Schools in north-eastern Italy have banned pork products in school meals to make them acceptable to Muslim migrants, meaning traditional dishes like prosciutto, porchetta and pasta all’amatriciana are off the menu. The Telegraph has the story.
Traditional staples of Italian cuisine face being replaced by couscous and chicken curry on some school menus to accommodate the dietary and cultural needs of a growing proportion of Muslim pupils from migrant backgrounds.
Dishes being banished from schools in a province in the north of the country include air-dried San Daniele prosciutto, pasta all’amatriciana, which has pork jowl as a key ingredient, and porchetta or crispy suckling pig.
Proponents of the measure say it is well-meaning and inclusive and that it does not make sense to offer pork products in schools where a large proportion of children cannot eat them because of their religious beliefs.
But opponents say that respect for the increasingly multicultural nature of Italy should not mean ditching the country’s customs and traditions.
The ban on pork products will be imposed on schools in the province of Pordenone in the north-eastern region of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, which has a high percentage of foreign-born and second-generation migrant children.
They make up 21% of schoolchildren, which is nearly double the national average of 11%.
In some schools, pork products will be available on request while in most they will be phased out altogether.
“Respect for other cultures and religions cannot and must not mean giving up our traditions,” said Marco Dreosto, from the conservative League Party, one of three parties which make up the national coalition led by Giorgia Meloni, the Prime Minister.
Anna Maria Cisint, Silvia Sardone and Susanna Ceccardi – three European Parliament members from The League – said that replacing pork dishes was “absurd”.
Emanuele Loperfido, from Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, said: “It is right to promote coexistence, but it cannot be at the expense of our cuisine.”
Gianangelo Bof, a member of the hard-Right Futuro Nazionale, a new party formed by a retired special forces general, said: “You can’t get rid of pork at the lunch table for Italian children just so as not to cause offence.”
But Fausto Tomasello, from the centre-Left Democratic Party, said: “The first concern of everyone should be making sure that our kids eat healthy food.”
Alessandro Basso, the Mayor of Pordenone, said regional food traditions would be preserved where possible but insisted that it was important to “offer alternative dishes so as to respect different religious beliefs”.
Italy’s demographic profile has changed in the last few decades as a result of immigration, from a largely white, native-born population to a multicultural society similar to France or Britain.
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They can always take sandwiches if not happy with school meals.
They can all become Italian apparently – that is what we are told by people wiser and more virtuous than us horrid racists whose people are not entitled to a homeland.
Perhaps they’ll start to serve only fish on Fridays, so as not to upset any Roman Catholics that might be left?