Italian Studies on Food and Quality of Life (Social Indicators Research Series, 85) 3030978052, 9783030978051

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Social Indicators Research Series 85

Carolina Facioni Gabriele Di Francesco Paolo Corvo   Editors

Italian Studies on Food and Quality of Life

Social Indicators Research Series Volume 85

Series Editor Alex C. Michalos, Faculty of Arts Office, Brandon University, Brandon, MB, Canada Editorial Board Members Ed Diener, Psychology Department, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL, USA Wolfgang Glatzer, J.W. Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany Torbjorn Moum, University of Oslo, Blindern, Oslo, Norway Ruut Veenhoven, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

This series provides a public forum for authored and edited volumes on social indicators research. It is a companion series to the journal Social Indicators Research. The book series deals with problems associated with the quality of life from a broad perspective. It welcomes research on a wide range of substantive areas, including health, crime, housing, education, family life, leisure activities, transportation, mobility, economics, work, religion and environmental issues. The topics represented in this series cover and involve a variety of segmentations, such as social groups, spatial and temporal coordinates, population composition, and life domains. The series presents empirical, philosophical and methodological studies that cover the entire spectrum of society and are devoted to giving evidence through indicators. It considers indicators in their different typologies, and gives special attention to indicators that are able to meet the need of understanding social realities and phenomena that are increasingly more complex, interrelated, interacted and dynamic. In addition, it presents studies aimed at defining new approaches in constructing indicators. An international review board for this series ensures the high quality of the series as a whole. Available at 25% discount for International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS). For membership details please contact: ISQOLS; e-mail: office@isqols. org Editors: Ed Diener, University of Illinois, Champaign, USA; Wolfgang Glatzer, J.W. Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Torbjorn Moum, University of Oslo, Norway; Ruut Veenhoven, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Carolina Facioni • Gabriele Di Francesco • Paolo Corvo Editors

Italian Studies on Food and Quality of Life

Editors Carolina Facioni Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) Rome, Italy

Gabriele Di Francesco Department of Business Administration University of Chieti-Pescara Chieti, Italy

Paolo Corvo University of Gastronomic Sciences Pollenzo, Italy

ISSN 1387-6570 ISSN 2215-0099 (electronic) Social Indicators Research Series ISBN 978-3-030-97805-1 ISBN 978-3-030-97806-8 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97806-8 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Foreword

The Italian Association for the Studies on the Quality of Life (AIQUAV) revealed itself to be one of the reference points in the Italian and international panorama for all scholars who for various reasons, academic and non-academic, are involved in research, evaluation, and promotion of the quality of life in Italy. In this perspective, AIQUAV has organized several interesting initiatives (the most important are documented on the association’s website, www.aiquav.it). One of the initiatives involves the organization of sections, each one devoted to a topic considered strategic and of particular interest in the field of quality of life. The first section that was set up is that on the relationship between food and quality of life. This topic is considered particularly relevant throughout the members of the Association, and it always occupies an important space within the program of the AIQUAV National Conferences. The works presented on those occasions triggered engaging discussions that took on an exquisitely interdisciplinary character. This book represents a selection of the works able of bringing out the complexity of the theme especially when related to quality of life. The relationship between the quality of life and food can be considered, actually, paradigmatic of the multidimensionality and complexity of the quality of life. This is particularly interesting also by thinking about the tradition and value of food in Italy. As we know, dealing with the quality of life implies to decline it also in relation to other concepts, such as equity and sustainability, both at the micro level (individual and family) and at the macro level (local community or global). This is particularly true in the case of the relationship between the quality of life and food. In other words, the quality of life seen through food requires an assessment of the balances between different domains, observed at both macro level (e.g., food resources and their fair and sustainable production and distribution) and micro level (e.g., the role that food plays in maintaining and promoting health or in pursuing prevention, or how much individual food choices is linked to aspects of respect for oneself and others).

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Studying the quality of life by putting food at the center of reflection means once again putting the complexity of the life of all living beings at the center of the discussion. This is why food is increasingly becoming an important sign of the quality, balance, and sustainability of individual lives but also of communities at a local or global level. A complex sign as the result of delicate interconnections between environmental, social, economic, physical, and ethical issues. That is why food should be adopted as one of the key paradigms to reflect on in terms of quality of life, even outside the academic discussion. Approaching food with due awareness is the key topic allowing a model of well-being to be proposed and promoted in a fair and sustainable way for everyone and everything. The challenge is epochal and requires the adoption of concepts such as respect, limitation, sobriety, sharing, harmony, adaptation. An example is represented by all those initiatives that tend to enhance the production of food carried out in respect of the environment but also of the people who participate in it. A production whose added value is no longer represented only by the quantitative dimension (assessable in economic terms) but which places the dimension of quality at the center. In other words, the adoption of the concepts of respect, limit, sobriety, sharing, harmony, adaptation aims at their declination that takes into consideration all forms of life and its quality. Editors and Authors (all friends and colleagues of the AIQUAV network) have been urged by Prof. Alex Michalos, who receives our deep gratitude and our most heartfelt thanks, to compose this collection aimed at proposing different points of view over the food world. I want to express my warmest congratulations for the work done and for having concretely contributed to the promotion of this important theme within our association, at national and international level. Rome, Italy April, 2021

Filomena Maggino President of the Italian Association for Quality-of-Life Studies “Sapienza” University of Rome

Contents

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The Relationship between Food Styles and Health: A Contribution from Italian Official Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carolina Facioni, Isabella Corazziari, and Filomena Maggino

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Sagre and Quality of Life. The Italian Heritage of Popular Gastronomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gabriele Di Francesco

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New Food and Restaurant Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Paolo Corvo, Riccardo Migliavada, and Dauro Mattia Zocchi

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Food Consumption Associated with Health Status and Lifestyle Factors in the Adult Italian Regional Population: An Analysis Proposal for Official Statistics Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alfonso Piscitelli and Michele Staiano

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On the Theory of Measurement of Experience-Based Food Insecurity at the Global Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elena Grimaccia, Filomena Maggino, and James Mohan Rao

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Experienced Food Insecurity: A Compared Analysis between Formative and Reflective Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elena Grimaccia

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Agriculture and New Technologies: A Basic Challenge for the Twenty-First Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Adele Bianco

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Food and Communities: Perspectives of Sharing Society . . . . . . . . . . 125 Gabriele Di Francesco

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Epilogue—Food Memories and Quality of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Carolina Facioni and Alex C. Michalos

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Chapter 1

The Relationship between Food Styles and Health: A Contribution from Italian Official Data Carolina Facioni, Isabella Corazziari, and Filomena Maggino

