The mayor of Verona has banned new restaurants selling mostly ‘ethnic’ food - but surely the city’s pasta joints can hold their own against kebabs?
Deeply distasteful news arrives from Verona where the mayor, Flavio Tosi, has introduced a ban on new restaurants serving mostly ethnic and deep-fried foods, apparently in a response to an outbreak of new kebab places. He has done this, he says, to protect “the tradition of typical culture of the Verona territory”. Tosi, whose name is only a couple of letters away from being accurate, was for many years affiliated to the far right Northern League. Even if he weren’t, it’s easy to see this as the pursuit of a xenophobic agenda via food. For “typical culture” read pasta. It’s a blunt-headed, knuckle-dragging law that says my culinary tradition is better than yours. It’s like saying my family is better than yours, which (as was pointed out by Vice when they reported the news) is familiar territory for Verona. What with it being home to Shakespeare’s Capulets and Montagues.
If only this were an isolated example, but it isn’t. Food protectionism is everywhere. The instincts behind it, the desire to maintain a slice of venerable culture, may seem laudable; the unintended consequences too often aren’t. For example, Italy was the birthplace of the Slow Food movement. It presents itself as a protest against the corporate dominance of the food chain. In reality, it spends much of its time protecting niche products – saying my salami is better than yours – or even turning basic foodstuffs into exotica. Lardo, the cured fatback of the pig, was originally a source of much-needed calories for impoverished quarry workers from around Carrara. Now, courtesy of Slow Food, it’s a luxury item.
Continue reading...