The King of Cheeses

Posted on July 25, 2019 by babbityjean

Among the 10 Commandments of Italian cooking are:  Never put cream in Carbonara sauce; never put pineapple on pizza; and never put cheese on a fish dish.  The laws are constantly challenged by foreigners and are met with a range of reactions from Italian chefs.  A recent incident exploded on social media and in European tabloids after the owner of a traditional Italian restaurant in London “chased” a customer from his establishment for having the gall to ask for parmesan on his crab ravioli.

Even the official consortium of Parmigiano Reggiano entered the debate: “Who says you NEVER put parmesan on fish?  It is a myth to debunk.” Customers’ tastes and chefs’ desires to experiment have evolved over time.  “The great chefs use the king of cheeses combining it with fruit and vegetables, to embellish meat and fish, and even to prepare tasty desserts.”  Some chefs say that you cannot generalize:  Not all parmesan has the same flavor notes and it is up to the chef’s talent to choose the most suitable ones for different combinations of taste.  The consortium continues:  “A young 12-month-old Parmigiano Reggiano—delicate, with hints of milk, yogurt and fresh fruit—is perfect to enrich salads and combine with a sparkling white wine; a 36-month-old Parmigiano has a stronger taste—with notes of spices, dried fruit and meat broth—and is ideal for stuffed pasta, or to be enjoyed at the end of a meal with fruit and honey, accompanied by Marsala or even a Trentino grappa.”

While the use of Parmigiano Reggiano has changed over time, the way it is made is a hymn to tradition. It is not industrially manufactured; rather it is made only by the expert hands and under the watchful eyes of cheesemakers using the same artigianale methods passed down since the 13thcentury.  Traditionally, it is made from cow’s milk in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilio, Bologna and Modena; cows are fed only grass or hay. Starter whey and calf rennet are added, and following several procedures, the cheese is put into stainless steel rounds that are pulled tight with a spring-powered buckle (a touch of modernity).  After a day or two, the buckle is released and a plastic belt imprinted with the Parmigiano Reggiano name, the plant number, and month and year of production is put around the cheese and the metal form is buckled tight again.  The wheel is then put in a brine bath to absorb salt, the only additive in the process.  The wheels are transferred to aging rooms and placed on wooden shelves that can be 24 cheeses high by 90 cheeses long, or 2,160 total wheels per aisle. The average wheel is 7-9 inches high, 16-18 inches in diameter, and weighs about 84 pounds.

After 12 months, the Parmigiano-Reggiano Consortium inspects each wheel.  A master grader taps the wheel to identify any cracks or voids. Wheels that pass are heat branded on the rind with the Consortium’s logo.  Wheels can then be aged further.  Founded in 1928, the Consortium sets and enforces standards for making the cheese, and all producers belong to it.  As of 2017 about 3.6 million wheels are produced annually; they use about 18% of all the milk produced in Italy.

The European Union has designated Parmigiano Reggiano (from the specified provinces) as a DOP (protected designation of origin).  Outside the EU, the name “Parmesan” can legally be used; however, there are many deceptive and ambiguous practices that make products made elsewhere appear to be Made in Italy.  According to Coldiretti, the major organization representing agricultural interests in Italy and the European Union, these deceptive practices begin with the United States and with Parmigiano Reggiano.  So highly regarded is this cheese that even in Italy the Mafia has hijacked delivery trucks on the Autostrada A1 between Milan and Bologna. Between 2013 and 2015, organized crime stole 2039 wheels from Italian warehouses.

Perhaps theft and deception should be the real tabús.  Putting the king of cheeses on fish dishes seems far less heretical.

Posted in Abitudini, Cucina italiana, Differenze culturali, English, Formaggio, Foto, Italia, Storia | Leave a comment

Gli schemi Ponzi

Posted on July 18, 2019 by babbityjean

Lui è un campione italiano di tennis noto per la sua costanza, l’equilibrio e lo spirito sportivo dentro e fuori dal campo. Come riportato recentemente dai giornali italiani, anche Andreas Seppi, trentacinquenne tennista italiano, è diventato vittima di uno schema finanziario fraudolento che in Italia è detto schema Ponzi, in cui gli investitori sono pagati, non con i profitti di un sottostante bene, ma con i fondi di investitori più recenti.  Perché è chiamato schema “Ponzi”?

