Q

Are Mafia-themed foods in bad taste?

An Italian agricultural organization wants mafia-themed food off the menu, arguing that marketers shouldn't glamorize mobsters.
An Italian agricultural organization doesn't find the actions of infamous mobster Al Capone and his ilk very appetizing. (file photo/AP)

One of the Italy's largest agricultural organizations wants mafia-themed food -- like Al Capone pasta and Chilli Mafia peanuts -- off the menu. 

Coldiretti is calling on foreign governments and the European union to stop what they call the "market of horrors" -- that is, food companies using gangsters as gimmicks and glazing over the effects of organized crime. 

For insight on the campaign, Jian speaks with Rome-based Telegraph correspondent Nick Squires. He explains the group's arguments and the disconnect between how the mafia is seen in Italy and abroad. 

'Gravely offensive'

Squires notes that mafia-themed food, or using the mafia as a marketing tool, may not seem like a big deal overseas -- but, in Italy, real victims of mafia violence have a different take. 

The group's message, in a nutshell: "It may all seem very entertaining and harmless to you guys in New York or in London or in Berlin, but actually this is gravely offensive to us."