Abstract The link between food and health has been explored since ancient times. Studies in the medical field have highlighted how poor eating habits are related to specific diseases (i.e. diabetes or cardiovascular disease). A proper nutrition is indissolubly part of a healthy lifestyle. Therefore, food and health are essential elements to define the level of quality of life in any context, and not only at the individual level. Social Indicators Research’s approach underlines the complexity of the relationship between food and health, highlighting the role of the social context. This work analyses some of the official indicators provided by the Italian National Institute of Statistics, using the Dynamic Factor Analysis, a specific multidimensional data analysis technique that emphasizes the indicators’ dynamics in time. This makes it a valuable tool even in a perspective approach (therefore, in a Futures Studies perspective), suggesting well-founded elements for quality-of-life related policies. Keywords Food and Health · Futures Studies · Social Indicators · DFA

C. Facioni (*) · I. Corazziari Italian National Institute of Statistics, Rome, Italy e-mail: [email protected] F. Maggino “Sapienza” University of Rome, Rome, Italy © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 C. Facioni et al. (eds.), Italian Studies on Food and Quality of Life, Social Indicators Research Series 85, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97806-8_1

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Food and Health: A Key Link for Understanding the Quality-of-Life Status The Reflection on the Relationship between Food and Health: A Short Historical Background The aim of this work1 is to explore the link between food and health in Italy, emphasizing the fruitfulness and the complexity of its implications in terms of quality of life. Due to the indispensability of food for human being survival, the link between food and health has been a key topic since the dawn of the history of thought—and therefore of the scientific thought. Many ancient documents surviving to the present day testify to food prescriptions, but it is important to distinguish between prescriptions of a religious, or philosophical nature, and indications that arose from a scientific—or, better, proto-scientific—reflection. For example, although the philosopher Pythagoras of Samos, who lived between sixth and fifth centuries BC, can be considered as the forerunner of vegetarianism, his food prescriptions did not arise from a reflection aimed at improving his disciples’ health. Regarding the context of Western culture,2 the oldest known attempt to provide an etiological explanation for the onset of diseases was the humoral theory, framed by Hippocrates of Cos, born around 460 BC. According to Hippocrates, there are four fluids (he named humours) in the human body: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. The humours affected both the temperament and the health of any individual as a whole. Human beings’ health depended on the good balance (Hippocrates called εὐκρασία, that means “good mixture”)3 between the four humours. The humours’ imbalances had to be corrected through a targeted diet. The topic is extensively treated in the Corpus Hippocraticum, a collection of about seventy works dealing with various themes, among which medicine stands out.4 It should also be remembered the most important of Hippocrates’s disciples, Polybus, who not only contributed to the writing of the Corpus itself, but also wrote some treatises in which he spread his teacher’s theories. Another leading figure was Galen of 1

This paper is the result of the common work of the authors. However, Chap. 1 is to be attributed to Carolina Facioni, Chap. 2 is to be attributed to Isabella Corazziari, and Chap. 3 is to be attributed to Filomena Maggino. The views presented in this paper are to be considered personal elaboration of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Institution they are member of. 2 This excursus does not claim to be exhaustive at a historical or geographical level. It would be an extremely ambitious scientific challenge, which would require far more than a single monograph. Dealing with this introduction, the choice was to recall only a few of the prominent figures from the only context of Western culture contribution. 3 Up to the present day, medical science uses the opposite concept of eucrasia, the dyscrasia, indicating an alteration of the chemical, chemical-physical, or immunological characteristics of organic liquids, especially of blood. 4 However, not all the works in the Corpus can be attributable with certainty to Hippocrates. Some of the contributions were probably written over the course of several centuries and aggregated with each other at an unspecified time.

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Pergamum, born in 129 AD.5 Galen, who was the court physician of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, re-interpreted the Hippocratic doctrine of humours. In about 180 AD, he published the essay On food properties. In this work, he classifies foods according to some specific characteristics: e.g., the property of stimulating one of the body’s humours. In this context, Galen also provides recipes to optimize the healthiness of food: indeed, he even dedicated a specific essay to the barley soup, which he considered a particularly healthy food. As for Hippocrates, Galen theorized that the balance of humours within human organism was the main condition for preserving health,6 but he also emphasized the role of the four “qualities” (hot, cold, humid, and dry) interacting with the four humours. According to Galen, an excessive increase in one or more qualities was harmful to health too. Thus, since the body had its own temperature, all foods that altered it must be avoided. Galen recommended the consumption of “cold” foods and, perhaps first, he theorized the usefulness of consuming raw food. Another original contribution is that from Antimos, who was born in Greece in 511, and was a physician at the court of Theodoric the Great, the king of the Ostrogoths. His essay7 De observatione ciborum is a fundamental source for the study of the Byzantine dietetic medical prescriptions. Antimos provided detailed instructions for the preparation of some typical dishes of the Byzantine cuisine: e.g., the afrutum (beaten egg white), or the recipe of a veal stew cooked with honey, vinegar, and spices. He asserted the importance of food for health; however, in contrast to Galen’s thesis, Antimos did not agree on the healthiness of raw foods. Quite the opposite, he strongly recommended cooking foods (especially meat) to make them digestible. To the thesis “some peoples eat raw and bloody meat, yet they are healthy”, he replied that health was only due to frugality, to the intake of little food. Regarding the Italic populations, who instead ate in abundance of various foods and different delicacies, Antimos stressed the need for them to be frugal. The emphasis given to the relationship between frugality and health is one of the legacies from classical culture that has maintained its validity over time. Between ninth and thirteenth centuries, the Medical School of Salerno flourished in Italy. Its fundamental contribution to some important hygiene practices’ dissemination was the Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum, a didactic treatise written in the form of Latin verses.8 The treatise is commonly dated between the twelfth and the thirteenth century, and its first print dates back to 1480. Although it is most likely a collective work, the collection of verses (and their commentary) was first attributed to the Catalan doctor and alchemist Arnaldo from Villanova in the thirteenth century. However, there are also attributions to Giovanni from Milan, who was probably a

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In the following text, the only acronym BC will always be present to indicate the dates before Christ. The acronym AD will instead be implied for all the years after Christ. 6 For example, indigestion is attributed to an excess of phlegm, caused by an inordinate food intake. 7 The essay was conceived in epistolary form. 8 The work is also known as De conservanda bona valetudine (tr.: On the need to maintain a good health), or also as Flos Medicinae Salerni (tr.: The flower of medicine of Salerno), and as Lilium Medicinae (tr.: The lily of medicine).

