Everyone wants what’s best for their children, which is why you’ll get dirty stares if your youngster is seen knocking back a Coke and a pack of chips at playschool every day.

(It’s all that sugar, it’s bad.)

Whilst that is generally frowned upon as poor parenting, a diet that sees parents raising their children as vegan is one that peeps in Italy can’t seem to agree on.

So much so, in fact, that parliamentarian Elvira Savino is trying to criminalise the practice. Here’s Reuters:

Savino, from the conservative Forza Italia party, has put forward a law that would hold parents legally responsible for feeding their children on “a diet devoid of elements essential for healthy and balanced growth”, according to its text.

“I have nothing against vegans or veganism as long as it is a free choice by adults,” she told Reuters in a telephone interview on Wednesday, days after she presented the proposed law in the lower house Chamber of Deputies.

“I just find it absurd that some parents are allowed to impose their will on children in an almost fanatical, religious way, often without proper scientific knowledge or medical consultation,” she said.

“Do-it-yourself on these matters terrorizes [sic] me”…

The law proposes jail sentences of a year for raising a child on a vegan diet, up to four years if the child develops a permanent health problem and up to seven years if the child dies as a result.

It would apply to children under 16 and penalties would increase by a year if the child is under three.

Yowzers, that’s sure to ruffle a whole host of free-range feathers. Some paediatricians agree with Savino, saying children may suffer from insufficient nutrition as a result, but there’s certainly two sides to this argument – and neither will go down without a fight.

What do I think? I think I’ll give this one a wide berth, but I do have one recommendation. If you’re after some tasty veggie / vegan eating, how does an arborio rice, asparagus, truffle oil and goats’ chevre rissoto sound?

Maybe start off with a few fried cauliflower pops with basil pesto, just to set the mood.

Tasty, eh? What about a canneloni with leek parmesan, artichoke, kale and roast red pepper sauce? No one is saying you should or shouldn’t feed it to your youngsters, but I’ be tucking into that like a boer around a braai.

You’ll find those treats at Burrata, the one place at Woodstock’s Biscuit Mill you might not have tried just yet.

Check out their menu HERE – and don’t worry, there’s plenty for the carnivores in there too.

[source:reuters]