State of Meatlessness: Voluntary and Involuntary Vegetarianism in Early Twentieth-Century Italy

Abstract

For much of the nation’s history, Italians were vegetarians by necessity. A combination of economic and political factors worked to ensure a prolonged state of meatlessness in Italy, where meat, an expensive commodity, was either non-existent or consumed sparingly. The Italian vegetarian movement of the early twentieth century prior to the First World War constituted the only group in Italy to champion meatlessness as a healthy, easy to prepare, and economically sound choice. During the war and throughout the fascist period (1922–1945), experts and politicians emphasized many of the same arguments of prewar vegetarians, stressing the health, and economic benefits of a meat-free diet. However, the complex ideological and culinary connections between vegetarianism, nationalism, and fascism fell apart under economic and military pressures.