Charles Ponzi (1882–1949) nacque a Lugo in Italia.  I suoi antenati erano benestanti, ma la famiglia aveva vissuto momenti difficili. All’età di 21 anni, lui emigrò in America. In seguito dichiarò al New York Times: “Sono atterrato in questo paese con 2,5 di dollari in contanti e 1 milione di dollari di speranza”. Imparò rapidamente l’inglese e fece molti lavoretti. Diversi anni dopo si trasferì da Boston a Montreal; la sua personalità affascinante e allegra gli permise di trovare lavoro in una banca, prima come cassiere, poi come manager, apprendendo per la prima volta lo schema di “derubando Pietro per pagare Paolo”.  La banca pagava il 6% di interessi sui depositi bancari, il doppio del tasso corrente all’epoca. A causa di prestiti immobiliari poco oculati, la banca era in difficoltà finanziaria; stava pagando gli interessi, non attraverso i profitti sugli investimenti, ma attraverso il denaro depositato nei conti di nuova apertura. Alla fine la banca fallì.

Dopo una serie di truffe, Ponzi tornò a Boston, dove ebbe l’idea di vendere tagliandi postali.  Era un tipo di arbitraggio, in cui si poteva acquistare la posta a un prezzo inferiore in un paese e poi rivenderla in un altro paese ad un prezzo più alto.  Aveva bisogno di raccogliere fondi per attuare questo piano e promise agli investitori che avrebbe raddoppiato i loro soldi in 90 giorni; in seguito, lo ridusse a 45 giorni con il 50% di interesse. A quel tempo, le banche pagavano un tasso di interesse del 5%.

Ponzi fondò la sua compagnia nel gennaio 1920. Nel giro di un mese raccolse 18 investitori. Mentre si passava parola, la frenesia aumentava. A maggio di quell’anno aveva ricevuto 420.000 dollari (circa 5 milioni di dollari nel 2017) e il mese successivo la gente aveva investito 2,5 milioni di dollari (circa 30 milioni nel 2017 dollari). Le persone stavano ipotecando le loro case e investendo i risparmi di una vita. Da ragazzi dei giornali ai ricchi bramini di Boston, tutti erano desiderosi di salire a bordo. A questo ritmo, Ponzi fu in grado di rimborsare i suoi investitori come promesso, ma la maggior parte voleva reinvestire. Ponzi non riuscito mai a capire come convertire i buoni postali in denaro.

Nell’estate dello stesso anno, nacquero molti sospetti sulla rapida ascesa di Ponzi e il giornale di Boston iniziò una serie di investigazioni. Sosteneva che era tutto uno schema e che Ponzi era irrimediabilmente insolvente. Questo scatenò il panico e una massiccia corsa alla compagnia. Ad agosto tutto fallì, non solo per Ponzi, ma anche per 6 banche. Gli investitori hanno persero 20 milioni di dollari (quasi 40 milioni nel 2017). A titolo di paragone, lo schema simile a quello di Bernard Madoff, crollata con la recessione del 2008, costando ai suoi investitori circa 18 miliardi di dollari, circa 53 volte le perdite dello schema di Ponzi.

Certamente, Ponzi non fu il primo a tentare di perpetrare questa frode. Nel 1880 a Boston Sarah Howe creò il “Deposito delle signore” in cui offriva alla clientela un tasso di interesse mensile dell’80%; alla fine rubò i soldi. I romanzi di Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit e Little Dorrit, presentano questo schema. Ma poiché Charles Ponzi diventava così famoso in tutti gli Stati Uniti, il suo nome è legato allo schema.

Che mi dici di Andreas Seppi? Ha perso il suo investimento di 500.000 euro, più gli interessi promessi. Era come buttare via i premi in denaro dei tornei più importanti della sua carriera (giocati a Mosca, a Eastbourne e a Belgrado). Fortunatamente, non è andato in rovino.

Anche le persone molto intelligenti possono essere vittime di questi schemi. Bernie Madoff ha adottato un approccio leggermente diverso da Charles Ponzi. Piuttosto che offrire alti ritorni a tutti, offriva ritorni modesti, ma costanti, a una clientela esclusiva. La sua metodologia di investimento era “troppo complicata da comprendere per gli estranei”. Offriva investimenti per lo più al benestante circuito ebraico, che incontrava nei country club di Long Island e a Palm Beach. Ma si rifiutava di incontrare gli investitori; questo gli ha dato un’aura di “Oz” e ha aumentato il fascino del suo “fondo”. Tra le sue vittime c’era la squadra di baseball, The New York Mets. Poiché la frode del 2008 è la più grande della storia, forse lo schema merita un nuovo nomignolo, lo schema “Made-Off” (cioè, Portato Via).

