UK pizzas don't cut the mustard

Ambassador says London's pizzas aren't authentic enough

Italy's envoy to the UK is leaving his post with a parting shot at "so-called Italian restaurants" in London.

Luigi Amaduzzi, speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, dismissed the bulk of such restaurants and pizzerias as "average".

He fumed at the very idea of "Hawaiian" pizza - made with pineapple and ham - as "very far from the traditional Italian taste".

Refusing to name the worst offenders, he nevertheless urged Brits to refuse to pay for inferior Italian food.

The ambassador said: "We have an enormous number of so-called Italian restaurants and it is a huge problem."

"I am very well aware that many restaurants call themselves Italian and are not Italian because their chefs are not Italian and their products and recipes are not Italian."

Mr Amaduzzi, who is leaving his position next month, added: "I tend to be traditional in my tastes. Food is an art. It should be about creativity, but within limits."