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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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 Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 5:43 am Post subject: Italy bans kebabs and foreign food from cities |
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The tomato comes from Peru and spaghetti was probably a gift from China.
It is, though, the �foreign� kebab that is being kicked out of Italian cities as it becomes the target of a campaign against ethnic food, backed by the centre-right Government of Silvio Berlusconi.
The drive to make Italians eat Italian, which was described by the Left and leading chefs as gastronomic racism, began in the town of Lucca this week, where the council banned any new ethnic food outlets from opening within the ancient city walls.
Yesterday it spread to Lombardy and its regional capital, Milan, which is also run by the centre Right. The antiimmigrant Northern League party brought in the restrictions �to protect local specialities from the growing popularity of ethnic cuisines�.
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Luca Zaia, the Minister of Agriculture and a member of the Northern League from the Veneto region, applauded the authorities in Lucca and Milan for cracking down on nonItalian food. �We stand for tradition and the safeguarding of our culture,� he said.
Mr Zaia said that those ethnic restaurants allowed to operate �whether they serve kebabs, sushi or Chinese food� should �stop importing container loads of meat and fish from who knows where� and use only Italian ingredients.
Asked if he had ever eaten a kebab, Mr Zaia said: �No � and I defy anyone to prove the contrary. I prefer the dishes of my native Veneto. I even refuse to eat pineapple.�
Mehmet Karatut, who owns one of four kebab shops in Lucca, said that he used Italian meat only.
Davide Boni, a councillor in Milan for the Northern League, which also opposes the building of mosques in Italian cities, said that kebab shop owners were prepared to work long hours, which was unfair competition.
�This is a new Lombard Crusade against the Saracens,� La Stampa, the daily newspaper, said. The centre-left opposition in Lucca said that the campaign was discrimination and amounted to �culinary ethnic cleansing�.
Vittorio Castellani, a celebrity chef, said: �There is no dish on Earth that does not come from mixing techniques, products and tastes from cultures that have met and mingled over time.�
He said that many dishes thought of as Italian were, in fact, imported. The San Marzano tomato, a staple ingredient of Italian pasta sauces, was a gift from Peru to the Kingdom of Naples in the 18th century. Even spaghetti, it is thought, was brought back from China by Marco Polo, and oranges and lemons came from the Arab world.
Mr Castellani said that the ban reflected growing intolerance and xenophobia in Italy. It was also a blow to immigrants who make a living by selling ethnic food, which is popular because of its low cost. There are 668 ethnic restaurants in Milan, a rise of nearly 30 per cent in one year.
The centre Right won national elections in April last year partly because of alarm about crime and immigration. This week there was a series of attacks on immigrants in bars and shops after the arrest of six Romanians accused of gang-raping an Italian girl in the Rome suburb of Guidonia.
Filippo Candelise, a Lucca councillor, said: �To accuse us of racism is outrageous. All we are doing is protecting the culinary patrimony of the town.�
Massimo Di Grazia, the city spokesman, said that the ban was intended to improve the image of the city and to protect Tuscan products. �It targets McDonald�s as much as kebab restaurants,� he added.
There is confusion, however, over what is meant by ethnic. Mr Di Grazia said that French restaurants would be allowed. He was unsure, though, about Sicilian cuisine. It is influenced by Arab cooking. |
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article5622156.ece
The right-wing wants to protect Italian culture and so focus on food (hardly a centerpiece of Italian civilization) and lefties call them racist. Seems about par for Southern Europe. |
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Ilsanman
Joined: 15 Aug 2003
Location: Bucheon, Korea
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 6:24 am Post subject: |
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This is ridiculous.
Italy, a great country with a wonderful history (save the Mussolini years) and great culture is really going down the shitter. |
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khyber
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Compunction Junction
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 8:22 am Post subject: |
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| The right-wing wants to protect Italian culture and so focus on food (hardly a centerpiece of Italian civilization) and lefties call them racist. Seems about par for Southern Europe. |
If it's not xenophobic, it's fucking stupid. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 9:08 am Post subject: |
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| So far its only Lucca, Lombardy, and Milan that have enacted the ban. Places like Rome and Naples are still common-sense zones. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 10:03 am Post subject: |
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| khyber wrote: |
| Quote: |
| The right-wing wants to protect Italian culture and so focus on food (hardly a centerpiece of Italian civilization) and lefties call them racist. Seems about par for Southern Europe. |
If it's not xenophobic, it's fucking stupid. |
Agreed. |
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Juregen
Joined: 30 May 2006
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Ilsanman wrote: |
This is ridiculous.