 

 

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Ponzi Schemes

Posted on July 18, 2019 by babbityjean

He is an Italian tennis champion known for his consistency, balance, and sportsmanship on and off the court.  But, as the Italian newspapers reported recently, Andreas Seppi, a 35-year old top Italian tennis player, became a victim in a fraudulent financial scheme that even in Italy is called a Ponzi scheme, in which investors are paid not by profits from an underlying asset but from the funds of more recent investors. How did this scheme get its name?

Charles Ponzi (1882-1949) was born in Lugo, Italy.  His ancestors had been well-to-do, but the family had fallen onto hard times.  At the age of 21, he emigrated to America. He later told The New York Times,“I landed in this country with $2.50 in cash and $1 million in hopes.”  He quickly learned English and took a number of odd jobs.  It was several years later that he moved from Boston to Montreal; his charming and cheerful personality enabled him to find work in a bank, first as a teller, then as a bank manager, where he first learned the scheme of “Robbing Peter to pay Paul.”  The bank was paying 6% interest on bank deposits—double the going rate at the time. Because of bad real estate loans, the bank was in serious financial trouble; it was funding the interest payments not through profits on investments but by using the money deposited in newly opened accounts.  The bank eventually failed.

After a series of scams, Ponzi returned to Boston where he came up with the idea of selling postal reply coupons.  It involved a form of arbitrage, in which one could buy postage at a lower price in one country and then sell it in another country at a higher price.  He needed to raise money to implement this plan and promised investors that he would double their investments in 90 days (he later shortened this to 45 days at 50% interest).  At the time, banks were paying a 5% annual interest rate.

Ponzi set up his company in January 1920.  Within a month he had 18 investors.  As word spread, the frenzy began building.  By May he had received $420,000 (about $5 million in 2017 dollars) and by the next month people had invested $2.5 million (about $30 in 2017 dollars). People were mortgaging their homes and investing their life savings.  Newspaper boys to rich Boston Brahmins were eager to get on board.  At this rate, Ponzi was able to pay back his investors as promised but most wanted to reinvest.  But Ponzi was never able to figure out how to convert postal coupons into cash.

By the summer of that year, suspicions arose over Ponzi’s rapid rise, and the Boston newspaper began a series of investigative reporting.  It claimed that it was all a scheme and that Ponzi was hopelessly insolvent.  This touched off panic and a massive run on the company, and by August it all came crashing down not only for Ponzi but also for 6 banks.  Investors lost $20 million in 1920 dollars ($225 million in 2011 dollars).  By comparison, Bernard Madoff’s similar scheme that collapsed with the recession in 2008 cost his investors about $18 billion, 53 times the losses of Ponzi’s scheme.

Ponzi certainly wasn’t the first to try to pull off this fraud.  In the 1880s in Boston Sarah Howe set up the “Ladies Deposit” in which she offered clientele an 80% monthly interest rate; she eventually stole the money. Charles Dickens’ novels, Martin Chuzzlewit and Little Dorrit, feature this scheme.  But because Charles Ponzi became so notorious throughout the U.S., his name is attached to the fraud.

What about Andreas Seppi? He lost his investment of 500,000 euros plus the promised interest.  It was like throwing away the prize money from the most important tournaments of his career in Moscow, Eastbourne and Belgrade.  Fortunately, it is not ruinous for him.

Even very smart people can fall victim to these schemes.  Bernie Madoff took a slightly different approach from Charles Ponzi. Rather than offer high returns to all comers, he offered modest but steady returns to an exclusive clientele. His investment methodology was “too complicated for outsiders to understand.”  He marketed to the well-heeled Jewish circuit he met at country clubs on Long Island and in Palm Beach.  But he refused to meet with investors, which gave him an “Oz” aura and increased the allure of his “fund.”  Among his victims was the baseball sports team, The New York Mets.  Because the 2008 fraud is the largest in history, perhaps it deserves a fresh moniker, the “Made-Off” Scheme.

 

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