Essere Vegetariani in Italia Posted by Serena on Jan 30, 2012 in Culture
It was about 20 years ago that I discovered that my cousin Simona, who is two years younger than me, had become a vegetarian. Simona was very fond of her pet rabbit, so one day when she opened the fridge to find a dead, skinned rabbit inside she was so shocked that she decided to become a vegetarian. Just for the record, the dead creature in the fridge wasn’t her pet.
Back in those days Italian vegetarians where very rare however, and we used to consider them as being linked to some kind of weird religious sect!
Today, according to the latest Rapporto Eurispes 2011 (a national survey), roughly 5 millions Italians, or about 9% of the population, are vegetariani. According to some studies this makes Italy the leading vegetarian country in Europe, closely followed by Germany. However, this is a bit of a difficult and confusing subject which has many possible variations.
Leonardo Pinelli, vice-president of the Società Scientifica di Nutrizione Vegetariana (Scientific Society of Vegetarian Nutrition), says that around half of vegetarians choose a vegetarian diet based on the belief that eating mainly fruit and vegetables benefits their health. A very high proportion (44%) of those that become vegetarian do so because they are opposed to the maltreatment of animals. It is also becoming more common for people to choose to become vegetarians per ragioni ambientaliste (for environmental reasons). The theory is that a vegetarian diet is less wasteful in terms of resources and causes less damage to the environment.
In general more women than men choose to be vegetarian, and the majority of non meat eaters fall within two main age bands: 13.5 % of those aged 18 to 24, and 9.3% of the over 65’s are vegetarian.
Personally, I used to think that I could never give up the pleasure of eating una fiorentina (a Florentine steak). However, I became a vegetarian 15 years ago when I met my husband Geoff, who has not eaten meat for nearly 35 years (for moral reasons, having spent a summer in his youth working on an industrialised pig farm). In the beginning I ate vegetarian meals just to keep Geoff company, but gradually I became a ‘full-time’ vegetarian because I realised that I felt healthier with this type of diet.
So, what do us Italian Vegetarians eat? Well, eating out in Italy when you’re vegetarian isn’t very difficult because Italian cuisine, unlike traditional English cuisine where everything is lumped together on one plate, is served as separate dishes. As a vegetarian therefore, you can stick to the primi piatti (first courses), which consist mainly of carbohydrates such as pasta and risotto, and the contorni (vegetable side dishes). These dishes are normally served separately from the meat. In particular, the old Italian “poor peasant’s food” is wonderful for vegetarians: pasta e fagioli, pasta e ceci, riso e lenticchie and so on. In the past, meat was a luxury for most people and carbohydrates and pulses, such as fagioli (beans), ceci (chick peas), and lenticchie (lentils), were the main staple diet.
When we go out to our favourite restaurant here in Pontremoli we like to eat either tagliatelle ai funghi porcini (egg pasta with porcini mushrooms), or tortelli di erbe ai funghi porcini (egg pasta stuffed with wild spinach and dressed with porcini mushrooms). You have to be wary of risotto, because it’s normally made with brodo di carne o di pollo (meat or chicken stock), and it’s always best to enquire about the ingredients of stuffed pasta. But nowadays if you say sono vegetariano (I’m vegetarian), waiters will be able to direct you to the ‘safe’ dishes, or even offer to make something especially for you.
Of course, if all else fails you can always have a nice pizza margherita.
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Comments:
joseph:
I am a sort of vegeteranian but you inspired me.I hope this is correct,but if the patria diella lingua has so many vegetarians,I can!
Greg:
Okay, so what can I say? “mangio solo carne”?
I hate exercising so I don’t eat plants… there’s gotta be meat-only dishes in Italy too, right?
Serena:
@Greg Salve Greg, se vuoi mangiare solo carne devi ordinare ‘i secondi’ (the second dish) che consistono o di pesce o di carne.
Comunque, non capisco quando dici ‘I hate exercising so I don’t eat plants’. Credi che le piante ti fanno fare troppo esercizio? 😉
Kathryn:
one of my favorite dishes is parmigiana di melanzane – the eggplant is meaty, but I don’t remember where cheese falls when it comes to vegetarians – mostly I follow this recipe
http://madonnadelpiatto.com/2010/06/12/parmigiana-di-melanzane/
Serena:
@Kathryn Salve Kathryn, A lot of vegetarians eat dairy products. Those who don’t are usually classified as vegans. We love cheese, milk, yoghurt, and so on. Everyone has to make their own decision as to how far they want to take it. I often make parmigiana di melanzane … delicious! Here is my recipe, which I published a couple of years ago: https://blogs.transparent.com/italian/parmigiana-di-melanzane/
Saluti da Serena
Ksenia:
Hello!
I’m very fond of this blog! I’m subscribed via RSS and it is always such a pleasure to recieve a new post.
I would like to ask if you could write a piece on special uses of the verb ‘correre’.
I encounter this sentence ‘reduce dai bagordi televisivi, mi corre l’obbligo di farvi partecipi di alcune deboli riflessioni’.
I wouldn’t say I don’t understand it, I do, but ‘correre’ is used somehow differently andI just can’t get what is it.
Grazie mille in anticipo!
Serena:
@Ksenia Salve Ksenia!
Grazie per i complimenti.
The sentence ‘reduce dai bagordi televisivi, mi corre l’obbligo di farvi partecipi di alcune deboli riflessioni’ is very old fashion and posh. The verb ‘correre’ here means ‘occorrere’ and this construction is a sort of idiomatic expression. It would be better ‘mi sento in obbligo’.
Saluti da Serena
Greg:
wow, Serena hahaha, too much Italian in your response for this newbie! le piante = i carboidrati –> insulina = conservazione di grasso!
Google helped me a little bit 😉
Serena:
@Greg Sorry Greg, next time I’ll reply in English. Here’s a translation of my previous reply:
If you want to eat meat only then you’ll have to order i secondi, the second dish, which consists of just meat and fish.
However, I don’t understand what you mean by ‘I hate exercising so I don’t eat plants’. Do you think that plants make you do too much exercise? 😉
Alla prossima, Serena
andreas:
Salve Serena!
Anch’io sono vegeratiano. Ero diventato vegetariano per le ragioni spirituali, ma dopo ho letto tanto sulla questione anche nelle riviste del bodybuilding. Nella rivista Muscular Development ho letto che mangiare carne e’ la prima ragione del cancro dello sistema intestinale. Ecco percio’ ora ho degli argomenti anche per gli amici che non hanno la mia credenza.
Saluti da Andreas
Serena:
@andreas Salve Andreas!
Quello che dici sul cancro e la dieta vegetariana è molto interessante. Pensa che l’italiano vegetariano più importante è Umberto Veronesi, oncologo e direttore del centro per la ricerca sul cancro!
Saluti da Serena
Rosemarie:
I too am a ‘sort of vegetarian’, but I have one daughter who is ‘vegan’ and another who is a fish eating vegetarian. This article was of interest to me because I have experienced difficulty in getting across the vegetarian message in Italy, but more so in France and Spain. The lack of understanding for people who don’t eat meat surprises me because these Mediterranean countries are so pro vegetables and salad.
Many thanks