Healthy food for Italians is imperative for recovering physical fitness and inner well-being after the excesses of the Christmas holidays. Among the new trends are vegetarian choices that are accompanied by the rediscovery of ingredients rich in nutrients and beneficial properties: chickpeas, legumes and cereals, red fruits, but also spinach, avocado and ginger.
This is what emerges from the Just Eat Observatory, the most popular app for ordering food online at home
The new year always begins with good resolutions, among which getting back in shape stands out at the top of the priorities, especially after the holidays and even more after a year that has seen people's daily lives take place above all at home due to Covid. Food delivery thus becomes a valid ally in choosing healthy foods and super foods to escape the temptations of traditional dishes with a high calorie and fat content.
Even restaurants have adapted to this new need by proposing healthy combinations within their menus that can be conveniently ordered at home or in the office to stay in shape.
And that's not all. In recent years we have also witnessed the emergence of restaurants specializing in different types of cuisines that respond perfectly to consumer requests and their needs in terms of healthy food.
On Just Eat there are over 500 restaurants offering specialties such as poké, healthy, vegan dishes, salads, vegetarian dishes and dedicated to gluten-free and organic cuisine. In the last year, the restaurants that have chosen to approach digital food delivery have also grown significantly: restaurants specializing in vegan cuisine (+158%), poké (+127%), vegetarian (+77%), salads (+ 45%) and healthy as a whole (+30%).
The most ordered dishes were in order: Salad to compose with ingredients of your choice; Poké Bowl with salmon; Veg Burger (Chickpeas); Rice with chicken; Mixed vegetables vegetarian dish; Fish specialities/fish dishes; edamame; Chicken Salad, Hummus;Centrifuges.
In addition to the most requested dishes, which record preferences in terms of home orders, there are also the growth curves that tell us about the new food trends that show the greatest increase.
The last six months of 2020 show a growth in healthy cooking of +72% and again vegetarian with +127%, vegan with +90%, poké with +76%, salads with +63%, organic with + 20% and gluten-free with +7%. In the last 6 months it is above all the vegan who has depopulated due to the highest growth peak especially at lunch with +153%, while at dinner it is the salads (+105%) and the vegetarian (+95%) who are the masters.
An even more confirmed trend for these first days of 2021 where consumer choices have been oriented in order towards: vegetarian and vegan burgers first of all, quinoa and chickpeas; Poke bowl to compose; Legume soups and mixed seasonal vegetables; Salads with seasonal vegetables; Chickpea hummus paired with various dishes
But some interesting curiosities also emerge, such as the growth in the demand for seasonal dishes and products, often locally sourced and linked to regional specialties such as zucchini, aubergines, tomatoes, grains and cereals, thanks to a rediscovery of Italian gastronomy at home. But that's not all, the so-called superfoods are also driving the healthy cooking trend more and more, ingredients from different parts of the world rich in nutrients and beneficial properties.
In order, it should be remembered that chickpeas, lentils and legumes are mainly used for making hamburgers and hummus, as well as soups and salads.
Among the most ordered dishes, falafel, pakora, porridge, hummus and chana masala stand out, while among the fastest growing ones we find daal, Indian lentil soup, lentil burgers, vegetarian burgers, salads and soups, but also burritos, the new and already famous dorayaki and the veggie taco.
In second place are quinoa, cereals and ancient grains, now a must-have to use for making hamburgers, poké, uramaki, meatballs, tacos and salads.
Followed by spinach, avocado and ginger, the latter particularly loved in Italy for its appreciable qualities and ability to add flavor to many recipes and used above all in juices and extracts, in addition to poké, but also hamburgers, soups and meatballs or in meat and fish marinades.
What about the avocado, which in the world of fruit occupies the pole position of the one most used in home-delivered dishes, for salads, bowls, toasted sandwiches and hamburgers, but wraps, focaccias and salads are also emerging.
Fourth position for red fruits and blueberries. Thanks to their antioxidant properties, they are making their way into dishes and salads with the addition of blueberries and red fruits, but also as an accompaniment to tartare and burgers. We also find them in combination with fish, tuna and salmon, swordfish, also paired with avocado, with capacci and with sushi dishes.
Finally, chia and hemp seeds, which have always been used to enrich specialties such as poké and bagels, followed by salads with fish, fruit and dried fruit, but also with turkey and burgers.
If we move on a journey along the peninsula, we see that healthy cuisine is very popular especially in Rome, followed by Trieste, Milan, Ferrara, Genoa, Bari, Bologna, Turin, Brescia and Naples. In terms of tastes by city, healthy cuisine in Rome recorded a growth of +42%, among which the vegan (+400%) was very popular, followed by vegetarian (+300%), poké (+260%) and salads (+ 60%). Also in Milan, vegans are the most popular with +500%, followed by gluten-free (+190%), vegetarian (+90%) and poké (+56%).
In Turin, on the other hand, salads are the trend with +250%. Poké is felt above all in Trieste (+380%), Bari (+127%), Naples (+124%) and Genoa (+78%), while in Florence it is positioned among the new cuisines together with vegan. In Palermo, vegetarianism is the most popular (+90%), which instead ranks among the new trends in the city of Verona. Finally, Bologna is recording growth in healthy cooking.
That women are particularly sensitive to the issue of getting back into shape is a fact that is also confirmed by Just Eat, which reveals how healthy foods are preferred over men with 63% vs 36%. In particular, the tendency to choose healthy foods, rich in nutrients, but tasty at the same time, is felt at lunch time for the 25-34 age group (40%) followed by 35-44 (30%), while it is decidedly less strong among the very young 18-24 years (12%).
