Italy has no taste for fake meat

There’s a huge push for sustainability in farming around the world, with plant and even insectbased diets being touted as the answer to our climate woes If we can wean ourselves off meat en masse so the theory goes we will cut out some of the most resource-intensive and pollutive elements of factory farming and have a significant impact on climate change

As part of this push consumers have been introduced to the idea of lab-grown meat. Once simply a strange and dystopian concept, fake meat is now available on supermarket shelves everywhere and is being advertised on TV, online and on billboards alongside our familiar food products

It’s likely that the meat-eaters among us will always prefer the real thing, while vegetarians who miss their meat hit will be the majority of people choosing the synthetic versions If you ’ re seeking meat nothing but the real thing will satisfy

The Government of Italy is in agreement, it seems, and has taken the bold step of backing a bill to ban fake meat from the country altogether It’s not that they want to destroy the planet but rather they argue that preserving their food heritage is a worthwhile price to pay for the pushback against factory-created meat alternatives

Food is a huge part of Italy’s cultural heritage with Italian dishes incredibly popular all over the world Farmers and other agricultural organisations have fought against the fake meat trend with a petition of half a million signatures –including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – calling for a ban on synthetic food and the protection of natural produce.

If the bill goes into effect, anyone producing and selling fake food could be fined up to €60,000 This follows a call for the banning of flour made from insects which could otherwise have made its way into pizza and pasta production.