The usual wines, the eternal challenge of bubbles with France, the novelties of beer and oil, the inevitable panettone and the great return of the strictly artisanal and made in Italy cotechino. The gourmet challenge for Christmas and New Year's Eve is open, between novelty and tradition: what will Italians eat (or give away) between dinners and lunches during the holidays? If it is true that the crisis has curbed the opulence of the golden age, there is instead a great desire for quality. And of Italianness.
To confirm the trend is Filippo Sinisgalli, executive chef of Italian palate, a new club with hundreds of members that promotes food and wine excellence and the culture of Italian taste. “Perhaps we are experiencing a bad time – says the chef – with the fear of terrorism, but for these holidays we really want to pamper ourselves: there is a great desire to be Italian and to give something good to others, to make them feel good, and also to take time for ourselves, to cook together with the family”. In fact, nothing pre-cooked, this year one of the great trends is the artisan product, first of all – for New Year's Eve – the cotechino, but to be prepared with patience and with one's own hands.
“Taking the time and the pleasure of doing it”, specifies Sinisgalli. Even in gifts, the desire for made in Italy is growing, with increasingly surprising requests: “One always thinks of wine, but recently I have received orders that were unthinkable until a few years ago: one of our customers wanted to give his French friends a selection of high quality oils. We are rediscovering all the excellences, even those of products, such as oil, once considered supporting actors in the kitchen”. But instead they can make a great impression, like a well-presented artisan panettone: “This year we're proposing one whose packaging was designed by our designer. It is the synthesis of Italianness: the elegance of taste in the elegance of the packaging".
EATALY – If you think about Christmas and food, you can't help but think about Eataly. The supermarket of Italian excellence, which continues to expand around the world (it has recently opened its first store in Europe, in Munich), offers the usual range of high quality offers. As for product packaging, yes we go from 39,90 euros for Breakfast under the Tree to 199 euros for the top of the Eataly Excellences: from the Antica Torroneria Piemontese to the Caffarel giandujotti, from Domori chocolate bars to Altamura lentils, from Parmigiano Reggiano Vacche Rosse to a selection of fine Barolo wines.
Passing by for an organic Christmas, with the 59,90 euro box set which includes, among others, Gragnano pasta, dried chickpeas produced by the Libera Terra association (which redevelops land confiscated from the mafias) and a Barbera d'Alba Superiore of the Brandini winery. As for i panettone ranging from 9 euros to 109 euros for the one considered the best, the classic 5 kg Panettone from the historic Milanese pastry shop Cova. And then the drink, with the usual whites, reds and bubbles, but also the new entry of the beer: a centuries-old tradition from Northern Europe has also arrived here. Eataly offers three types of the Piedmontese Baladin brewery (founded in 1996), all in bottles and at the price of 11,50 euros. Baladin has also created a beer dedicated to Christmas: la Noel Café, flavored with caramel and coffee. Ideal to combine with Christmas sweets.
BUBBLES - However, the great classic remains the wines: whites for dinners, reds for lunches and then the eternal Italy-France challenge on bubbles: champagne or sparkling wine? To describe the trends, confirming an ever greater desire for Italianness, is Tiziana Sinisgalli, sommelier of the Italian Palate: “With French champagne we are always on the 50/50, but the Italians are starting to realize what they have at home. They are starting to understand that our bubbles are by no means second-class compared to the French ones”. On the contrary, the Trento Doc, which also includes the renowned Ferrari, "was recently elected the best sparkling wine in the world: we compete on equal terms with the French". Trento DOC and Franciacorta they are the only ones in Italy made with the classic method, i.e. the one used for champagne. "Prosecco is quite different, which can be a good product but necessarily of lower quality: many times abroad Italian bubbles are identified with prosecco, which is what we export the most, but this is not the case".
And so we end up underestimating another excellence. Eataly offers the Ferrari either alone in the Perlè tin box with glasses for 44 euros, or paired with Grappa Solera for 59 euros, or in the selection of four very Italian bubbles: Prima Cuvée Brut; Monte Rossa, Maximum Brut Metodo Classico Ferrari (which can be taken individually for 20,50 euros); Cletò Pignoletto Extra Dry; Chiarli, Falanghina Brut, for 64 euros. “Bubbles should be chosen according to the moment – explains the Sinisgalli sommelier -: for an aperitif, but in our opinion also for the first phase of a meal, we recommend a Trento Doc or a Franciacorta. For desserts and toasts, on the other hand, the rule applies that the sweet always follows the sweet: therefore a sparkling Malvasia or the classic Moscato d'Asti for the toast, while to generally accompany panettone, pandoro and other desserts, the usual Passito from Sicily or Verduzzo from Friuli".
WINES – At the table instead? “For dinners, white is the star, to accompany fish: the wines that par excellence go best with that type of menu are the Marche Verdicchio and Ligurian Vermentino. Let's also consider Riesling and Sauvignon, but their structure is a little less soft than that of the other two, which are perfect”. The rule according to which white wine accompanies fish is therefore confirmed, even if "it depends on the fish: for the more fleshy ones red is fine, but this is not usually the case with Christmas menus". “As for the reds – continues the expert of the Italian Palate – we recommend the various Brunello, Barolo, Barbaresco and Dolcetto d'Alba. This is for Christmas lunch, while Lambrusco goes very well with the cotechino”. Among Eataly's proposals, the highest level is precisely the vertical Barolo: a trio of vintages chosen from almost 300 euros. But you can get away with much less with a Nebbiolo Magnum Langhe for 49 euros, or a Barolo Riserva Doc for 51, or a pack of 12 bottles of 4 different labels from the Veneto winery Serafini & Vidotto, for 231 euros.
EXPORTS AND CONSUMPTION - The exploit of made in Italy food is also confirmed by the surprising data published by Confartigianato. 2015 was a record year: exported almost 30 billion, of which 310 million only in Christmas sweets, with a +10.% compared to the previous year. The country with the most greedy taste for Italian products is precisely France, and the one where this trend has grown the most is the United States (+45,5% on 2014). But above all, after 9 years domestic consumption has also recovered: food sales have grown in the first nine months for the first time since 2006. And the Christmas holidays, as we know, stimulate purchases: food consumption, in December, show a value of 15,2 billion, ie 2,6 billion more (+21,2%) than the average monthly consumption for the whole year.
NOT ONLY EATALY – However, there are not only the offers from Eataly: the other supermarket chains have also entered the gourmet race. As Auchan proposes the “Passions” line, while Pam Panorama, which has opened a site only for wines, "I Tesori". Carrefour it has even opened four Gourmet Markets in Italy, which in terms of eye-catching almost mimic Eataly among rich counters of rigorously fresh fish and an extraordinary range of spirits. It is no less Esselunga, which also makes a very attractive collection of points: with the Fragola points you can get plane tickets, cabinets but also Tuscan extra virgin olive oil and starred restaurant dishes.
