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From Our Own Correspondent: The people who feel out of place in Kuwait, and eating meat in Italy

Pascale Harter

14/01/2013

The people who feel out of place in Kuwait, and eating meat in Italy

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, The people who feel out of place in Kuwait, and eating meat in Italy

Stories on Kuwaiti residents without nationality, and on avoiding eating meat in Italy.

Pascale Harter presents stories about ‘bidoon’ - Kuwait residents without nationality - and the celebration of all things meaty in Italy.

Kuwaiti citizens are treated relatively well by their government. They get free education, free healthcare, subsidised housing, a monthly food allowance, and more. But inside the country there are residents who don’t share the same rights.  They are ‘bidoon’ – short for ‘bidoon jinsiyya’, meaning ‘without nationality’. Under Kuwait’s Nationality Act, citizens must be able to prove residential ties dating back before 1920. This law left many excluded, especially semi-nomadic Bedouin who rarely had legal documents to back up their claims on citizenship. Matthew Teller has been hearing of their plight. 

Also in the programme, northern Italy is a gastronome’s paradise – particularly if you like pork. Unfortunately for Danny Mitzman, she doesn’t eat meat. It makes for some awkward social moments, and as for ordering in a restaurant – it can be a bit tricky.  In a country where the word ‘vegan’ is unknown and vegetarianism is seen as an exotic illness, how does she survive?

Dispatches presented by Pascale Harter.

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