Tasteless Food Politics...

Some strange developments in food politics are afoot here in Italy. Last week I was interested to hear that the city of Lucca (in Tuscany) had banned new restaurants serving 'ethnic' food from opening within its city walls. Now Milan has followed suit. The purported goal is to protect local food traditions from the pernicious influence of foreign food, and to promote local ingredients, agriculture, and economies. 

Now, it's no news that Italy is protective of its food traditions. Slow Food was founded in Italy, regional food traditions still differ from one village to the next, and the system of controlled designations (DOC, DOCG, DOP) protects wines, cheeses and other local products with strict regulations. In fact, Italian food traditions are strong enough that some of us here at Via Boccaccio occasionally fantasize about pad thai and chiles rellenos (not to mention 'American brunch')... but let's not go there.

Instead, let's consider that the proponents of this legislation are members of Lega Nord ('Northern League'), the creepy, vaguely secessionist right-wing political party whose platform is based on railing against invasion by immigrants and taxation by Italy's central government. They are one of the parties that make up Berlusconi's center-right coalition government and always seem to be up to some outrageously xenophobic thing-- like preventing the construction of a mosque here in Florence, another of their current projects.

So these restaurant regulations have raised some questions. Luca Zaia, the Minister of Agriculture and a Lega Nord member, was asked whether he was a kebab eater. He responded: "I have never eaten a kebab. I prefer a panino with the soppressa which they make so well in my native Veneto. At Christmas I refused to eat the pineapple, so go figure-- I don't eat kebab." And while the Minister of Agriculture professes his purity from foreign fruit, a spokesman for Lucca, when interrogated about what counts as 'ethnic' food, suggested that French restaurants might be allowed, but perhaps not Sicilian, since that cuisine has Arab influences. Huh!

Moreover, as a New World dweller, I feel compelled to point out that tomatoes are a non-native foodstuff in Italy. I wonder if those were on Zaia's Christmas blacklist.

Meanwhile, Roberto Burdese, the president of Slow Food (whose Manifesto specifically promotes "international exchange"), weighed in on the issue: "In cooking, all influences are not only useful but fundamental. The enemy is not so much ethnic food but food of poor quality. A bad Tuscan trattoria can do more damage than a kebab."

Amen to that. Kebabs tonight!