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'We'd rather go back to the streets than eat vegan food,' homeless tell famous Italian chef
A famous chef's vegan offerings proved to be so unpopular at a soup kitchen in Italy with homeless people, some threatened to "return to the streets".
TV star Simone Salvini, from Tuscany, created a healthier menu for the Antoniano shelter in Bologna but some of those in need rebelled against the vegan food and said they needed meat.
“Some of the poor people told me ‘we are heading back to the streets because we need meat’," Salvini said, the Times reported.
“My staff and I are trying to cook, as best as we can, a range of healthy, organic food and vegetables," the famous vegetarian chef said, who began helping at the centre last week.
Rather than serving bean soup, Salvini perhaps should have taken greater heed of the city's specialty: tagliatelle al ragu, pasta with meat sauce.
He later attempted to appease his critics, serving vegetables shaped like meatballs and soya ragu.
Salvini will work at the centre for free every Wednesday lunchtime, The Local reported, ahead of a dinner for refugees and homeless people at the centre on May 9.
Salvini has been working with Massimo Bottura, a Michelin-starred chef on the menu for next month's event at the centre run by monks.
The chef stressed that not everyone was against his menu. “I welcome the criticism. But not everyone complained last week, some guests shook my hand. It was very satisfying.”
After the rebellion, meat made a return, Alessandro Caspoli, the shelter's manager, said, adding that the opposition was "peaceful" on Tuesday.