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disciple of Constantine the African,9 a Benedictine monk at the Abbey of Montecassino. The treatise was a huge success over the centuries throughout Europe: two editions of its (printed in Paris in 1625 and 1672) were dedicated to Cardinal Richelieu. The treatise was also published in Amsterdam in 1658, and its first English translation was by Sir John Harington10 in 1608. It was published in about 180 editions between 1500 and 1830 (de Renzi, 1859), and was used as a didactic text for the teaching and popularization of medicine at least until the nineteenth century. Among the first lines of the work,11 we can read these words: “Si tibi deficiant medici, medici tibi fiant haec tria: mens laeta, requies, moderata diaeta” (tr.: “If you have no doctors available, let these three things be your doctor: a happy mind, quietness, and a moderate diet”). So, the health of an individual is conceived as the result of psychological aspects, as well as of proper hygiene practices. Another passage of the book reads so: “If you want to live healthy and without disease, avoid worries and beware of anger; eat and drink, but little”, in a sort of pre-holistic approach that somehow anticipates the current conception of well-being as a complex system. Over the time, at least until the nineteenth century, knowledge in the medical field proceeded very slowly: the doctors who practiced bloodletting in the 1700s were still following the precepts of Hippocrates and Galen. However, important changes related to food are worth mentioning already during the Renaissance. The first is the real food style revolution caused by the discovery of America, which brought to Europe foods previously unknown. These were very important foods, which literally upset European culinary tradition: potatoes and tomatoes, but also peppers, beans, corn, pumpkins, turkeys, and cocoa. All previous European cuisine was totally different from the current conception of it. The recipes of famous medieval chefs (e.g. master Martino in Italy; Taillevent and master Chiquart in France) have survived to the present day and testify to this substantial difference (Redon et al., 1993). So, a fundamental part of the Italian culinary tradition is based on ingredients that could not have appeared in the kitchen pantries before 1492: e.g., the tomato sauce. The recipe for “Spanish-style tomato sauce” is the very first published recipe of a tomato-based preparation. It appears in a work of the cook Antonio Latini Lo scalco alla moderna, o vero l’arte di ben disporre i conviti (tr.: The carving in a modern style, or the art of arranging banquets), published in two volumes between 1692 and 1694. However, there is another very important cultural contribution from the Renaissance period in Italy. It concerns lifestyles, including the behaviours related to food. In his fundamental work Galateo, overo de’ costume (first published posthumously in 1558),12 Giovanni 9

He was so-called because of his Arabian origins. This allows us to remember the fundamental contribution of Islamic civilization to scientific knowledge in the Middle Ages. 10 Sir John Harington was the inventor of the modern toilet: the invention was perhaps inspired by the hygienic principles recommended by the Salerno School. 11 The treatise was dedicated to the “Anglorum Regi”, who was probably Robert II, Duke of Normandy, who claimed the throne of England and visited the city of Salerno. 12 Another fundamental work about good manners is Il libro del Cortegiano, written between 1508 and 1524 by Baldassarre Castiglione. Indeed, it is prior to the publication of Galateo by Della Casa.

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Della Casa13 provides his interlocutor (presumably his young nephew Annibale)14 with instructions on how to behave politely. The work was so successful that even today the Italian word “galateo” indicates both the rules of good manners and the manuals dedicated to them. The work places a great emphasis on a good behaviour at the table, and the relationship of the individual to food becomes an element of social distinction, anticipating a topic that will be dealt with by the contemporary sociology (Bourdieu, 1979). According to Della Casa, a polite behaviour at the table also involved hygiene practices: e.g., the duty to come to the table with clean hands. Nevertheless, Galateo represents much more than a collection of guidelines for a desirable behaviour. In Galateo, the specific act of eating ceases to be a pure means of sustenance, as well as the richness of food ceases to be a mere ostentation of affluence. Food becomes part of a broader multidimensional discourse, in which politeness means gracefulness, elegance, a sense of the middle ground in behaviour. Perhaps for the first time in a modern work, food, or rather the lifestyle and behaviour related to food, become a sort of ante litteram indicator of quality of life. This multidimensional approach characterized the production of manuals dedicated to food up to the present day. The reading of contemporary Italian recipe books still allows an interesting experience to understand the relationship between health, food, and of course quality of life. Indeed, while medicine texts often provide information on nutrition (how to choose, cook, and eat food) over the centuries, in Italian recipe books medical and hygienic indications are very often provided. Evidence of medical-hygienic warnings are in the most important Italian cookbook: La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene by Pellegrino Artusi (1891), a fundamental text that summarizes and codifies the basic principles of Italian cuisine (or rather, of the various Italian cuisines), in all its complexity (Facioni et al., 2019b). Thus, the doctor and the cook often represent two sides of the same coin, two key figures that share and disseminate knowledges. An emblematic figure of the dissemination of knowledge through the themes of health and cooking was Amalia Moretti Foggia, one of the first Italian female doctors in the twentieth century.15 She was the third Italian woman to graduate in medicine, and in the 20s of the twentieth century dealt with scientific dissemination—under the pseudonym of Doctor Amal—on the pages of the weekly La Domenica del Corriere. In the same column, to improve the lives of disadvantaged people, she published cooking recipes under the pseudonym of Petronilla (Petronilla, 1943; Schira & De Vizzi, 2020). Thus, it is no coincidence that, at least in Italy, the medical prescription and the cooking recipe are identified by

However, Castiglione does not place the same emphasis on the correct behaviour at the table as Della Casa, who instead gives great relevance to the topic. 13 Giovanni Della Casa undertook the ecclesiastical career on the advice of Alessandro Farnese; Farnese himself, as Pope Paul III, appointed Della Casa as Apostolic Nuncio of the city of Venice in 1544. 14 Despite the dialogic form, in the work only Della Casa speaks to the young man, to instruct him on good manners. 15 It should be emphasized that at the time of the Salerno School there were already women doctors, including the legendary Trotula, who laid the foundations of modern obstetrics (Gatto, 2003).

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the same word: ricetta. In the contemporary world, the fundamental role of the Internet must be stressed in the dissemination of data and information on food and health. Further amplified in the COVID-19 emergency, the massive use of the Internet is amplifying a pre-existing criticality. That is, the frequent lack of certain criteria to extricate oneself from the overabundance of information (Facioni, 2019). In this sense, an in-depth knowledge of data, of the data sources, and above all of the official data sources—is an indispensable tool to distinguish between scientific and unscientific information.

Official Data and Scientific Knowledge The indispensability of the official data, if any, for a correct knowledge of any phenomenon has not to be meant as a sort of residual Positivism. According to Positivism, knowledge was supposed to be objective, as everything was considered as measurable (Campelli, 1999). This work does not start from this premise and recognizes the role of subjectivity also in the making of a standard research (Campelli, 1996; Marradi, 2007). However, in analysing any phenomenon, the existing official data about it represent an indispensable starting point for knowledge, and they must be known a priori. Indeed, only official data may allow the knowledge of the “state of the art” of a specific population on a specific territory (a city, a region, a nation, the world, etc.) in relation to a specific topic of interest. First of all, for the pre-established quality criteria to which they must absolutely comply (Istat, 2012; EU, 201816). Producing official data is an institutional task, carried out in the interest of the community. An institutional task cannot in any way be influenced by logics that favour only one part of the community, e.g., by market interests, or by a political party, or by the government itself.17 Another very important element making official data different from all the others can be sought from a technical and methodological point of view. Even when official statistics use sample surveys, the sample they use is truly random, i.e. a sample in which every single individual belonging to the reference population has the same probability of

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It is important to stress that the latter revision of European Statistics Code of Practice was adopted by the European Statistical System Committee (ESSC) on 16th November 2017. Firstly adopted by the Statistical Programme Committee (SPC) in 2005, the Code was revised by the ESSC in 2011 and 2017. The Code has 16 principles concerning the institutional environment, statistical processes, and statistical outputs. It aims to ensure that statistics produced within the European Statistical System (ESS) are relevant, timely and accurate, and that they comply with the principles of professional independence, impartiality, and objectivity. A set of indicators of best practices and standards for each principle provides guidance and a reference for reviewing the implementation of the Code itself. 17 This last argument certainly holds true in democratic forms of government. On the contrary, the manipulation of data often characterizes authoritarian regimes. This also gives us a further measure of how important official statistical information is.

