BARI - 3 DECEMBER 2019: (Clockwise, from top left) Orecchiette, cavatelli and orecchioni made by Angela Lastella (64) are seen here on the mesh screen of a wooden tray outside her home in Bari, Italy, on December 3rd 2019.<br />
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The orecchiette are Bari's trademark ear-shaped pasta.<br />
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According to the mayor’s office, in mid October police inspectors busted a local restaurant for serving untraceable orecchiette, a violation of Italian and European Union regulations that require food in restaurants to be clearly sourced. The police fined the restaurateur and forced him to trash three kilos of pasta.<br />
The suspected orecchiette suppliers are permitted to sell small plastic baggies of pasta for personal use, but are not licensed to deal large, unlabeled shipments to restaurants. The fear in a city where many families have their go-to pasta lady, is that Italy’s zeal for regulations, however often ignored, risk shutting down a source of local pride that is one of Bari’s biggest tourist attractions.