An Italian restaurant critic has won himself some notoriety by becoming probably the first person ever to insure his palate against injury or illness. Mr Edoardo Raspelli (49), a Milan-based food writer who contributes regularly to the Turin daily La Stampa and the weekly magazine L'Espresso, will receive compensation of 1 billion Lira (£400,000) if anything untoward should happen to his finely developed sense of taste and smell.
"Pianists have insured their hands and dancers their legs, Mr Raspelli said. "If a normal person loses his sense of taste he can still work. "But if it happened to me it would be the end of the world. Being a restaurant critic is the only skill I have."
Mr Raspelli signed a five-year contract with the Turin insurance company Reale Mutua Assicurazioni on Tuesday and will pay an annual premium of around £1,000.
"I signed with my fingers crossed. For me food is the number one pleasure, the second is sleeping and the third is the one you can imagine," he said. "But that doesn't mean I prefer a plate of pasta to my wife.
"I went by boat to Sardinia the other day and smelt this marvellous scent of Mediterranean heather as we pulled into the port of Olbia. That's when I decided to sign," he said.
The insurance would come into effect if Mr Raspelli were to have a close encounter with a scalding plate of soup or suffer some other incapacitating accident to his critical faculties.
"Normal policies covering things like limbs or fingers are easy to evaluate," said Mr Roberto Dinocci, a marketing executive with Reale Mutua Assicurazioni. "When one comes to the sense of smell one enters an area that is much more complex to assess, but our technical experts have analysed the practical aspects of evaluating any damage.
"It will be easy to tell if my palate has been damaged: there won't be any reviews in the newspapers," Mr Raspelli said. "But I hope they won't try to assess the damage by feeding me disgusting things to eat."