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being extracted.18 Consequently, the official data are truly representative, and reliable. Of course, even the tools used by official statistics can be improved, and it is a common duty to all kind of surveys, both official and not. However, accurate knowledge requires the right numbers. In this sense, official data—and their sources—always represent the best possible choice.

The Link between Food and Health: The Data Sources The medical literature has long been dealing with the link between eating habits and pathologies. It has provided invaluable data that have enriched the collective knowledge and provided indications on the correct eating habits to follow. Paradigmatic, in this sense, is the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017, aimed to evaluate the consumption of major foods and nutrients across 195 countries, and to quantify the impact of their suboptimal intake on NCD19 mortality and morbidity (GBD, 2017 Diet Collaborators, 2019). The study analyses data over a very long period of time, from 1990 to 2017. Indeed, the medical-scientific literature is truly vast, and characterized by a very high specificity: it aims to identify the risks associated with a specific pathology by relating them to the consumption of certain foods. As an example, the proven relationship between excessive consumption of red meat and the incidence of colorectal cancer (Aune et al., 2013). So, the link between food and health is strictly related to the quality-of-life topic: both food and health are indeed essential aspects of a desirable conception of life. Speaking of food and health, we can only desire that both are of good quality; otherwise, we have no quality of life. All the more reason, the first essential step for which we can speak of quality of life is to have good health and sufficient food. Among the United Nations objectives for the year 203020 (United Nations, 2015; Istat 2021a) there are both the elimination of hunger and the achievement of a good level of health for the whole planet: two such essential objectives cannot simply be ignored. Therefore, food and health are rightly an essential part of that extremely complex concept that is the quality of life. Hence, there is the need to analyse data on eating habits and data related to health in a complex perspective, so as to emphasize their usefulness. So, talking about food

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Very often, when we are faced with non-official samples, they only reproduce the demographic composition of the population. Non-official standard research would/could not select respondents in very difficult neighbourhoods, or in very difficult-to-reach areas. It would be too disadvantageous in terms of cost–benefit ratio. We are not claiming, however, that standard research results obtained from unofficial sources have no value: we are claiming that the concept of “representativeness” should not be called into question. 19 According to World Health Organization definition, Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs), also known as chronic diseases, are those which are not passed from person to person. They are of long duration and generally of slow progression. 71% of all deaths in the world are caused by NCDs. See also: https://www.who.int/health-topics 20 https://sdgs.un.org/goals

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from a quality-of-life perspective requires a complex approach, which considers eating habits and health as part of a broader system in which both individuals and society are involved. A multidimensional approach is particularly interesting when analysing the relationship between food and health. In fact, it allows us to identify more clearly the lifestyles linked to food, and the implications on well-being linked to them. Indeed, the research approach on social indicators underlines the political potential of databased knowledge, indicates emerging criticalities, and suggests possible policy actions. For this purpose, a great help comes from the official data of the social surveys. In Italy, Istat’s Multi-purpose Surveys on Households have been providing valuable data on citizens’ lifestyles since 1993.21 An indispensable resource for such an approach to data. In Multi-purpose surveys context, the Survey on Aspects of Daily Life, and also the Survey on Health and Use of Health Services—provide many indicators to the BES project,22 which aims to measure the equitable and sustainable well-being. In the most recent edition (Istat, 2021b) the indicators are 152 (in the previous editions they were 130), distributed in the traditional 12 domains considered essential for well-being. The Equitable and Sustainable Well-Being is not only related to individuals: it also concerns cultural and environmental aspects. Although BES data are related to a national level, they inspired many projects relating to the well-being of smaller Italian territorial entities. For example, in 2018, some Italian provinces launched projects inspired by the BES indicators to improve the quality of their life. This gives us the opportunity to reflect on how official data are an indispensable tool to be able, knowing the complexity of today, to work to improve tomorrow, in a perspective that in Futures Studies is defined as anticipation (Poli, 2017, 2019). We are therefore not talking about the use of data, e.g., of historical series, only to make extrapolations, but to inspire actions that see possible improvements in the future respect to the existing situation. In this context, there were used indicators recently produced by Italian official statistics. The analysed data provide useful information to highlight the critical issues to be faced today to improve not only the present social context, but also the quality of life in the medium and long term. A great help in understanding complexity, and trends, comes from a method for multiway data, based on the joint application of a factorial analysis and regression over time, called dynamic factor analysis (DFA). The theoretical approach here used (Facioni et al., 2019a) aims to enrich the traditional contributions to Futures Studies. It provides a multidimensional approach to the

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1993 is the year in which Multi-purpose Surveys on households acquire a systematic character and are constituted as a real system of surveys. Previously there had been only a few rounds of surveys (1987–1991). It should be added that Istat conducts other surveys that provide information relating to families (e.g., consumer surveys), as well as elaborates health and demographic data from indirect sources. 22 Born in 2010 on the initiative of Istat and Cnel, the BES project is the result of the need to rethink the concept of well-being, surpassing the GDP as the main index of a nation’s well-being. The first BES Report was published in 2013. Since 2016, all BES indicators are included in the Italian Economic and Financial Document (DEF).

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time-series extrapolations of forecasting studies (Bell, 1997; Hyndman & Athanasopoulos, 2018), and it also provides a valid quantitative contribution to the qualitative techniques typically used in anticipation. This work not only updates the analyses carried out in a previous edition of AIQUAV Conference (Facioni et al., 2019a), but represents a real thematic extension of it.

The DFA Analysis In order to provide a very raw description of Italians lifestyles and their relationships with personal well-being, a multiway analysis on some Well-being indicators about health, life satisfaction, lifestyles, provided by the National Institute of Statistics (Istat) Well-being and sustainability analysis, has been performed.

The Data The following Table 1.1 shows the indicators that have been used in the analysis, distinguishing among active variables in the analysis23 and supplementary ones: Data have been collected for years 2009–2016 (in the analysis); 2005–2008 and 2017 have been included as supplementary years. Indicators are at regional level (Italian regions, NUTS24 2), to identify differences in well-being related to different lifestyles in different areas in Italy. The analysis has been developed considering years 2009–2017 (2017 being the last year for which all the indicators were available at the time of the research).

