One of our readers, who works for a large company in the fruit sector, was recently in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand. He visited a local supermarket, part of the Woolworths chain, and noticed something really peculiar - a packet of tomatoes with the "Romagna" (registered) brand.
"I couldn't believe my eyes. I noticed it while I was taking my Chinese colleagues for some shopping and it made me smile. Italian-sounding products are very popular here, but very few actually come from Italy. It often happens that the brand is Italian but the place of origin is New Zealand or Australia."
It was actually a special offer with two 750 gr packets for 6NZD, i.e. around €3.90. "Pomorosso date tomatoes and Campari cherry tomatoes were also on special offer - all proudly grown in New Zealand."
We must stress that the packet reports clearly that the tomatoes are grown locally in New Zealand. It also states that they are perfect to make Mediterranean-style salad. In addition, the packet says that the tomatoes are of the "Roma" variety and that Romagna is pronounced Ro-man-ya.
We have visited the website of the producer, which specialises in tomatoes. Among the various brands, there is another that hints at Italy - PomoRosso - and the description reports it as a type of San Marzano.
We contacted them to ask why they chose the name, as Romagna is not one of the areas most famous for tomato production, and it would be curious to know how they know it. We'll keep you posted.