Kebab Crisis, Lucca, Milan

In an effort to preserve the "culture" of Italy, small town Lucca placed a ban last year on any new restaurants, cafes or bakeries opening that don't serve all Italian food. This has had a big impact on the hundreds of kebab vendors who roam the streets of Lucca and now Milan. They are struggling to find ingredients that satisfy the "all Italian" label. It has been difficult for officials though to determine what food is foreign, and what is authentically Italian. They seem to be letting French cuisine slide, however bans have been placed on the importation of all Chinese vegetables. Truthfully though, Italian food has been contributed to from Chinese and Peruvian cuisines alike as well as many others. What are the implications of this for the rest of the world? Will we eventually become so wrapped up in our own cultures we will outlaw all foreign competition?

Portion sizes since the last supper

Hey readers, here's a really short and curious article from the New York Times about portion sizes for the last thousand years. A study conducted by two brothers looked at 52 different paintings from 1000 to 1800 of the last supper found that the portion sizes and plate sizes increased significantly over that time. So apparently the trend of recent years of increasing portion sizes isn't a singular event.

This Monday evening is the first night of Passover, as all you Jews out there should know. This weekend, while I was taking a break from cleaning out the house for that holiday, I came across this article in the New York Times about a Seder in the White House. It's nice to know that we have people running our country that enjoy a good meal even if it is not related to your religion.
Make sure to enjoy your matzo! (or not...)