Arrival of the Hand-held Pizza

In the innermost recesses of an exclusive school for top chefs, Italians have been plotting a devastating counter-strike against the hot dog and the hamburger as the emperors of fast food.

US supremacy on a battlefield stretching from stadium terraces to railway platforms has been assured by the unique portability of its fare. Unique, that is, until the arrival of the hand-held pizza.

Thanks to Rossano Boscolo, whose cone-shaped creation was unveiled yesterday at an exhibition in Milan, slobs the world over can walk, talk and eat pizza at the same time without having to worry about dribbling mozzarella or slithery slices of tomato.

Isabo Rinaldi, spokeswoman for the inventor's company, Boscolo Etoile, said the first outlet for Konopizzas had opened without publicity in the northern Italian city of Bergamo on March 27. It would be followed by at least six more in different parts of Italy.

"A contract is being signed with a big British company to take the Konopizza to the UK," she added.

The pizza takes three minutes to cook in a special oven, also designed at Mr Boscolo's training school. "He put a lot of study into finding ways to make sure that neither the mozzarella nor the tomatoes released water," Ms Rinaldi said.

"He's also managed to ensure the dough stays crunchy. The result is that your hands stay clean."

This weapon of mess destruction is available in several varieties, including the classics margherita and capricciosa, and costs €1.80 (£1.20).

But she denied that it had been conceived as a challenge to US gastronomic hegemony.

"All that Mr Boscolo did was to take aspects of two quintessentially Italian food products, the pizza and the ice cream, and combine them," she said.

But she could not help betraying a hint of global ambition: "I suppose, in the far east for example, where people have reservations about eating meat"