Banning of Foreign Foods?

[Siebenbürgerin]

I was reading a newsarticle about banning foreign foods in Italy and I couldn't help to wonder what is the view of other nationalists and preservationists about this kind of move. Would you like seeing a ban of foreign foods in your area, or it's not yet endangered by 'ethnic foods'?

Here a part of the article:

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

The source:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/lif...cle5622156.ece

[Mrs. Lyfing]

The parts of the United States I am familiar with are not endangered by ethnic foods, but what we are endangered by is all the food recalls...killing many innocent people and causing sicknesses as well. It is one thing for it to be a total mishap but for the company to know they are distributing tainted foods is another...

Didn't mean to get off topic there. I do think Americans are proud of their food whether its Northern or Southern traditions ...and the traditions that go with eating the food.

[Tijl de Treurige]

Banning foreign food is a bit ridiculous.
There is nothing wrong with adopting the good elements from other cultures. It happened all the time throughout history.
because it was helpful, because it made life better, because it tasted good.

Furthermore I'm with Juliet in this one. As long as foreign foods meet the same health standards as our own I don't see the problem.

Public health comes first, in regard to all foods.

But that doesn't keep me from choosing my national dish above all others...

[ladybright]

Good for them! I hope that this helps Italian farmers. A city council deciding this is a fine thing. A 'state' or national ban would be too large to show local support.

Rome - Until recently, Italians overwhelmingly ate Italian food, but a decade or more of immigration has seen a surge of new foreign food eateries.

Now, one city has declared that enough is enough. The walled, medieval bastion of Lucca, in the heart of Tuscany, wants no more of the kebab shops and Chinese restaurants that have sprung up along the cobbled streets of its centro storico, or historic center.

Lucca, a tourist hot spot that lies 40 miles from Florence, has declared a ban on the opening of any more "ethnic" food outlets in what it says is a campaign to preserve authentic Italian – or more specifically, Tuscan – culinary traditions.

The initiative, announced by the city council last month, has sparked an intense debate about whether it amounts to legitimate cultural protectionism in an age of rapid globalization, or an ugly manifestation of gastronomic racism.

Lucca's center-right council, which passed the measure by 23 votes to 11, says ethnic restaurants betray Tuscany's culinary heritage.

Kebabs, curries, and couscous are now out, in favor of such local specialities as zuppa di faro, a grain-based soup, and torta di spinaci, a tart made with spinach.

The ban is staunchly supported by Italy's agriculture minister. "This is not a battle against anything or anyone, but a defense of our culture and our agriculture," said Luca Zaia, a member of the right-wing, anti-immigration Northern League, which campaigns for greater autonomy for Italy's rich north. "In Italy we have available 4,500 typical food products. Every one of these represents the culture and history of our country," he added.

Others are embarrassed by what they see as a case of extreme parochialism.

The new law is "an absurdity," said an opposition MP, Andrea Marcucci, because it would "make it impossible to open in Lucca not only a kebab shop but also a high-class French bar serving oysters and champagne." The legislation had damaged Lucca's image and was a big mistake, Mr. Marcucci added.

Critics of Lucca's new law point out that many of the staples of Italian food have foreign origins – tomatoes, for instance, were introduced from South America, and pasta is widely believed to have been brought from China by Marco Polo.

And what of food from Sicily, which has a heavy Arab influence – should couscous, a staple of Sicilian dishes, be classed as foreign or Italian?

Vittorio Castellani, a television chef and author of cookbooks, says there is "no dish on the face of the earth" that is not derived from a mélange of different ingredients and a fusion of culinary styles.

The influence of other styles of cuisine is fundamental to the development of food, says Roberto Burdese, the president of Slow Food, a movement that campaigns for the use of locally grown food in regional recipes.

"The enemy is not so much ethnic food, but food of poor quality," Mr. Burdese says. "A bad Tuscan trattoria does more damage than a kebab shop."

Full article

[Sissi]

It's one thing to borrow some influences from other cuisines, and another thing to have foreign dishes replace your national ones. I'm not overall a supporter of very drastic measures, but if foreign foods endanger the local specifics, then something should be done. It's annoying that the places where one can eat Viennese style are outnumbered by Italian, Asian and Middle Eastern restaurants. Food might not seem so important to everyone, but food is a part of our culture and tradition. When foreign foods become more common than the local, specific cuisine, it's a sign of cultural decline.

[Sigurd]

Ethnic foods in themselves are not the issue - half of Austrian cuisine would probably not exist without Bohemian influences, we all expand our culinary heritage as other resources become available ... much of Italian cuisine wouldn't exist without tomatoes, much of German or British cuisine wouldn't exist without potatoes, both vegetables not native to Europe.

The issue is that some people seem to think that it needs ethnic minorities to maintain the tradition of these foods, which is absolute nonsense. The three best restaurants for pizza (in my opinion) in all of Tyrol are without exception owned and run by natives, the pizza is just an addition to the menu alongside more traditional regional foods such as G'röstl and supra-regional foods such as Schnitzel or Spätzle.