The Method Since the 1970s, many statistical methods have been developed for multiway data, classified according to more than the classic two dimensions units and variables (Coppi and Bolasco 1989; Coppi 1994), many referring to data classified by threecriteria unit x variable x time. Dynamic factor models were originally proposed by

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Active variables, units and in the above method times, are used for the determination of the factors; supplementary units, variables, and times scores on the factorial plane are predicted using only the information provided by the performed factorial analysis on active variables/individuals/ times, according to the usual connotation of supplementary for units, variables in ordinary factorial or principal component analysis (Principal Component Analysis, H Abdi, L J Williams 2010) 24 Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics or NUTS is a geocode standard for referencing the subdivisions of countries for statistical purposes. See, for example, “NUTS—Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics”. Ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 18 December 2016.

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Table 1.1 Indicators in the analysis and their acronyms Active variables Life expectancy at birth by sex Standardized percentage of people aged 18 years and over who are overweight or obese by sex Standardized percentage of people aged 14 years and over declaring to smoke by sex Standardized percentage of people aged 14 years and over with at least one risk behaviour in alcohol consumption by sex Standardized percentage of people aged 14 years and over who do not practice any physical activity by sex Standardized percentage of people aged 3 years and over who consume at least 4 portions of fruit and vegetables a day by sex Percentage of people aged 14 and over very satisfied of their leisure time by sex Mortality ratios x 10,000 inhabitants by sex for cancer of oesophagus Mortality ratios x 10,000 inhabitants by sex for cancer of stomach Mortality ratios x 10,000 inhabitants by sex for cancer of colon-rectum Mortality ratios x 10,000 inhabitants for breast cancer (only women) Mortality ratios x 10,000 inhabitants by sex for the following causes of death: Diabetes Mortality ratios x 10,000 inhabitants by sex for the following causes of death: Acute myocardial infarction Percentage of people in good health Percentage of people with diabetes Percentage of people with hypertension Percentage of people with gastric or duodenal ulcer Percentage of people eating at least weekly bread/pasta Percentage of people eating at least weekly meat Percentage of people eating at least weekly cold cuts Percentage of people eating at least weekly fish Percentage of people eating at least weekly milk Percentage of people eating at least weekly cheese Percentage of people eating at least weekly snack Percentage of people eating at least weekly legume Percentage of people eating at least weekly cakes Percentage of people eating at least weekly raw olive oil or other vegetal fats Percentage of people older than 2 controlling their salt consumption. Supplementary variables Healthy life expectancy at birth by sex Percentage of people aged 14 and over with a level of life satisfaction from 8 to 10 by sex Male mortality ratio for breast cancer x 10,000 male inhabitants

Acronyms lifexp0M, lifexp0F obese18M, obese18F smoke14M, smoke14F alcohol4M, alcohol14F nosport14M, nosport14F fruit14M, fruit14F satLT14M, satLT14F M_esoph_M, M_esoph_F M_stomach_M, M_stomach_F M_colonR_M, M_colonR_F M_breast_F M_diabetes_M, M_diabetes_F M_infarct_M, M_infarct_F health diabetes_ill hypertension ulcer breadpasta meat coldcuts fish milk cheese snack legumes cakes oil salt HLexpBSM, HLexpBSF lifesat14M, lifesat14F M_breast_M

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Geweke (1977) as a time-series extension of factor models previously developed for cross-sectional data. In the same period Coppi and Zannella proposed the Dynamic Factor Analysis (DFA Coppi and Zannella 1979) according to the French school of Analyse des donnèes for multivariate data, which provides description of data represented in vectorial spaces, and does not refer to probability models for the generating process of data. Dynamic factor analysis (DFA) proposed initially in the 1970s and developed later (Corazziari 1999; Facioni et al., 2019a) aims to handle multiway data classified as units x variables x times, where variables are quantitative and the same set of units and variables is observed over time, from a descriptive point of view. The method is based on the joint application of factorial analysis (to explore the relationships among units and variables) and regression over time (to specifically address and analyse time changes in variables and units) to specific sources of variation observed in the data. DFA easily provides a first look at the global structure and dynamic of data, without requiring assumptions whose reliability could be questionable in very complex sets of data. Before defining the sources of variation, a brief point about data representation needs to be made. Data may be represented by a matrix X (IT,J), which is obtained by collapsing the single matrices units x variables X(I, J)t observed at each point in time, over each other. In the present study, data are indicators about food styles, health, and lifestyles, measured in the Italian regions in the years 2009–2016. The generic element of X(IT, J) is xijt with i ¼ 1. . . I, j ¼ 1. . .J, t ¼ 1. . .T, where i represents the region index, j the indicator index, and t the year index. Let us define S as the overall covariance matrix of X(IT, J). According to the three criteria of data classification (unit, variable, and time), three sources of variation are considered and modelled in DFA: the first derives from the joint interaction of variables and units, averaged over time, representing a structural or static variability, the second and the third refer to the way time interacts with the units and variables, respectively. In DFA, the overall variability summarized in S is linearly decomposed in the three sources of variability described above, namely static (xij.), dynamic of centres (x.jt), and units’ differential dynamic (the net dynamic of single units, when the centres’ trends have been subtracted), according to the following: S ¼ *Si + *St + Sit, where *Si is the covariance matrix of the centres xij.. representing the static source of variation, *St is the covariance matrix of x.jt, and Sit is the covariance matrix representing the differential dynamics of units, after subtracting the mean variables dynamic and the static source of variation. The DFA consists of four models, each of which employs a specific strategy in approaching the three sources of variation. In the present work we use the first DFA model that allows us to focus on the variability and dynamics of the chosen indicators.

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Table 1.2 Quality indices of factorial representation: proportion of total variance (trace of indicated covariance matrices) explained by selected components in PCA of St Quality index It (St ¼ average covariance matrix over times) I(2009) (S2009 ¼ covariance matrix in year 2009) I(2010) (S2010 ¼ covariance matrix in year 2010) I(2011) (S2011 ¼ covariance matrix in year 2011) I(2012) (S2012 ¼ covariance matrix in year 2012) I(2013) (S2013 ¼ covariance matrix in year 2013) I(2014) (S2014 ¼ covariance matrix in year 2014) I(2015) (S2015 ¼ covariance matrix in year 2015) I(2016) (S2016 ¼ covariance matrix in year 2016) *Ii (*Si) (*Si ¼ covariance matrix of xij. Iit (Sit) (Sit ¼ covariance matrix of differential dynamic of units)

value 0.660 0.644 0.633 0.663 0.656 0.665 0.627 0.698 0.686 0.742 0.317

Linear regressions over time are applied to x.jt to describe indicators dynamic,25 while a factorial analysis is applied to the covariance matrix St = *Si + Sit, where St is obtainable also as the mean of the yearly covariance matrices of indicators. The variability of the xij, (static variation), is then represented in the factorial analysis by projecting their centred matrix *cXi ¼ {xijt-x.j.}, on the factorial plane, thereby obtaining the mean position of each country. By projecting the matrices cXt ¼ {xijt-x.jt} centred on each time point, the trajectories over time of each country can be compared with their corresponding mean position, allowing us to evaluate their differential or net time evolution. The interpretation of our results on the factorial plane is based on the correlation coefficients between the variables and the axes of the factor plane. If one region moves towards the centre of the plane (which characterizes the overall dynamic of the system of data) homogeneity among units is increasing, by contrast, if the region moves away from the centre, its differential dynamic is to be interpreted according to its direction on the plane. Indexes of the goodness of fit of each source of variation in each model are also provided. They are calculated as the ratio between the trace of the modelled covariance matrix of the specific source of variation, and the corresponding observed trace, for each of the covariance matrices described above.

