T. Ozbun
Research expert covering food retail and all food topics for Italy and Brazil
Italian cuisine worldwide - statistics & facts
Italian cuisine is renowned worldwide for iconic dishes like pizza, pasta, gnocchi, cheese, cold cuts, ice cream, and many others. It's no surprise that due to its popularity and variety, Italian cuisine was ranked as the best globally. The cuisine's famous dishes represent just a glimpse of Italy's culinary diversity, shaped by its varied regions and landscapes within its relatively compact size, creating a unique culinary tapestry. This popularity is evident in its market value, with the global Italian cuisine market reaching 228 billion euros in 2022. Apart from in Italy itself where it trumped all other ethnic cuisines by a large share, Italian food had a significant presence in the full-service restaurant markets of various countries. Italian cuisine enjoyed global popularity, with specific countries showing a particular fondness for it. While 92 percent of the Italian population favored their national cuisine, over half of Spaniards appreciated Italian food, and nearly half of Germans, Britons, and Danes, expressed their enjoyment of it.
Italian cuisine enjoys global renown, yet popularity brings risks. Italy can only reclaim control of this expanding market, capitalize on it, and drive further exports by tackling the issue of Italian imitation products.
The threat of Italian-sounding products
Popularity often brings additional risks. In several countries globally, a significant portion of purported "Italian products" found in food retail turned out to be imitations rather than authentic ones. This phenomenon, known as "Italian-sounding", involves the use of names, geographical references, images, color schemes, and brands that suggest an Italian origin on labels and packaging of non-Italian agri-food products. This issue poses both a financial loss and a reputational challenge for Italy. Within the country, products featuring the Italian flag on their labels or claiming to be "100% Italian" were increasingly prevalent, signaling how consumers have responded to this trend.Agri-food exports still going strong
Even with the increase in imitations adversely affecting the reputation and sales of Italian products, authentic products have continued to gain traction on a global scale. The value of agri-food exports from Italy has almost doubled over a decade, going from 33.5 billion euros in 2013 to over 62 billion euros by 2023. Cereals and rice accounted for the largest share of these exports, constituting over 16 percent of the total, followed by wine and must, as well as fresh and processed vegetables and fruit. Italian food exports mirrored the country's strong cuisine popularity worldwide. Notably, Germany emerged as the primary importer of food from Italy, trailed by the United States, France, and the United Kingdom.Italian cuisine enjoys global renown, yet popularity brings risks. Italy can only reclaim control of this expanding market, capitalize on it, and drive further exports by tackling the issue of Italian imitation products.
