IF YOU’RE gluten intolerant, there’s no point going to an Italian for a meal out, right?

Wrong.

Carluccio’s has come up with the less than remarkable idea of offering gluten-free pasta on request, much to my fiancee’s delight when we visited the Oxford branch of the chain, to hear Alaisdair Scott Sutherland chat about his new book The Spaghetti Tree.

The title refers to the Panorama April Fool joke in 1957 (they were a merry bunch of pranksters at the Beeb in those days) about pasta being harvested from trees.

(Actually, the programme – presented by the distinguished Richard Dimbleby – featured a Swiss family, not Italians, but foreigners all looked the same then.) The Spaghetti Tree – with a foreword by spy author Len Deighton, by the way – charts the growth of Italian fare from the prim 50s to the sundried, basil-infused modern era of Jamie Oliver and Giorgio Locatelli. It’s sprinkled with anecdotes and is available at Carluccio’s, Borders, Waterstone’s and Amazon.

But back to the restaurant, where the chain was offering a Menu della Casa bargain to tie in with the talk – two courses, plus coffee, for £8.50 (and the option of a glass of wine for £3). The menu was limited – a selection of breads with a pot of oil, or mixed salad as a starter, then any pasta dish from the main menu.

Once I’d polished off the breads (grissini, focaccia, ciappe) and the lady had tucked into a lush salad with plenty of dressing, I picked clams with spaghetti, garlic and chilli, while the other half asked for penne with Luganica spicy sausage.

Spicy it certainly was, but also salty, which was a shame – perhaps the chef had decided to sprinkle a little extra in the mix to avoid the corn pasta sticking.

I had no quibbles about my clam dish, in which the chilli and garlic made their presence felt but weren’t overpowering.

Both portions were sizeable too. Of the wine I quaffed, I found the Nero d’Avola to be superb value – on the cheaper end of the list, but smooth as a car salesman’s patter and full bodied too.

SO WHAT’S HAPPENING ON THE ITALIAN FRONT NOW?

Generally, items from the southern regions seems to be fashionable. We’re talking spicy cured meats, mutton, lamb, taralli pretzels, hot peppers, vegetable purees, orecchiette pasta and seafood.

If you do spot anything in a shop either here or abroad that’s “particular or peculiar”, in the words of Alaisdair Scott Sutherland, such as fegato dolce (liver with honey), it’s usually worth giving it a go.