Italians pay attention to organic food but give in to fast food and canned goods
Published on 14/10/2012
The temptation of fast food is strong in Italy too. 4 out of 10 Italians would like to eat more healthily but cannot manage it.
These are the figures emerging from a Coldiretti/Censis report on Italians' eating habits, which reveals that fast food and canned or pre-cooked foods are a strong temptation even for the most virtuous, that is, those who buy fruit and vegetables from organic farming or certified products (PDO and PGI).
What emerges is an interesting picture revealing a certain contradiction in Italian eating behaviour: almost 1/3 of regular buyers from the "Fair Trade" network do not turn their noses up at a meal in a fast food outlet, while 1/4 of buyers of organic fruit and vegetables and 1/5 of the "aficionados" of designations of origin eat at fast food restaurants.
On the one hand, then, there is growing attention to product quality (designations of origin, organic production...), while on the other the same respondents do not hide their daily use of pre-cooked and canned foods.
Italians explain that their diet depends, for 34% of them, primarily on personal characteristics and choices, for 30.4% on family tradition, and for just under 19% on what they can afford, given income and prices.
Dietary ''confusion'' — Coldiretti maintains — is the price paid for the effects of globalization, which has brought products and consumption patterns from every corner of the world to Italian tables.
Within this picture, three clear trends emerge in Italy: the search for the optimal combination of quality, safety and price, the perception of the social and environmental responsibility inherent in every purchase, and the relationship between food and territory, with recognition of the value of the territorial identity of products.
And according to Coldiretti, the proof lies in the 2010 boom in consumption of organic products, up 11.6% in value, and in direct purchases from farmers, which now involve no fewer than 8.3 million Italians.