Italy Bans Foreign Food: Italians Must Eat Italian Food ...

wickethewok
Feb 1st, 2009 at 1:43 am

Sounds like culinary xenophobia to me.

LisaL
Feb 1st, 2009 at 1:56 am

So ridiculous.. yet another reason for me to loathe Italy.

ragazzambulante
Feb 1st, 2009 at 2:25 am

having lived there and back from a recent trip, i TRULY don't think there are any reasons to believe that Italian cuisine would be in ANY danger in the country. this just seems dumb... I'm a little embarrassed for my country...
@Gary: I thought that pasta was originally from the China, or is that one of those things they taught us in elementary school that isn't true?

Bubi
Feb 1st, 2009 at 4:18 am

Er... as a matter of fact this news piece is very imprecise, as anyone reading Italian newspapers can attest.

The Lucca story is that they banned ethnical foodstalls from the inner city, which is a medieval architecture beauty and thrives on its historical identity. Kebab, Chow Mein and Sushi can be found just outside of the small area of the ancient citadel.

Milano has no ban at all.

The minister is a member of a political party founded on xenophobia and which is widely criticized by most Italians. Said party comes up every single day with absurd proposals ("let's change the constitution!", "let's put local armies in the streets!", "stop paying taxes to the Evil Capital City"...) and it is obvious they went along for the ride and for a little publicity.

valerie
Feb 1st, 2009 at 6:17 am

Did you understand the article? They are asking the restaurants that make non-Italian cuisine to BUY their ingredients in Italy rather than bring them from foreign countries.

This is a good thing to do because the quality of what many of these restuarants bring in is BAD and even dangerous.

When I was living in France, it was on the news many times that asian resturants were using meat and fish that they bought cheap. Why was it cheap? Because it was unsafe! Thawed products that were re-frozen; meat that had been expired for months, even years was being cooked and sold.

The Italians are right to worry.

Demian
Feb 1st, 2009 at 6:43 am

Italians are crazy!
Liberty fries, anyone?

Dave Raffaele
Feb 1st, 2009 at 8:34 am

Wow. I am disappointed that everyone too the "Italy is Evil" perspective on this one. I have a different theory in which Italy is being logical.

Italy largely survives on tourism. Tourist come to italy to see the sites and the EAT Italian food. Italians protecting their local cuisine is not racist or xenophobia. They are protecting their livelihood. If people come to Italy looking for Italian Food/Culture and see more & more non-Italian eateries, the country will lose it's luster/character and inevitably fewer people will come to visit. This happens and the local economy gets hammered , people lose jobs, and there is a strain on the already strained social state. This is a scenario that is repeated in many locations around the world as we speak and it just sounds like these folks are trying to keep it from happening in their city.

Like I said this is just another theory but I think it makes sense based on the state of the world's economies today.

Frankie
Feb 1st, 2009 at 9:44 am

These jerks in Italy should think more about the reasons of the success of kebabis and chinese restaurants instead banning them.
These shops costs less, the're clean, the quality is often high and they are open until late night. So many young people prefer these way of eating instead the good old lasagnas and pasta.
A good kebab with a coke costs 4,50 euros. A dish of (frozen) pasta in the lowest restaurant is 6 euros!!

BTW Northern league is a party of dumbass and racist.

D Bozko
Feb 1st, 2009 at 11:33 am

Gary said: If they want to ban foreign cuisine, they should ban pasta, which was originally Arab cuisine.

Actually Marco Polo brought back pasta from China didn't he?

Steohawk
Feb 1st, 2009 at 4:27 pm

Are they xenophobic? Do they want to encourage more tourism by maintaining a distinct cultural identity? Are they worried about food safety?

We may never know the answer, especially since each person who supported the bans may have his/her own reasons. However, unless the bans are restricted to specific historical sites, they're just plain authoritarian.

Ant
Feb 1st, 2009 at 4:44 pm

I could probably eat Italian food every single day.

Idil
Feb 1st, 2009 at 5:07 pm

Judging by what Luca Zaia said, gastronomic racism.

Gabi
Feb 2nd, 2009 at 2:34 am

DOJ: there could be a number of reasons why they do so well... Fast foods like McDonald's are probably come out faster. Foods may be cheaper. The main reason I'm guessing is that despite the purpose of vacationing/tourist lifestyle is to explore new places, a vast majority of tourist are neophobic. They'd rather go eat something familiar rather than experiment.

From what I gleaned on the excerpt above, they aren't banning ethnic foods but rather importing foods. This isn't new - many places have strict regulations on import and export. As far as Lucca goes, the section's a historic district. Many such places have strict regulations not only on food. Williamsburg, VA will not allow buildings to be higher than three? four? stories tall. That one guy mentioned may be a food racist but other aspects of this article aren't all that shocking.

fuffi
Feb 2nd, 2009 at 6:35 am

Every time you see a news on papers about "padania"'s politic comment, please don't take it seriously...
i'm italian and not proud of Padania politic

Lore
Feb 2nd, 2009 at 12:26 pm

But I like Kebabs...

eatNrun
Feb 25th, 2009 at 10:02 am

READ THE ACTUAL ARTICLE YOU NIMRODS!!!! As "Bubi" stated they are referring to the foodstalls on the inner city, you can still go to parts of Italy and have a kebob or McDonalds and look like an ignoranus. "Gary" needs to stick to stay outta this conversation, ARABS and PASTA, are you kidding me!?!?!Hey "binc", did you know the tomatoes Italians use ARE FROM Itlay, the San Marzano region (probably teh best in the entire world), they don't need Jersey tomatoes. Obviously you don't eat good/authentic Italian food often, so I understand. "LisaL" perhaps you went to visit Italy in the off-season when basically THE ENTIRE COUNTRY takes vacation, and nobody was there to cook except an Asian, just a thought.
I believe what the government is trying to do is preserve the lifestyle and authenticity of the land, and what better way then to start form the GROUND up , literally. Italian food is probably THEE most popular in the world, and even if you don't know much about history of Rome you certainly know what Lasagna is. How could the country continue to thrive when they cannot support their own citizens and local farmers and fishermen? I love sushi but I wouldn't go to Ireland to order it. All I'm saying is, be more conscious and support the HOMELAND you visit, just as we should support our own American products.

k411500
Aug 22nd, 2009 at 4:17 am

People, some of you really need to read the article much more closely. This is only partly about using Italian products, the rest is outright xenophobia.

'the council banned any new ethnic food outlets from opening within the ancient city walls'

'The antiimmigrant Northern League party brought in the restrictions “to protect local specialities from the growing popularity of ethnic cuisines”.'

'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.'

'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.'

Those are all discriminatory, racist remarks.

And btw, eatNrun, you nimrod: "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." Your precious tomato is from South America. *rolls eyes*