Inflation does not loosen its grip on Italian families, inflates food spending, but it is possible to counter it. Let's see how. The sting ofthe increase in prices it continues to hit the economy of Italian families, who find it more and more difficult to fill the shopping trolley, which is done with greater care. He certifies it Istat , first of all. In addition, unnecessary purchases are decreasing. The lowest income families always have the worst, for whom food expenditure represents the largest investment, if not almost the entirety, of the available monthly budget.
Inflation, record food prices. Sunflower oil skyrocketing
Many food goods, in fact, even have doubled their price compared to last year. Among the latest increases in food prices is thesunflower oil which, last March, saw a price increase of about 23%. Price increase record almost equal to that recorded in 2011 and seems to have taken the same trend that was recorded in the mid-70s.
A study of the Coldiretti, based on the findings Istat on inflation, showed that the rise in the price of sunflower oil is ultimately due to the situation in Ukraine. These are among the main producers of sunflower oil. However, the blame for the recovery in inflation cannot be attributed solely to the war in Ukraine. The price increase was already present before the conflict and seems to be due to a complex mix of geopolitical and speculative factors.
To this was added theincrease in the price of energy and agricultural raw materials, as will be said later. Growing demand from China has led to large quantities of corn and soybeans being stored, while Canadian durum wheat production has plummeted. These changes have led the markets to be much more tense and nervous. And they have been put even more to the test by the war in Ukraine, which has generated an increase in uncertainties about energy and food supplies.
Indeed, Ukraine and Russia are among the main global suppliers of wheat, soybeans, corn, sunflower seeds and fertilizers.
Some examples of price increases on the most common foods
- butter (+17,4%)
- dough (+13%)
- seafood (+10,8%)
- flour (+10%)
- chicken meat (+8,4%)
- fresh fruit (+8,1%)
- fresh fish (+7,6%)
- ice cream (+6,2%)
- bread (+5,8%)
The rise in the price of flour has in turn caused the rise in the price of bread and has caused alarm at an international level. Due to the increase in food prices, the annual expenditure of a family made up of four people will increase by around 2.674 euros according to Codacons calculations, which will further push inflation (+6,7%, again according to estimates Codacons), reducing spending by fixed-income households. In short, a dog chasing its tail and a sort of swamp for the Italian and global economy.
The inflation affecting food spending does not only affect Italian families, i.e. the final consumer, but also the agri-food sector. There are other sectors that are feeling the effects of the crisis and the increase in prices. The increases in electricity prices, also worsened by the war in Ukraine, together with the increase in diesel (+129%), fertilizers (+170%) and feed (+90%) are leading many companies to stop own business oppressed by these constant price increases. The dear energy goes to impact on diesel fuel to fuel fishing vessels and the surge of gas cost, which is used to make fertilizers, causes its quotations to soar. The heating of greenhouses to produce vegetables in the coldest periods and the entire packaging sector are also on the increase:
- plastic (+72%);
- glass (+40%);
- card (+31%).
The economic crisis, first caused by Covid and now exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, is leading many companies to raise prices to try not to succumb to the crisis. Some have unfortunately had to declare bankruptcy. Entrepreneurs are trying to react to the crisis and are doing so by reinventing themselves.
Inflation of food expenditure, companies reinvent themselves as anti-waste activities
In a constantly evolving and renewing society it is not possible to stand still. We must always update and reinvent ourselves, especially in times of crisis. All the more so if inflation inflates food spending and reduces the spending power of families But how are agro-food companies doing? There are several examples of innovation and anti-waste from a green point of view throughout our peninsula. From Sardinia to Puglia, from Valle d'Aosta to Sicily, there are many examples of change in times of crisis, let's see some of them.
In Sardinia we find Daniele Murgia who has entrusted the waste from the production of almonds, used in the past as fertilizer for plants, to another company that makes design objects and furnishing accessories from them. In Sicilia Fabio Rivulo helps women victims of abuse, and their children, to redeem themselves by finding their own economic independence within society. In exchange for psychological assistance, they learn to cultivate a vegetable garden and to make dishes and preserves with the products they grow.
In Friuli Venezia Giulia instead we find Andrea Munen, a former professional basketball player, who decided to cultivate arnica to create three types of totally natural pain-relieving, anti-inflammatory and anti-ecchymotic creams.
For fans of wine comes the idea of Hervè Grosjean who, from Valle d'Aosta, allows you to adopt a row for an entire year following the maturation of the vineyard and the production of wine, and you can also visit the company at any time of the year. After a year you can decide to receive 6 bottles of wine from the last season or leave them in the company to continue the maturation. In Puglia Valentino Russo has implemented a technique that allows the algae to absorb carbon dioxide and then be transformed into natural fertilizers for the cultivation of the fields. Last but not least, the idea of Gennaro Aiello, a fisherman from Campania, who uses biodegradable nets for mussels. This allows us to reduce the plastic that pours onto our shores every year as well as polluting our deep blue seas.
Inflation of food expenditure, there is a desire for genuine and economical home-made recipes
Even families, in their own small way, are reacting to the current crisis. Surely they are making sacrifices and concentrating their purchases in more targeted sectors. The desire to do the bread homemade, the Team Building , pasta. There is a return to family recipes, to tradition, which leads families to share happy moments at home by making something genuine. The ready meals, convenient and quick to make, have had a sharp drop in sales, precisely to testify to the preference of Italian families in preparing dishes at home, saving on food costs. There is a sharp increase in the search for traditional recipes, of poor peasant cuisine, which over the years has been somewhat abandoned in favor of sophisticated recipes with ingredients that are often difficult to find.
And families rediscover poor peasant cooking
Lto poor peasant cooking, on the other hand, allows you to create genuine and come on recipes with just a few local ingredients flavors of the past. Many recipes also allow you to make dishes with food scraps, which contain important nutrients. From nutritionists to various cooking television shows much attention is paid to recycling of food waste parts to create simple and tasty recipes. The external parts of the salad, for example, which are often ruined, can be boiled with diced potatoes and transformed into a side dish antisprecia. And dry bread? If grated it can be reused to create crunchy breading or it can be softened and added to salads to make panzanella or, finally, combined with cheese, milk and eggs, it turns into very tasty meatballs. In short, a way of reacting to the high prices it could be right in the rediscovery of poor peasant cuisine: a cuisine, to date, increasingly avant-garde.
