Italy's food is famous the world over but many talented young chefs, hoping to make a career in their country, find themselves frustrated by low pay, lack of labour protection and scant prospects.
The current outflow of Italian chefs due to difficult conditions at home is not a new phenomenon.
A peep into the kitchens of even the most traditional Italian restaurants shows the local dishes are often prepared by low-paid immigrants.
Partly for this reason, young chefs in Italy take home half the salary of their peers in Britain while working longer hours, Mazzei said.
British people have become knowledgeable about Italian food, even learning about regional differences, he said, so he preferred to hire Italian chefs to satisfy an increasingly demanding clientele.
Persons:
Davide Sanna, Brendan McDermid, Sanna, he'd, It's, Massimo Bottura, Roberto Gentile, Paese, Gentile, Di Marzo, Julio, Francesco Mazzei, Mazzei, Giorgia Meloni's, Francesco Lollobrigida, Antonio Bassu, Bassu, Gavin Jones, Daniel Flynn
Organizations:
REUTERS, Rights, Star, Michelin, European, European Labour Authority, Reuters, MELONI'S, PRIDE Italian, Thomson
Locations:
SoHo, New York City, U.S, Sardinia, New York, Italy, Italian, glitzy SoHo, Modena, Spain, Japan, France, Europe, United States, Sicily, ITALY, Le, Toulouse, Britain, Milan, Gaeta, Rome, Naples, Roman, Emilia, Peruvian, Calabria, Italy's, London, Malta, England, Sardinian, Barcelona