I used to think the outrage Italians show when you mess with Italian dishes on Youtube was exaggerated. Then I worked with a couple of Italians from the north of Italy. Oh boy do they take food in general, and their national cuisine in particular, seriously :-)
The food I get in Italy is on average substantially better than the one I get in Vancouver, so that protection of food has some serious value.
when I arrived in Canada, I asked what is a canadian dish and I've been told poutine, nothing else. I was shocked, in Italy I can't count all traditional dishes, let alone know all of them
(I'm of Italian origin).
That being said, banning food is not a good idea, but I can see also a rationale for banning it. We'll see how it goes
Banning food is common enough practice. You may have heard the story about European eggs being banned in the US because they fall short of the hygienic requirements, while US eggs are banned in Europe because they fall short of the hygienic requirements? The story is true.
Much else too. You can't import "prosciutto di parma" into Italy, it's banned.
(Well, technically I suppose you could export the legal stuff and then reimport it.)
