Regions locked in dessert warfare

ITALY: Tiramisu is one of the world’s most popular desserts, but it has brought nothing but bitterness between two rival regions in Italy.

Veneto and neighbouring Friuli Venezia Giulia have for years been locked in a battle over which can claim to be its true birthplace. Now, Friuli Venezia Giulia has scored a significant victory in the culinary clash after persuading the Italian government to officially decree tiramisu one of its traditional dishes.

The Friulians insist their claim is backed by historical records dating from the 1950s, referring to a dessert called ‘‘tirime su’’ or ‘‘tirimi su’’ being produced in the region, including at a restaurant in the town of Tolmezzo in 1959.

But the claim has been met with outrage in Veneto, which has long claimed that the dessert was invented by Ada Campeol at her restaurant in the town of Treviso in the 1970s, when she craved something to give her an energy boost after the birth of her son.

Luca Zaia, the governor of Veneto, is threatening legal action.

‘‘I’m literally thunderstruck in response to this decree,’’ he said. ‘‘It seems to me that someone has given the ministry not entirely accurate documentation.’’

The son of the woman credited by the authorities with the dessert’s invention in Friuli said it was a product of his mother’s kitchen in the Hotel Roma in Tolmezzo, and that it predated the Veneto version by two decades.

Mario Del Fabbro said his mother, Norma, simply called it ‘‘mascarpone slice’’. It was given its new name, which means ‘‘pickme-up’’, in 1953, when a group of skiers commented on its energygiving qualities.