As Meloni hails UNESCO gong for Italian cuisine, 5 million Italians rely on food hand-outs

 MILAN -- Italian cuisine has been officially recognised on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, a milestone hailed by ministers as a landmark achievement for Italian culinary and tourist industries but the accolade obscures the lot of five million impoverished Italians dependent on hand-outs to meet their food needs.. The designation, granted at UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee meeting in New Delhi, celebrates not only individual recipes, but also the social rituals, family traditions and regional diversity which have long defined Italian food culture.

 Championed by Italy’s Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests, Francesco Lollobrigida, the successful bid emphasised cuisine as a living cultural practice at the heart of Italian heritage, one that brings together families, communities and global diaspora.

 From shopping at local markets to sharing meals around the family table, this award recognises Italian cuisine as seen to be an enduring expression of national identity.

 Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said: ‘This is a distinction that can only make us proud. It gives us a powerful tool to further enhance our products and protect them more effectively from imitations and unfair competition’.

This development supposedly marks a turning point in UNESCO World history, as the first culinary tradition to be recognized in its entirety, reinforcing the idea that food is not only nourishment, but also cultural heritage and innovation.

 Unctuous Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, formerly Meloni's brother in law until his divorcec with her sister, added, ‘This recognition celebrates the strength of our culture—our national identity, pride, and vision. Italian cuisine is the story of all of us: of families who pass down flavors, of farmers who care for the land, of producers and restaurateurs who bring authentic Italy to the world’.

 Beyond its purported cultural value, UNESCO recognition is expected to deliver a much needed economic boost post-pandemic. Industry representatives claim that the new title could boost tourism by up to 8 percent within two years, generating an additional 18 million overnight stays and new opportunities for regional economies.

 However, critics caution that these benefits may not reach local and at-risk communities. Italian agricultural and culinary industries remain in a precarious financial position amid rising prices and a cost-of-living crisis.

 Millions of Italians continue to live in poverty, with small farmers and producers facing rising costs and restaurateurs struggling to keep up with inflation and labor shortages.

 A recent Oipa study on food insecurity, quoted by Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper, revealed that while 67 kg of food per person is wasted annually, 5 million Italians remain dependent on food parcels, including pensioners and single parent households. As Maurizio Martina, Deputy Director-General of the UN agency noted: ‘Italy is the seventh country in terms of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, after Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Spain, Latvia, and Lithuania … Half of the people who should receive aid actually don’t, due to system inefficiency or overly strict requirements’.

 Beyond the headlines and political posturing, Italy watchers say the real impact of this award in terms of benefits for ordinary Italians remains to be seen.