the early 1930s, mussolini and his fascists imposed import bans on various foreign goods. this lead to food shortages, malnutrition and a lack of wheat which raised the prospect of italian tables with no pasta. >> (speaks italian) >> in typical style, rather than lifting the import bans mussolini tried to convince italians that eating pasta would make them weak, lazy and even sexually impotent and that a high protein diet would make them more productive and war-like. the campaign was clearly not a success. >> when the fascism arrived a big part of italy is with mussolini... >> yeah. >>...but 30-40% is against mussolini. >> in fact pasta actually became a powerful symbol of the resistance against his fascist regime. armed with their guns