It looks like veins of small bowls and is called the orecchiette - "small ears" - the pasta that has now landed in the hot air of Italian Bari. So far, tourists and locals have been able to buy the pasta directly from women who make it on site, in improvised small squares along the streets of the city. But a raid on restaurants serving homemade orecchiette has spread concern among the women.

It was in October that Baris police discovered that at least one of the city's restaurants served orecchiette of unknown origin - a violation of both Italian and European laws, which requires that food served in a restaurant be traceable to the manufacturer and delivered with a table of contents. The restaurant owner had three kilos of illegally procured homemade orecchiette in the room and was fined.

May lose source of income

Bari's pasta-making women sell only small quantities of the local delicacy for private use. They have not been forced to follow the usual rules regarding hygiene in food production, do not pay taxes and leave no receipts to their customers.

So far, the authorities have looked away, but after the raid on restaurants, a concern is now spreading in the city that the women will have to look for another source of income, or start businesses to sell. A regulation of the orecchiette market would also force the prices of the ear-shaped pasta - perhaps as much as 200 percent, La Repubblica reports.

The city's attempt to curb illegal street food sales has led to the mayor receiving bodyguard protection and the authorities' efforts have not been seen with the kind eyes of the Baribor. For some, it is a sign of globalization that they believe threatens Italian traditions.

"These women work 10-15 hours a day, seven days a week to support their unemployed spouses and sons, and that's what they get on," local resident Francesco Amoruso told the New York Times.