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\u2019t her pet. <\/p>\n
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!<\/p>\n
Today, according to the latest Rapporto Eurispes 2011<\/strong> (a national survey), roughly 5 millions Italians, or about 9% of the population, are vegetariani.<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n Leonardo Pinelli, vice-president of the Societ\u00e0 Scientifica di Nutrizione Vegetariana<\/strong> (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 <\/strong>(for environmental reasons). The theory is that a vegetarian diet is less wasteful in terms of resources and causes less damage to the environment.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s are vegetarian.<\/p>\n Personally, I used to think that I could never give up the pleasure of eating una fiorentina <\/strong>(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 \u2018full-time\u2019 vegetarian because I realised that I felt healthier with this type of diet. <\/p>\n So, what do us Italian Vegetarians eat? Well, eating out in Italy when you’re vegetarian isn\u2019t 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<\/strong> (first courses), which consist mainly of carbohydrates such as pasta and risotto, and the contorni<\/strong> (vegetable side dishes). These dishes are normally served separately from the meat. In particular, the old Italian \u201cpoor peasant’s food\u201d is wonderful for vegetarians: pasta e fagioli, pasta e ceci, riso e lenticchie <\/strong>and so on. In the past, meat was a luxury for most people and carbohydrates and pulses, such as fagioli<\/strong> (beans), ceci<\/strong> (chick peas), and lenticchie<\/strong> (lentils), were the main staple diet. <\/p>\n When we go out to our favourite restaurant here in Pontremoli we like to eat either tagliatelle ai funghi porcini <\/strong>(egg pasta with porcini mushrooms), or tortelli di erbe ai funghi porcini <\/strong>(egg pasta stuffed with wild spinach and dressed with porcini mushrooms). You have to be wary of risotto, because it\u2019s normally made with brodo di carne o di pollo <\/strong>(meat or chicken stock), and it\u2019s always best to enquire about the ingredients of stuffed pasta. But nowadays if you say sono vegetariano<\/strong> (I\u2019m vegetarian), waiters will be able to direct you to the \u2018safe\u2019 dishes, or even offer to make something especially for you. <\/p>\n Of course, if all else fails you can always have a nice pizza margherita<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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…<\/p>\n