The International New York Times published
an article on January 25, 2016, with the headline: ‘Cafeteria Crackdown Prompts
Cries of Bean Counting in Italy.’ What does ‘bean counting’ mean?
The Urban Dictionary defines bean counting as ‘a rather silly thing to do’
because beans are a cheap commodity and counting them is nitpicking over small
things in order to save costs. The Urban Dictionary adds that ‘it is a
derogatory term.’ The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines bean counting as
‘financial decision-making or analysis done by bean counters.’
The article mentions that the mayor of a town near Milan, in Italy, found
that his town had accrued an ‘alarming’ debt of more than a million euros in
unpaid school lunch fees. His decision was that ‘children whose parents were up
to date on payments would be allowed to eat cafeteria-prepared meals. Children
whose parents had not paid would not.’ About 500 families were affected by the
decision. Families owing nearly six thousand euros received a no-food notice,
but so too had families owing only 13 euros. Teachers, principals, and many
parents protested. They said that children are minors and food should not be
denied to them, and it had led to public shaming of parents. ‘Lunchtime is part
of the school experience, it’s not just a moment of nutrition, but one of
sharing and verbal exchange,’ said one school principal.
The article said that the mayor’s dilemma highlighted the worsening
economic situation in many towns across Italy, when federal funding to cities
had been reduced by almost 12 billion euros (about $13 billion) since 2011.
Other town mayors had increased taxed, reduced staffing, privatized town
services, or sold real estate.
So far, the town mayor has recovered 50% of the money owed through
repayments and installment settlements.
Scorecard for the International
New York Times headline is 90%. The term bean counting was not mentioned in
the article, but the implication of counting money from families, most in
poverty, was ‘a silly thing to do.’ However, the mayor said it wasn’t silly
because some parents did pay the money, and the money can be used to help
people in the town. It’s a circular argument – or maybe a bean-shaped argument. In
this case, school cafeteria lunches may or may not have included actual beans.
This year has been declared the 2016 Year of Pulses – which include
dried beans, peas, chickpeas, and lentils. Beans, a healthy food in the 2016
Year of Pulses, is a good word to choose. Beans means food for children and
beans means money for the mayor.
MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:-
The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends
(2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan
Curse (2009).
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