Page 11 - IAV Digital Magazine #596

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Denmark Recalls Popular Korean Noodles Over Excessive Spiciness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZuQ6fAau9k
By Andrew Naughtie
It is not clear what triggered the recall. In a statement, a Samyang Foods offi- cial told the Korea Times that they would be investigating.
“It seems that the Danish food authori- ties have initiated the recall due to concerns that the excessive spiciness could cause problems, not because of any quali- ty issues with the product,” the compa- ny said. “We plan to closely examine the Danish regulations and respond to the
recall accordingly.”
Social media users have been quick poke fun at Denmark for its supposedly puny spice tolerance, jok- ing that cardamom - a strong but not hot herb - is probably hot enough for most Danes' palates.
It's not the first time a Nordic country has been mocked for its cuisine. But other countries have faced real consequences for doing so on other occasions.
In 2005, then-French President Jacques
Chirac was overheard joking about the quali- ty of British cuisine in a three-way conver- sation with none other than Vladimir Putin and Gerhard Schröder.
“You cannot trust peo- ple who cook as badly as that,” he said, according to French daily newspa- per Libération. “After Finland, it's the coun- try with the worst food.”
The comments were not meant to be pub- licly shared, and small wonder: at the time, France was
competing with the UK for the chance to host the 2012 Olympics, and the International Olympic Committee panel charged with making the decision counted two Finns among its ranks.
The games were ulti- mately held in London, and Paris would have to wait another 12 years for its next chance.
Chirac wasn’t the only leader from a gastro- nomic superpower to throw shade on Finland’s food culture. At the inception of the European Food Safety Authority in 2002, Silvio Berlusconi told an EU summit that it would be absurd for the agency to be based in Finland because “the Finns don’t even know what prosciutto is".
He also mocked Finnish cuisine as dominated by “mari- nated reindeer” (a dish not, in fact, wide- ly consumed in Finland) and described it as some- thing he “endured” on a diplomatic visit.
Once again, the Finns
had their revenge. In 2008, Finnish chain restaurant Kotipizza began selling the “Pizza Berlusconi”: red onions, mush- rooms and smoked reindeer atop a wholemeal and rye flour base.
At the time, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera described the pizza as “innova- tive and very tasty”, but likened its name to an act of revenge.
Radio commercials for the chain riffed on the incident with lines like “A 97-year-old granny bit into a Berlusconi. Be like that sprightly old lady” and “A minister forked up a Berlusconi. You can, too, sensibly and responsibly”.
Worse still for the Italians, the Nordic concoction won first place at the world- renowned New York Pizza Show — beat- ing two Neapolitan chefs.
Nevertheless, while Helsinki and Parma vied to host the EU's prestigious food agency, it was the Italian city known for its prosciutto that ulti- mately won out.
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine