For Italians, food is increasingly also a source of health and well-being. If, in fact, on the one hand the time dedicated by Italians to cooking and eating is shortened, awareness of the link between food and health is expanding. This is what emerges from the latest Catering Report by Fipe – the Italian Federation of Public Establishments. This year's Report wanted to investigate "The new food styles of Italians" in depth, taking stock of how a solid and historical relationship - such as the one that binds people to food - changes and modifies itself by adapting to modern times.
“We are a country with a great culinary tradition, where the values of relationship and conviviality are always associated with the meal, and it is precisely with this spirit that in our sector, restaurateurs and bartenders take care of welcoming customers, becoming witnesses, even abroad, of the most beautiful qualities of us Italians - comments Lino Enrico Stoppani, president of Fipe. “The change in rhythms and lifestyles is significantly modifying our relationship with food, as emerges from this year's Fipe report, imposing on our companies an additional responsibility to guarantee quality, food safety and health. In this sense, restaurants are fundamental places to promote correct eating styles: the memorandum of understanding recently signed by Fipe with the Ministry of Health is proof of this. A collaboration born from the common commitment to provide the public with increasingly timely information to promote correct lifestyles, to combat certain pathologies such as obesity and alcohol abuse; and to better manage the growing phenomenon of food allergies and intolerances”.
“Speaking instead of the general aspects of the Report – continues Stoppani – the numbers confirm the value of our sector not only from an economic point of view, but also from a cultural and social point of view. In terms of consumption, employment and added value, the central role of catering in the national agri-food chain emerges, an element that chain policies will have to take into account, at every level. Finally, we cannot hide some significant critical issues that weigh on the development of the sector, starting with the high entrepreneurial mortality rates, excess supply and illegal practices, low margins and progressive disqualification”.
Going to see in detail the data emerging from the Report, it can be seen how time, the most scarce resource in people's lives, is strongly influencing their relationship with food: 32,7% of those interviewed said they all cooked for lunch days, a percentage that rises to 53% for dinner, a meal that is assuming an increasingly important role in our lives. If in 1998 78% of people used to eat lunch at home, in 20 years the percentage has dropped below 72%, a decrease which in absolute terms is equivalent to around 3,5 million people. The little ones offer us a further cross-section of society: for about 800 children between the ages of 3 and 10, dinner is the main meal of the day.
Among those who cook "every day" or "sometimes", 76,9% dedicate 30 minutes a day to this activity. On average, 37 minutes are dedicated each day to preparing meals, but even fewer are those dedicated to consuming them: just 29. Even shopping has its share: 48,6% of those interviewed dedicate from one to two hours to shopping week with an average weekly time of 105 minutes. There is a return to small shopping, as many as 50,1% of those interviewed prefer to buy what they need day by day.
