Italian City Bans New “Ethnic” Restaurants (Verona)
Verona, the home of Romeo and Juliet, is preventing new eateries from opening that primarily serve kebabs, gyros and fried food
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/italian-city-bans-new-ethnic-restaurants-180958283/?no-ist
"Risotto and polenta are traditional menu items in Verona, Italy, and its mayor and government want to keep it that way. The city has banned new restaurants that mostly offer “ethnic” or deep fried food from opening.
Verona mayor Flavio Tosi has attempted to justify the ban by saying that it’s the best way to preserve the city’s culture and traditions in the face of an explosion of restaurants serving food like kebabs, gyros and fried food more typical of southern, seaside Italian regions than the more mountainous north, Alex Swerdloff writes for Munchies.
“Thanks to this provision there will be no more openings of establishments that sell food prepared in a way that could impact the decorum of our city,” Tosi said, as Andrea Vogt reported for the Telegraph. “This protects not only our historic and architectural patrimony of the city centre, but also the tradition of typical culture of the Verona territory.”
Critics, however, are calling foul. As Vogt reports, Tosi was a long-time member of the far-right and anti-immigrant Northern League party, even though he ran for mayor as an independent. People opposed to the restaurant ban say this has less to do with preserving Verona’s culture than it does with unfairly targeting its immigrant and Muslim populations, both of which have grown in recent years.
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Aarrgghhh. Well, the US isn't the only place where ugliness happens. No, that's not a good thing. Hopefully, Verona won't decide to reopen it's 2,000 year old arena to be used in a "traditional" manner.
