Today is World Pasta Day, celebrations and numbers of a global boom

Like every year since 1998, today, 25^th October 2022, the world celebrates the 25^th edition of the World Pasta Day, a global event organised by IPO (International Pasta Organization) and Unione Italiana Food.

«This year’s edition», Riccardo Felicetti of Pastificio Felicetti in Predazzo (Trento), supporter of the event since its origins helps us summarise its spirit, «is of crucial importance because it celebrates our food not only in Italy but globally. It’s an occasion to discuss a product that is not just in the past or in the present, but above all in the future. Why the future? Because excluding those allergic to gluten, pasta, in its simplest form, that is to say made with durum wheat and water, is subject to no dietary or religious restriction or barrier: it's a good and healthy food, perfectly compatible with the choices of vegetarians and vegans and has a minimal impact on nature. It also shows a twofold importance: vertical in that it unites very different generations, and horizontal because it’s an invitation to conviviality. I’m happy to notice that young people love it more and more, and they represent an important part of todays’ audience».

As we write, our inbox is invaded by the most varied pasta-led initiatives of brands and influencers. And, if you try to search up #pasta on various social media, you will find a flow of pasta dishes of all kinds, origin and colour, the deserved epilogue of a year in which the hashtag – thanks also to the debate on passive cooking supported by Nobel laureate Giorgio Parisi – was searched over 100 million times.

Last night we had a juicy preview of the World Pasta Day at Identità Golose’s Hub, in Via Romagnosi in Milan. Francesca Romana Barberini introduced some of the themes of the day on behalf of the Italian pasta producers of Unione Italiana Food, who organised the evening. With her, in the Sala Ovale, there were also actor and host Chiara Francini and Mario Piccialuti, general director of the association, who gave us some of the numbers you find below.

After the short introduction, three teams competed, each one made of two members, a cook and an influencer. The contest’s goal was to cook a pasta dish with Italian roots and an element from their country of origin. There were Enrico Derflingher and Laurel Evans (Taglioline with prawns and courgettes) representing the US, Stephanie Cabibbo and chef Marcello Zaccaria (Spaghetti with clams cooked risotto style, hazelnut milk and foie gras) for France, and Carlo Bresciani and Mime Kataniwa (Square spaghetti with cream of aubergines, ricotta and miso) for Japan. France won.

We end with a summary of the signs of the global boom of pasta consumption, with a series of points taken from the traditional survey promoted by Unione Italiana Food. Numbers that give a good idea of the fever that has been spreading more and more among pasta lovers.

- In 20 years, the global production of pasta has almost doubled, from 9.1 to almost 17 million tons.

- In 2021 almost 200 countries ate almost 17 million tons of pasta, twice as much as ten years ago. In the first 6 months of 2022 the Italian export of pasta has grown by +9%. The main consumers are Germany, United Kingdom, France and United States.

- With around 23 kg per person per year, Italians are the first consumers. Italy is also the first producer: with 3.6 million tons, we produce more than Turkey and the United States.

- Unione Italiana Food has led a series of important interviews with restaurateurs. From this it resulted that in 82% of the interviewed restaurants, (with the highest results in Japan and France), the consumption of pasta has increased. Trivia fact: 22% of restaurateurs serves maxi-portions of over 100 grams of pasta (and as much as 60% unexpectedly in France).

- Another surprise: cooking al dente is now established also abroad. This according to 82% of the chefs interviewed. In France and in the United States, pasta al dente is served virtually in every restaurant.

Translated into English by Slawka G. Scarso