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The Kabob invasion of Italia
The right-wing government Silvio Berlusconi has found a new arena to launch a xenophobic agenda: food.
Apparently Eurobia fears do not limit themselves to attacks against Mosque Minarets and the veil, but now ethnic food (read food from Muslim countries).
The main target is the humble Kabob. Right-wing Italian parties are arguing that the spread of the ethnic Kabob is threatening Italian cultural cuisine. Having visited Italy, I can attest that Kabob-shops are very frequent (something I wish was the case in America). But this is so because Italian youth - as I personally saw this - love Kabob. The Kabob is cheap, easy to eat and delicious. Kabob-shops cater more often to native Italians than they do to immigrant communities. And the Kabob is European, German in fact. It was a Turkish immigrant to German who created the Kabob sandwich.
But German or otherwise, insecure Italian politicians cheaply playing on racist fears have passed laws in several cities, including Milan, to ban any new ethnic restaurants in the city center. This is incredible insecurity because Italian food is second to none (and this is coming from someone who loves Arab cuisine), and Italian cuisine will never be sidelined. To launch a campaign against foreign food on the assumption that it threatens a nation's culture reflects only great uncertainty about the strength and appeal of one's culture. And this is authoritarian for the state to dictate what its citizens may eat since Kabob-shops only open up due to Italian demand.
And it is absurd given that the history of humanity is one of culinary exchange. Pasta is not native to Italy: the tomato is from Peru and pasta is from China. Oranges and Lemons are from the Arab world. And Italian Kabobs have been. . . Italianized.
But some Italian politicians are so natives in sentiment and xenophobia that they have even threatened to apply Sicilian food to the ethnic ban, due to the fact that Sicilian dishes are heavily influenced by Arabs (the Arabs ruled in Sicily between 965-1091).
Zitto e mangia.