Results The factorial analysis applied to the covariance matrix St, provided a factorial representation with the first two factors explaining 66% of observed variability (Table 1.2). The last two years are represented better than the others: about 69% 25

Ordinary least squares method for regression, with the classic assumptions about residuals.

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of yearly variability. The static component of St variability is better represented on the factorial plane (74%), while the variability of Sit expressing the differential dynamic of unit is not (only 32%), suggesting it is not linear. The following Table 1.3 reporting correlations among variables and factors, allows to interpret the two-summary dimension as food and lifestyle the first one, effect on health and life the second: Negative values of the first component indicate positive food styles as consumption of fruits and vegetables at least weekly, satisfaction for leisure time, and a good life expectation. More extreme position on the negative first axis shows worsening of health, and high correlation with alcohol consumption and mortality for oesophagus cancer. Positive value on the same axis shows other habit as smoke for males, no sport, being overweight or obese, associated with an excess of consumption of bread and pasta, snack, meat, indeed there is a strong association also with diabetes illness and mortality, and with hypertension. The second factor identifies with positive values mortality rates and with negative health. The following Fig. 1.1 represents the regions on the plane spanned by the two summary factors explained above. The overweight problem associated with no practice of sport and a higher level of males smoking, affects more Southern regions and is related to diabetes and hypertension, while alcohol consumption and related mortality rates due to oesophagus cancer characterizes more Northern regions. Mortality for stomach cancer seems more frequent in the central regions, and Emilia Romagna and Abruzzo, where there is an important consumption of traditional cold cuts. The analysis of the variables’ time dynamics shows that in general people are increasing good habits. Indeed, mortality is decreasing, but diabetes illness and hypertension are increasing; good food habits are increasing, with the only exception of snacks consumption, increasing too. The indicators that are not present in Table 1.4 show not linear dynamics or no dynamic at all over time. Finally, the differential dynamic of regions (Fig. 1.2) shows that some regions are worsening their situation moving towards more problematic areas. Umbria moves towards areas at risk of digestive cancer (stomach and colon-rectum), hypertension, and higher consumption of meat, and Marche worsen in terms of overweight/obesity and lack of sport. Also Calabria seems to worsen its position increasing obesity, smoke for males, and diabetes. Among Northern regions, Aosta Valley in particular seems to worsen its situation, moving away from the good health area to higher level of female alcohol consumption and smoking. Other regions as Sardinia, Piedmont, Liguria, Emilia Romagna move to the barycentre of the plane, converging to the average situation. Despite the fact that the analysis suggests interesting results in term of life and food habits and their association with health, it is affected by two problems related to the nature of the available data: the first one is the so-called ecological fallacy when indicators are aggregated at regional level. Aggregating variables can affect and bias associations and correlations among them. There is no solution to this problem, as indicators are from different surveys and sources and considering the region as the

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Table 1.3 Correlation among variables and the two factors Variables(a) lifexp0M lifexp0F obese18M obese18F smoke14M smoke14F alcohol4M alcoho14F nosport14M nosport14F fruit14M fruit14F satLT14M satLT14F M_esoph_M M_esoph_F M_stomac_M M_stomac_F M_colonR_M M_colonR_F M_breast_F M_diabetes_M M_diabetes_F M_infarct_M M_infarct_F health diabetes_ill hypertension ulcer coldcuts meat fish breadpasta milk cheese legumes snack cakes oil salt

Component 1 0.46 0.64 0.78 0.83 0.73 0.29 20.68 20.84 0.92 0.91 0.52 0.67 0.66 0.74 20.83 20.73 0.01 0.01 0.14 0.38 0.5 0.81 0.87 0.21 0.45 0.62 0.81 0.55 0.44 0.19 0.56 0.77 0.72 0.15 0.84 0.87 0.62 0.47 0.5 0.25

Component 2 0.24 0.22 0.09 0.03 0.18 0.35 0.24 0.04 0.22 0.22 0.4 0.31 0.27 0.25 0.09 0.56 0.54 0.34 0.52 0.56 0.42 0.42 0.28 0.3 0.44 0.43 0.25 0.51 0.2 0.04 0.53 0.46 0.31 0 0.3 0.15 0.06 0.21 0.46 0.25 (continued)

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Table 1.3 (continued) Variables(a) Component 1 Correlation matrix for supplementary variables Component 1 Variables(a) HLexpBSM 0.75 HLexpBSF 0.71 lifesat14M 0.34 lifesat14F 0.37 M_breast_M 0.04

Component 2 Component 2 0.19 0.29 0.18 0.19 0.03

Note: (a) see Table 1.1.

Good life expectancy, good health; good satisfaction for leisure time

Fig. 1.1 Region projections on the factorial plane

statistical unit is at now the only way to perform such multidimensional analysis. The second is that some indicators are provided standardized by age, others are not and also this fact could in some way affect results. At the time of the analysis the supplementary indicators were lacking for all the considered (active and supplementary) years, and mortality rates were not updated to 2017.

Conclusions: Quality of Life Needs a Broader Vision What has been said so far could lead us to a series of conclusions that are certainly sensible, but maybe insufficient to illuminate the real political significance of the relationship between food, health, and quality of life. It is evident that a correct

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Table 1.4 Linear regression over time outcomes, 2009–2016 Variable lifexp0M lifex0F obese18M smoke14M smoke14F alcohol4M alcoho14F satLT14M M_stomach_M M_stomach_F M_infarct_M M_infarct_F diabetes_ill hypertension ulcer coldcuts meat breadpasta milk cheese legumes snack oil salt

intercept (standard error) 0.978 (0.002) 0.989 (0.002) 1.051 (0.015) 1.197 (0.032) 1.133 (0.024) 1.28 (0.061) 1.31 (0.089) 0.962 (0.015) 1.117 (0.041) 1.158 (0.045) 1.322 (0.022) 1.312 (0.045) 0.894 (20.038) 0.905 (20.017) 1.3 (0.059) 1.076 (0.014) 1.176 (0.019) 1.072 (0.007) 1.139 (0.017) 1.202 (0.047) 0.84 (0.033) 0.927 (20.029) 0.991 (0.003) 0.918 (0.008)

