Italian govt.: No more foreign food in Italy!

Italy's culinary enemy #1, the non-Italian kebab.

I am not making this up. TimesOnline reports that the government of Italy, headed by Silvio Berlusconi, is trying to get rid of non-Italian foods in the country.

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 anti-immigrant 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.

Not only are they targeting foreign foods such as kebab, McDonalds is in their sights as well. But careful, warn critics of the government's policy.

Vittorio Castellani, a celebrity chef, 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

By the way, pizza as Americans know it is an American invention, though I understand with Sicilian roots. When I traveled Italy's mainland, the dish restaurants presented as "pizza" was a doughy, gooey, tasteless mess.

Speaking of Sicilian food, "ethnic" restaurants, not further defined, will be okay. Massimo Di Grazia, city spokesman for Lucca,

... said that French restaurants would be allowed. He was unsure, though, about Sicilian cuisine. It is influenced by Arab cooking.

Europe is increasingly becoming a great source of entertainment for us, yes?