The Italian government passes a law against “molecular cuisine”, barring use of liquid nitrogen and chemical additives in restaurant kitchens. It expires in less than a year, though. [Caput Mundi Cibus via Tyler Cowen]
Chronicling the high cost of our legal system
by Walter Olson on March 18, 2010
The Italian government passes a law against “molecular cuisine”, barring use of liquid nitrogen and chemical additives in restaurant kitchens. It expires in less than a year, though. [Caput Mundi Cibus via Tyler Cowen]
Tagged as: Italy, restaurants

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In a way what is really funny about this is that, although the intention was to ban the use of liquid nitrogen, the authors of the law were too stupid to accomplish this. The law actually bans “sostanze in forma gassosa” and therefore does not apply to liquid nitrogen which, not surprisingly, is a liquid, not a gas. Furthermore, the law excepts from this prohibition food additives already permitted and regulated. It turns out that nitrogen is defined as a permissible food additive in European Union regulations.
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