Pizza Police Pursue Posers

Think that pineapple-and ham-concoction is a pizza? Not according to Italian law, Julie Reno writes in the Smart Set. Only hand-kneaded dough, rolled to no more than 14 inches in diameter, topped with San Marzano plum tomatoes and baked in a brick wood-fired oven qualifies. La Pizza Polizia crown such authentic Neapolitan pies with Guaranteed Traditional Specialty status: Only two NYC pizzerias have made the cut.

Italy joins Japan and its sushi police in an effort to safeguard a national cuisine from copious posers. Critics say the Italians are trying to copyright a food whose varieties also hold cultural meaning in certain places. As for the Japanese, they unleashed a global hunt for sushi imposters, but take no issue with dousing their pizzas with mayonnaise. (More pizza stories.)