Parameter est. (standard error) 0.003 (0.0002) 0.001 (0.0003) 0.006 (0.0017) 0.023 (0.0036) 0.016 (0.0027) 0.033 (0.007) 0.036 (0.0101) 0.005 (0.0017) 0.014 (0.0047) 0.019 (0.0051) 0.038 (0.0025) 0.037 (0.0051) 0.012 (20.0044) 0.011 (20.0019) 0.035 (0.0067) 0.009 (0.0016) 0.021 (0.0022) 0.008 (0.0008) 0.016 (0.002) 0.024 (0.0053) 0.019 (0.0038) 0.009 (20.0033) 0.001 (0.0003) 0.01 (0.0009)

R2 0.95 0.80 0.68 0.87 0.85 0.79 0.69 0.54 0.59 0.69 0.97 0.90 0.58 0.85 0.82 0.84 0.94 0.95 0.92 0.77 0.81 0.53 0.65 0.95

eating style can only improve health, and this improvement has a positive effect on the quality of life not only of individual citizens, but also of the society as a whole. Equally evident how administrations, no longer burdened with costs to heal the problems created by unhealthy lifestyles, could devote additional resources to the well-being of the citizens themselves. The spread of the culture of a correct eating style can create, in fact, a virtuous circuit in which each individual can contribute not only to maintaining their own health—and therefore personal well-being—but, for example, to lowering the costs of national healthcare. Policies on food styles are important—and education policies for a correct food style have positive repercussions, and not only in the short term. Although, there is an aspect that should be emphasized. That is, that every human being, every time he/she eats, carries out a strongly political act. The concept of Equitable and Sustainable Well-being can help us to broaden the horizon. Well-being is (also) made by culture and environment, and food styles are strictly related to culture and environment. In this respect, food choices that damage the environment certainly worsen the quality of life—but this worsening must be thought of in extremely broad terms. The consequences can be

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0.25

2016

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Liguria 2016

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Emilia Romagna Trento Piedmont0.05The Marches 20162016 2016

2016

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Sardinia 2016 -0.1

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Fig. 1.2 Regions differential dynamics

very difficult to predict and manage, since incorrect eating habits lead to extremely complex dynamics. Food choices, correct or wrong, are based on a cultural system— in the anthropological sense of the term (Geertz, 1973). So, it is very important to understand what is wrong with the cultural aspect of a harmful food choice. The pandemic due to Covid-19 was most likely caused by cultural choices that favoured the spillover from bats to humans (Subudhi et al., 2019). All this calls into question the responsibility of each person towards the world in which he lives, and towards those people (and animals, and environment) who will inhabit it in the future. A responsibility that is expressed (also) by eating in an equitable and sustainable way, every single day. And yet the concept of health, the choices related to it, must be expanded, including not only the health of the individual, but also that of the whole environment to which every human being belongs. A correct food style, in this broader conception, has probably no comparisons, in its possible implications in terms of overall, global, long-term well-being, with other action among those that each of us performs every day. Perhaps statistics can also help make everyone more sensitive about it. And to make us think about how our food choices are, every day, an eminently political act.

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References Aune, D., Chan, D. S., Vieira, A. R., Navarro Rosenblatt, D. A., Vieira, R., Greenwood, D. C., Kampman, E., & Norat, T. (2013). Red and processed meat intake and risk of colorectal adenomas: A systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological studies. Cancer Causes Control. 2013, 24(4), 611–627. Bell, W. (1997). Foundations of futures studies. History, purposes, and knowledge. Human science for a new era—Volume 1. Transaction Publishers. Bourdieu, P. (1979). La distinction. Les éditions de minuit. Campelli, E. (1996). Il metodo e il suo contrario. Sul recupero della problematica del metodo in sociologia. FrancoAngeli, Milano. Campelli, E. (1999). Da un luogo comune. Elementi di metodologia delle scienze sociali. Carocci, Roma. De Renzi, S. (1859). Flos medicinae Scholae Salerni: versi della Scuola Salernitana novellamente raccolti da varii Codici ed edizioni, disposti in nuovo ordine, aumentati di numero, e diligentemente confrontati da Salvatore De Renzi. Typografia del Filiatre Sebezio. European Union. (2018). European statistics code of practice—For the National Statistical Authorities and Eurostat (EU statistical authority). Publications Office of the European Union. Facioni, C. (2019). Le fonti dei dati e la statistica ufficiale. In Delle Donne & Al (Ed.), Capire la statistica. Metodi ed indici statistici in ambito sociale sanitario economico (pp. 119–130). Liguori. Facioni, C., Corazziari, I., & Maggino, F. (2019a). Measuring uncertainties: A theoretical approach. International Journal of Computational Economics and Econometrics, 2019, 9(1/2), 5–28. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJCEE.2019.097797 Facioni, C., Corazziari, I., & Maggino, F. (2019b). Food styles and Well-being of Italian people. A contribution from official statistics. In A. Bianco et al. (Eds.), Italian studies on quality of life. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06022-0 Gatto, L. (2003). Il Medioevo giorno per giorno. Newton Compton. GBD. (2017). Diet Collaborators, (2019), Health effects of dietary risks in 195 countries, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study, In Lancet 2019; 393: 1958–72. Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of cultures. Basic Books. Hyndman, R. J., & Athanasopoulos, G. (2018). Forecasting: Principles and practice (2nd ed.). OText. Istat. (2012). Linee guida sulla qualità dei processi statistici. Istat. Istat. (2021a). Rapporto SDGs 2020. Informazioni statistiche per l’agenda 2030 in Italia. Istat. Istat. (2021b). Rapporto BES 2020. Istat. Marradi, A. (2007). Metodologia delle scienze sociali. Il Mulino. Petronilla (Moretti Foggia A.). (1943). 200 suggerimenti per. . .Questi tempi. Sonzogno Editore. Poli, R. (2017). Introduction to anticipation studies. Springer. Poli, R. (2019). Handbook of anticipation. Theoretical and applied aspects of the use of future in decision making. Springer. Redon, O., Sabban, F., & Serventi, S. (1993). La gastronomie au Moyen Age. 150 recettes de France et d’Italie. Editions Stock. Schira, R., & De Vizzi, A. (2020). Le voci di Petronilla. Salani. Subudhi, S., Rapin, N., & Misra, V. (2019). Immune system modulation and viral persistence in bats: Understanding viral Spillover. Viruses, 11(2), 192. United Nations—Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2015). Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable World, on website: https://sdgs.un.org/publications/ transforming-our-world-2030-agenda-sustainable-development-17981

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Carolina Facioni is a sociologist and Ph.D. in Methodology of Social Sciences. She is a member of AIQUAV. Her research interests are futures studies, demographic issues, and quality-of-life indicators. She works at ISTAT as a research assistant. She is part of the scientific committee of the journals “Futuri” and “Ratio Sociologica”, and a member of CED (Center for Economic Development & Social Change). Isabella Corazziari is a statistician and Ph.D. in Computational Statistics and Data Analysis. She works at the Italian National Institute of Statistics (hereinafter ISTAT) as a researcher. Her main research interests are multiway analysis for array of data, based on factorial models; Multivariate analysis with multilevel models; Models mainly applied to socio-demographic data, aimed for studying multidimensional phenomena. Filomena Maggino is a Professor of Social Statistics at the “Sapienza” University of Rome. She is a Director of the international scientific journal Social Indicators Research and of the Encyclopedia on research in the field of Quality of Life and Well-being. She is the president and a co-founder of AIQUAV. Collaborator of various government organizations, among her main research interests and activities, there are analysis and measurement of well-being, indicators of inequality and sustainability, statistical and political communication.

