PETER SAGAL, HOST:
We want to remind everybody they can join us here most weeks at the Chase Bank Auditorium in downtown Chicago, Ill. For tickets and more information, just head on over to wbez.org, or you can find a link at WAIT WAIT's website. That's waitwait.npr.org. Right now, panel, it is time for you to answer some questions about this week's news.
Alonzo, if a new law in Italy passes, parents will face jail time if they force their kids to do what?
ALONZO BODDEN: Oh, is it food related?
SAGAL: It is.
BODDEN: Of course. If they force their kids to diet?
SAGAL: Close. If they force their kids to go on a particular kind of diet.
BODDEN: No pasta? No bread?
SAGAL: No, the other way.
BODDEN: Oh, all pasta?
(LAUGHTER)
ADAM FELBER: All bread.
BODDEN: That would be the other way from no pasta...
SAGAL: Yeah.
BODDEN: ...Would be all pasta.
BILL KURTIS: (Laughter) Yes.
BODDEN: What would be...
SAGAL: ...Just, you know, spaghetti and soy balls are not the same.
BODDEN: Oh, if they make them go vegetarian?
SAGAL: Even worse, if they make them go vegan.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
BODDEN: Well they - well, that's not going to happen.
FELBER: Well...
PAULA POUNDSTONE: What is the...
SAGAL: ...Not if the Italian parliament has anything to do with it.
BODDEN: The Italians aren't that dumb, are they, that - I thought only we played with that nonsense.
SAGAL: The bill, which was proposed by Italian lawmakers this week, says that any parent who denies their child of the pleasures of an ossobuco or just a nice carbonara sauce will go to jail. This is because veganism is thought by some to be dangerous for young children and also because, well, have you ever met a vegan?
(LAUGHTER)
POUNDSTONE: The truth is a vegan diet is better for the planet, better for one's health and obviously more humanitarian. What a weird Italian law.
SAGAL: Well...
POUNDSTONE: ...I mean, I'm not a vegan, but I admire those who are. I would rather not talk to them, but I admire them.
(LAUGHTER, APPLAUSE)
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