INTRODUCTION Strong growth is forecast for food industry as demand for Italian specialities rises
ITALY Where eating is a consuming passion

Good food is central to the Italian lifestyle. The Italians are passionate about their food and the rituals surrounding its consumption, and mealtimes are considered an occasion to socialise and gossip as well as to eat.
Although habits are changing and modern life is becoming more hectic, three out of four Italians still go home for lunch. The Italians take an inventive and meticulous approach to their food, and are fiercely protective of their culinary reputation.

From Piedmont’s traditional cheesemaking (left) to Parma and its world famous ham (right), the Italians have been producing quality food for centuries

With the Mediterranean diet becoming more widely adopted as dieticians and nutritionists proclaim its healthy balance, it is interesting to note that more land is organically farmed in Italy than anywhere else in Europe.
The cultural, artistic, musical, scientific and culinary influences of the Renaissance, long before Italy became a unified state
in the 19th century, have spread across Europe. Cooking was raised to an art form in Italy under the Borgias and the Medicis when the country was already exporting its culinary skills. Italian cooking pre-figured classic French styles, although it is the French who elevated cuisine to its most celebrated levels.

Traditional recipes were developed when the land was still a loose collection of kingdoms, city states and feudal fiefdoms. The sheer variety of crops and fruits that are grown, animals that are bred and hunted, and freshly-caught fish and dairy produce has resulted in a tremendous variety of regional dishes.
There is hardly a town in Italy that cannot claim some culinary fame or speciality, from Parma, with its world-famous ham and parmesan, to Bologna, which claims to have invented ragu, a slow-cooked, rich sauce for pasta dishes.

Pasta, a staple ingredient so closely associated with Italian cooking, is made from durum wheat. Although it dominates in everyday meals, it is by no means universal. The Romans, for example, are fond of gnocchi, made from potato flour.
Many Italian food producers are family owned businesses, reluctant to upset either tradition or familiarity with the domestic market. However, the newer generation is more businesslike in its approach and is seeking ways of raising capital to expand.
With the current trend towards large-scale enterprises, and modern methods of production replacing the traditional, mergers and acquisitions are likely to become a more common feature of agri-business in the coming years.

One of the first this year was Gennaro Auricchio’s purchase of the cheese division of Gloria Industrie Alimentari on January 10. Auricchio is the world leader in the production and marketing of provolone cheese.
Just before Christmas, major wine-maker Ruffino bought the wine-holding Borgo Conventi and its 42 hectares of vineyards in the Gorizia region of northeast Italy. Ruffino, owned by the Folonari family, has been bottling and selling red Tuscany wines since 1877. With the acquisition of Borgo Conventi, Ruffino gains an annual production capacity of 450,000 bottles of white wine.

Although the economy is forecast to be sluggish this year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) expects a strong global economic rebound in the second quarter. In November, the OECD forecast that global gross domestic product (GDP) could expand this year by one per cent but that growth would pick up strongly in 2003.
Analysts who forecast Italy’s GDP expansion at 1.6 per cent add that there could be stronger growth in agriculture and food manufacturing. The introduction of the euro will not send food prices spiralling, according to Italian industry minister Antonio Marzano. The national statistics office, Istat, says the euro might even have a positive effect on prices and that inflation will fall to below one per cent if prices are rounded down.

Meanwhile, Italian meat industry officials have welcomed new EU regulations on the labelling of beef. Since January 1, labels must say where the animal was born and reared
to reassure customers over food security.