafia." His solution to the hijacks means to ensure Italians will get their baccalà by any means necessary: "If they don’t want to send trucks here, we’ll send Italians up there to bring it back down."?1999-2004 zoomata.com

Zoomata is the brainchild of a bilingualjournalist based in Italy who thinks out of the box. This brain is for hire.
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