Fat tax hard for Romanians to swallow

In recent days Romania has received much positive feedback from the West for its planned fast food tax. Nevertheless the measure jeopardises the country's traditional eating habits, writes the daily România Liberă: "For Romanians meat is inseparable from eating. We simply can't imagine a meal without it unless it's Lent or there's some sickness or other going around. ... Sanda Marin's famous cookbook which was required reading for generations of housewives is full of fatty horrors, some of them bordering on the obscene, like 'Goose stuffed with cabbage rolls'. And of course it's all got to be very well salted, otherwise 'it has no taste at all'. And any vegetables must be deep fried, pan fried or cooked to an unrecognisable pulp and drowned in sauce and more salt. ... Easter's coming soon [when the tax will go into effect] and then we'll rise up against this duplicitous government that wants nothing more than to stuff this tax down our throats."

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