Cardinals to be served 'plain' food
2013-03-12 19:45
Vatican City - The cardinals locked away to choose the
next pope will be served plain but wholesome food - and nothing so delicious
that they will want to drag out their deliberations, an Italian newspaper
reported on its website on Tuesday.
The nuns who will cook for the 115 cardinals during the
papal conclave at their Casa Santa Marta residence "are already preparing
meals of soup, spaghetti, small meat kebabs and boiled vegetables", the
Corriere della Sera reported.
"All of the cardinals consider these dishes as
rather forgettable compared to the menus at the restaurants in Rome," the
paper added.
"Perhaps this food, similar to that served in
hospitals, will help to speed up the choice of a successor," it concluded.
The Canadian cardinal Thomas Christopher Collins joked
about the fare on offer at the conclave as he went to a restaurant near the
Vatican, the Venerina, two days before the conclave began.
"Make me a nice dish of carbonara," he asked
the waiter, referring to the classic Italian spaghetti dish with a cream sauce
containing ham and eggs.
"Because after the third day of the conclave, if we
haven't elected a pope, they'll give us dry bread and water."
