According to Coldiretti, because of the crisis, the number of people not leaving food on a plate in cafes and restaurants has increased (36%). And the number of those who, leaving the restaurant, asked to wrap the rest of the food with them increased (+ 54%). And at home, three out of four reduced the amount of food released.
More than a third of Italians (36%) completely eat ordered dishes in restaurants and pizzerias. In addition, the number of people taking the remnants of dinner from the restaurant home has increased by about 54% over the past year, although previously this was a real taboo for the proud inhabitants of Italy. Such data were obtained through the study "Behavior of Italians at the table during the crisis", presented in Brescia at the conference on the proposals for the Expo 2015.
In prosperous times, Italians ordered a snack in a restaurant, a first, second dish with a side dish and dessert. Now, as Coldiretti experts determined, the choice has become much more modest and more selective. It is better to order a snack and a first dish or a snack and a second dish, or, in the end, a snack and pizza to try enough, eat enough, but spend a little. The difficult economic situation even overcame the feeling of “shame” from asking to pack leftover food so that it was possible to eat it the next day: almost every fifth Italian (17%) now does this, in just a year this figure has increased by 54%. Of course, this indicator is still low, but it reflects a trend that has already become widespread in other European countries. At the same time, the tendency to eat everything on the table or take the excess with you is also a signal of the increased Italians' eco-responsibility.
At least here the economic crisis has brought positive results, because according to estimates in Italy, each person throws about 76 kilograms of food in the trash per year.
According to the Italian Federation of Trade Institutions FIPE (Federazione Italiana Pubblici Esercizi), even during the crisis during the year, around 17 million people dine outside of the house in Italy for a total of 28 billion euros, while 12 million thus also have lunch and spend 14. 7 billion.
It is easy to imagine how significant the saving of products comes out if all these people eat up everything they ordered. By the way, the behavior of Italians in public places is transferred to their homes. According to a joint study by Coldiretti and the Ixè Institute, with the onset of the crisis, nearly three-quarters of Italy's residents (73%) reduced their excess food costs.