Italy, a great country with a wonderful history (save the Mussolini years) and great culture is really going down the shitter. |
Italy is very complex country.
The north is industrialized modern and leading in many fields.
The south is as poor as a European country can get.
They have a real immigration issue going on, being the Mediterranean.
And Berlusconi, a big corrupt fat man on top of the heap won't do wonders to an already problematic country. |
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rusty1983
Joined: 30 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:14 pm Post subject: |
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I dont think this is true. If it is true it seems to be small districts of a couple of cities enacting the ban. The rest seems to be Berlusconi moaning, saying Itais need to eat Italian, same as has been going on in Britain. He said that ethnic restaurants should be buying Italin ingredients, doubt this is gonna become a law.
Interesting stance though, it's one way to keep money in the country, surely? Keep some employment in the country?
There have been protests in the UK about foreigners getting all the jobs, and some high-profile figures have been saying we need to go on a British-buying crusade. Is this type of thing gonna be part of the recession? |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:20 pm Post subject: |
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| rusty1983 wrote: |
| Is this type of thing gonna be part of the recession? |
Yes. Globalization is in retreat. Mass immigration, free (unfair, unbalanced) trade can be tolerated by an unwilling population while they feel their material standard of living is increasing. Remove that, and Europeans are Europeans, all over again. Same goes for most everywhere else. |
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sharkey
Joined: 12 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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| while i had a wonderful time in italy this past summer.. its a filthy country and it should be cleaned up ... italy isnt really a complex country at all.. everyone there is laid back and the public services are terrible .. i would hate it if i lived there , but since iwas on vacation is was decent. imagine how nice rome would be if they actually cleaned it ? wow |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 12:26 am Post subject: |
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| I wonder how long Italy's ban would last if some other country banned spaghetti, pizza and lasagna. Not long, I imagine. |
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caniff
Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map
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| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 1:00 am Post subject: |
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Italian food rocks. I had a great time in Italy, but at the end of my vacation some assholes decided to fly airplanes into the WTC and the Pentagon. As airports around the world were closed, I suddenly had an extra few days in Rome to spend.
I admit I was happy to stay a few more days, but the reason for the delay in returning home certainly sucked. It sucked so bad, in fact, that the world is still feeling the repurcussions. |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 9:28 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| I wonder how long Italy's ban would last if some other country banned spaghetti, pizza and lasagna. Not long, I imagine. |
I suppose countries of Japan, China, and those in the Middle East could refuse to import Italian olive oil in response if this idea spreads and other countries like Japan could do the same. Italy would not like that, I am sure. I, personally, don't eat much Italian food. I used to, but I find it rather heavy and so do many people, Italian or not. Anyway, this idea is molto stupido. |
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the_wicker_man
Joined: 14 Jan 2009
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| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 3:51 pm Post subject: |
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There's going to be a post by me in a few days by called "The Most Important Essay Written in the last 1000 years". This touches that.
I don't have a problem with the ban. These kebab places are just greasy fast food joints that offer low wage jobs for immigrants and low value for everyone else. Generally these places are congregation points for illegals and they provide cover for those needing money. Its an enabler.
Did Silvio lie about "food". Likely, but thats the game, isn't it?
Did you hear the one about the illegal that washed up on shore and opened a semi conductor factory and gave 300 Italians $40,000 a year jobs? Yea, I didn't either.
There is a difference between demanding equality and demanding half. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 3:53 pm Post subject: |
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| the_wicker_man wrote: |
There's going to be a post by me in a few days by called "The Most Important Essay Written in the last 1000 years". This touches that.
I don't have a problem with the ban. These kebab places are just greasy fast food joints that offer low wage jobs for immigrants and low value for everyone else. Generally these places are congregation points for illegals and they provide cover for those needing money. Its an enabler. |
If that were the justification for the laws, these bans would be grossly overinclusive. It bans all kebab places, be they legal or high-wage or high-value, simply for serving people food other than 'Italian food.'
Please, lets not defend stupidity. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2009 3:55 pm Post subject: |
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| the_wicker_man wrote: |
| There's going to be a post by me in a few days by called "The Most Important Essay Written in the last 1000 years". |
Don't be humble. |
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