Pork dishes such as schnitzel, ham noodles, and roast pork have become rare or entirely absent from a growing number of school canteens across Vienna, the Farmers’ Association said, reporting that some institutions now offer pupils only a vegetarian option alongside meat-based menus that exclude pork entirely.
The association, cited by Heute, said it had been contacted by a Viennese mother whose daughter “only has the choice between vegetarian or ‘pork-free’ food at school.”
“A small number of schools no longer offer pork at all,” the association said, and in some cases pupils reportedly refuse dishes that do not contain pork out of uncertainty as to whether pork may nevertheless be present. The Farmers’ Association described the development as “worrying” and said it reflected a broader decline of pork in everyday school life.
“No one has to eat pork, but it must be offered. Pork is part of our culinary culture,” Corinna Weisl, director of the Farmers’ Association, said. Farmers’ Association President Georg Strasser urged that choices be preserved, adding, “Diversity on the plate means freedom of choice for everyone. Everyone can decide for themselves, but the offer must remain.”
The association’s revelations come amid rapid demographic change in Vienna’s schools. Data obtained earlier this year from the office of Bettina Emmerling, the city councilor responsible for education, shows that Muslim students now account for 41.2 percent of all pupils in the capital. Last year, the proportion of Muslim students was 39.4 percent.
The demographic shift has prompted broader debate about integration and pressure on school services. The Freedom Party of Austria has warned of cultural replacement.
In July last year, Remix News reported the concerns of an anonymous German-language teacher working in a city-funded program for migrant children, who described lessons that often “descend into disorder,” saying there is “Arabic roaring, soccer in the classroom, and zero respect.”
“I fight for two hours against a total refusal to learn,” the teacher told Exxpress. She said many enrolled pupils do not attend regularly and complained of students playing with phones, demanding to pray during lessons, or walking out of class because she is a woman.
The teacher also described incidents of intimidation and disruption. For example, she told of a colleague who tried to follow a child who left the classroom, only to find herself locked inside by other students. “Every time I turn on the electronic blackboard, one of the children immediately switches it off again,” she further recounted, adding that harassment is continuous. “One colleague is constantly mocked by a group of boys. Some leave in tears.”
She said some pupils told her they prefer to spend the summer abroad — “I don’t want to learn anything in the summer — I’m in Turkey for two months!” — and that when students are asked what they like about Austria, some reply, “Nothing at all.”
Union representatives and school staff say the strain on the system has led to a wave of departures, with up to 20 teachers leaving in a single day last summer. Thomas Krebs, a teachers’ union member, told reporters that teachers blame the state government for failing to set sufficient German language requirements for school entry and for not acting effectively against violence, extremism, and misogyny.
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