Mamma mia: Italians are ditching pasta

NOT much comes between an Italian and his spaghetti carbonara, but increasing numbers are doing the unthinkable to stay in shape – by giving up pasta.

The trend mirrors the so-called carbophobia taking hold in Britain and the rest of the developed world, where many people are adopting a protein-rich diet in the belief that carbohydrates such as pasta, bread, potatoes and rice make you fat.

You might expect Italy – the home of fusilli, lasagne, cannellone, tagliatelle and countless other pastas – to be less enthusiastic about the idea.

But new figures show that one in four Italians – 23 per cent – are limiting the amount of spaghetti they eat for health reasons. Italians ate an average of 18kg of pasta each in 2008 – but that is expected to fall to 14kg by 2021.

Analysis by the retail consultancy Mintel shows that sales of pasta in Italy reached a peak in 2008 at just over 1billion tonnes. This was down to 908,100 tonnes in 2016 and is expected to fall further to 842,500 tonnes by 2021.

It said: ‘Across the globe, carbophobia is impacting sales. In the UK, as many as 22 per cent of adults are limiting their carbohydrate intake for health reasons.’

Mintel analyst Jodie Minotto added: ‘ Health concerns over carbohydrate intake continue to plague sales of pasta, especially in Italy where retail sales have been in decline every year since 2009.’