Italian vegan fined $600 for threatening to kill her elderly mum in ragu row

An Italian vegan has been ordered to pay her elderly mum €400 ($632) in compensation after she threatened to stab her for cooking a traditional meat ragu sauce.

The 48-year-old woman had reportedly moved back in to the family home after losing her job, a court in Bologna heard. The pair had gotten into a heated row when her mother started making the bolognese sauce to serve with pasta, which contains a mixture of meats including beef, pork and chicken livers. She then threatened to kill her with a kitchen knife.

The Telegraph reports the mother, 69, wishes to remain anonymous, but lawyers acting on her behalf said her relationship with her daughter had reached breaking point over diet differences.

Her daughter said she previously had "no sensory nor olfactory contact" with animal products until she moved back in with her mother. The older Italian woman regularly cooks traditional dishes using cheese, meat and butter.

"If you won’t stop on your own then I’ll make you stop," the daughter reportedly shouted before grabbing the kitchen knife in March 2016. "Quit making ragù, or I’ll stab you in the stomach."

The pair had failed to reach an agreement themselves, so the matter was settled in court.