Likewise, it does not need a Turk to make a kebab. Actually, it's not that Turkish. Besides the point that the kebab as we know it was invented by Turkish immigrants in Germany ... and something quite similar is a tradition Greek dish, Gyros. But even then, it's something any German housewife could have invented too --- bannock bread/flat bread, skewered meats, use of lamb or chicken as a meat, salad, onions and various sauces to spice it up are all culinary notions well-known to traditional Germanic cuisine.

I enjoy eating all types of cuisines - both my regional traditional cuisine, as well as sometimes more exotic dishes. But both I either get through being cooked by a family member or by visiting an indigenous restaurant who just so happens to offer such dishes as an addition to their menu rather than a replacement. It doesn't need Turkish kebabs shops or Italian pizza-bakers for all that.

[velvet]

As far as I understood the article it was for the medieval city center of Lucca. When I enter on my 'cultural vacation trip' a medieval city center the last I want to see there is a Chinese/Libanese whatever restaurant, simply because it disturbs the medieval feeling of the city center.
Great idea and I doubt that it has something to do with 'gastronomic racism' (can that term be used nowadays for everything? ).

However, a complete ban of foreign food would rid me off my personal favorite dish (which I cook myself), a chinese chicken curry with rice *yamm*. So, no, I wouldnt be totally happy about not to be able to buy the ingredients I need.

For restaurants I see that different though. To find a traditional German restaurant here is quite difficult. I can choose between several Chinese, Japanese, Italian, French, Libanese, African, Mexican, South American,... ones, but spontanous I just can think of one German in my nearby city center. Not even a traditional Bratwurst I could buy here, beside in the Pizzerias or "Imbissbuden" (which are predominantly run by either Turks, Italians or Greeks). So a support for traditional German restaurants, run by Germans would not be the baddest of all ideas I guess...

[Sigurd]

I can choose between several Chinese, Japanese, Italian, French, Libanese, African, Mexican, South American,... ones, but spontanous I just can think of one German in my nearby city center.

Seriously? I thought it was bad in Britain, where you struggle to find a traditional restaurant and even Chippies are getting taken over by Asians, not to mention all other take-aways...

Off the top of my head I can think of at least 40 indigenous restaurants in Innsbruck, many of which in the centre, there's probably several hundred. Granted, we have way too many Kebab shops popping out of the middle of nowhere, but there's still two ways to eat traditional cuisine even at 4AM --- one restaurant which does all the traditional foods, and one stall where you can get a Bratwurst.

But not having much of a choice beause there's literally none - that's pretty much unheard of here. There's a wide variety, but if I'm already getting annoyed about a few ethnic restaurants, how bad does it have to be where you're from. I thought it was bad enough down here ... but, oh my, I had no idea just HOW bad it is further up north!

Other than that - for the most part, the Old Town is also reserved for indigenous cuisine. That is, with the exception of a kebab/pizza store at its entrance. The other dozen are all indigenous cuisine.

[velvet]

Yes, it's really that bad. There are some pub/tavern like ones that also offer some dishes, but that is mostly limited to something like fried Schnitzel with French fries and other 'traditional German meals' along that line. I dont want to call those 'restaurants'
When I drive out of my city there are some more indigeneous restaurants, more like event locations for marriages and the like, often with hotels. I'm not so sure about the main city center (I'm a bit off, the district where I live once was a town on its own...long ago) or the other districts, there is a lot of event locations like castles and amusement parks around here, where I think are some more traditional German restaurants of 'higher gastronomy'.

But I guess it's everywhere the same, the old traditional ones close down or are sold because the children dont want to keep them, I know enough restaurants that look like and are named with traditional German names, but meanwhile are run by Greeks or Italians. Well, after all, no Turks so far in those or Asians, muahaha. But the political handling of the gastronomy sector, specially with the taxes on gratuities and all the cheap, available immigrants who work for 4 or 5€/h has done its part in destroying that culture. And honestly, who can effort a regular restaurant visit? Not me, and the people I know neither...

[Patrioten]

I'm not terribly worried about foreign foods, food products seldom commit crimes and they only rarely live on wellfare . If people are prepared to support the removal of the immigrants themselves but want to be able to eat a kebab once in a while then I'm okay with that .

I'll take home-cooked Swedish husmanskost over immigrant cuisine any day, but I don't know if I would pay restaurant prices for it. If I want to eat Swedish food I cook it myself, if I go out to eat I do it to experience something 'exotic', something which I do not eat on a daily basis.

I wouldn't shed a tear if the immigrant cuisine disappeared from the restaurant scene here in Sweden but it's not an issue which I am passionate about.

The problem I have with today's globalized food culture is the development towards less home cooked food and more pre-cooked, processed fast food. That I think is a more worrying development than people enjoying a night out at a restaurant serving ethnic cuisine. Fast food restaurants is of course part of this problem and if there should be limitations put in place then I would want to restrict the number of fast food restaurants that are allowed to exist inside city limits.