A famous chef's vegan offerings proved to be so unpopular at a soup kitchen in Italy with homeless people, some threatened to "return to the streets".

TV star Simone Salvini, from Tuscany, created a healthier menu for the Antoniano shelter in Bologna but some of those in need rebelled against the vegan food and said they needed meat.

“Some of the poor people told me ‘we are heading back to the streets because we need meat’," Salvini said, the Times reported.

“My staff and I are trying to cook, as best as we can, a range of healthy, organic food and vegetables," the famous vegetarian chef said, who began helping at the centre last week.