Chapter 2

Sagre and Quality of Life. The Italian Heritage of Popular Gastronomy Gabriele Di Francesco

Abstract The Sagre, food and wine Italian traditional festivals, represent occasions for collective socialization, events for the mobilization of the masses in order to recognize one’s own social identity. Almost all of them have a very ancient sacred origin, as they were held in conjunction with patronal feasts or to commemorate a saint particularly venerated in the area where they were held or to remember historical events. Famous were those that took place in the Venice in the 1700s during the summer. Contemporary sagre have lost this connotation to become celebrations of typical products and preparations as well as the promotion of sustainable tourism at the local level. Keywords Sagre · Social identity · Patronal feasts · Typical products · Sustainable turism

Italian Sagre: Origin and Tradition Among the countless events focused on food and nutrition, with multiple denominations and different ways of carrying out, the Sagre, food and wine festivals, are certainly the most numerous and widespread in the Italian panorama. They can be assimilated into the category of popular festivals,1 as «they effectively translate into objective occasions for collective socialization, for the mobilization of the masses» (A. Nesti, 1979, p. 84) from a sociological point of view, they actually appear as rather complex phenomena, in which socio-cultural variables and

«Everywhere, especially in spring and summer, there are celebrations and “popular” festivals with the most diverse denominations and methods. The various initiatives, be they the “Pistoiese July” or the “Mushroom Festival”, the “Giostra del Saracino” or the annual fair (. . .) are presented with the connotation of popular and actually translate into objective opportunities for socialization» (Nesti, 1979:84; see also Clemente, 1981).

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G. Di Francesco (*) Department of Business Administration, “G. d’Annunzio” University, Chieti-Pescara, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 C. Facioni et al. (eds.), Italian Studies on Food and Quality of Life, Social Indicators Research Series 85, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97806-8_2

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economic dimensions, tradition and innovation seem to merge symbolic-ritual values and folkloric revival, territorial marketing and tourism of taste. In the general trend, which has seen, in recent years, the attraction for everything related to nutrition and an increase in interest in food and wine and “taste” phenomena, together with a real explosion of the relative business, the sagre are also often understood as “spontaneous” expressions of popular culture, whereby popular we mean a position of subordination to the “high” gastronomic culture represented by ancient “cenacles” or recent brotherhoods and clubs, reserved for restricted intellectual elites, where gastronomy becomes a refined status symbol for a few acolytes or for enlightened and wealthy gourmets.2 In reality, in times of globalization and even food homologation, these distinctions tend to gradually blur, to the point of almost canceling themselves out in the tension towards certain food and wine styles that make the “popular taste”, the “rediscovery” exclusive and “trendy” of hypothetical peasant traditions, the search for the “genuine” and the “typical”, together with a sort of propensity to form and educate the taste. In cultural terms, these formative proposals are also characterized in an esthetic sense and taste, according to Bourdieu’s lesson, becomes a social distinction. On the other hand, it is known how gastronomy is a cultural fact, “expression of the creative and innovative capacity of culture” (Sciolla, 2002:49), and like eating “does not just mean eating, it means communicating, being together and symbolically re-proposing the fixed points of the life of your own society. (. . .) Food offers values that go far beyond nutrition understood only in physico-chemical terms” (Di Nallo & Cavassini, 1992:1–2). «The same words company, companion, companionship derive from the Latin word whose meaning is he who eats bread together», points out Egeria Di Nallo (1986:35). When nutrition is taken into consideration, one immediately notices a great diversity among human groups, a diversity that is not only given by the natural environment and its resources but also by the production choices, the edibility of substances, the way of preparing foods, by the way of presenting and sharing them. Beyond this diversity, it is however possible to trace common traits that characterize local cuisines, such as “socialization, union, communion, the convivial dimension that is established between people” (Teti, 1999:88). Indeed, it is «around the table that groups are formed and cemented, sometimes plots are woven, business is established, promises and oaths are made. Friendships and relationships are created

“For some, the popular should be understood as a different and distinct term from ‘superior’. On the cultural ground, what is not official, what does not belong to “cultured” culture, would be popular. It would imply a cultural differentiation and an opposition that would tend to disappear as society becomes more homogeneous. On the one hand, therefore, popular would indicate social and cultural deprivation, on the other a more marked human experience, a more accentuated emotional expression, and a better preservation of tradition. (. . .) For others, the popular, on the other hand, is an element closely connected with peasant reality in general and southern in particular. It has its own characteristics, such as the dialect, particular feasts, oral traditions, a type of genuine diet, objects of work, forms of personal clothing and furnishings» (Nesti, 1979:86–87). 2

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or consolidated around the table»; sharing food is fundamental in the creation of friendship and kinship networks. Returning to the food festivals, theme of this work, and to their “distant” origin, it will not be surprising at this point that these manifestations of undoubted popular origin have been equally favored and encouraged, often supporting, or contributing to the expenses, by the hegemonic classes—aristocracy, clergy, etc.—in order to show their availability and closeness to the lower classes. Examples of this are found in the most remote documents that speak of Sagre or food festivals. In this regard, there is no lack of those who see these festivals as forms of those “panem et circenses” that have contributed since ancient times to bring the upper and lower strata of the population demagogically closer. Panem et circenses is a famous proverbial expression of Latin poet Iuvenalis (Saturae, X, 81 - It. tr. 2013) with which the Latin poet indicated the essential elements to maintain, in demagogic terms, the popular consensus in ancient Rome: (the people) only two things anxiously desire: bread and circenses ludi. Even today, according to many, they are used as a gimmick that serves to distract people from real problems in the country. The popular festival was thus transformed into a truly choral moment that strengthened the consensus, belonging to the group and the social identity of a people or a nation. In times historically closer to us, the same manifestations have however been resumed and re-proposed on the basis of precise ideological orientations, as during the Fascist period, although the aims that the promoters set themselves were different and otherwise negative. It is a fact that precisely in the Fascist period, a great boost was given to such events starting with the obligatory promotion of the food and wine festivals of the contemporary age, the grape festivals. Despite this connotation, festivals have always maintained their popular participation character in an alternate time to everyday life, which is in the sacredness of the feast and festive rites their deep motivation.

The Sagre as Popular Feast between the Sacred and the Profane The theme of the feast, in fact, before becoming one of the most popular in the Social Sciences, has already been the subject of investigation by political doctrines and religious disciplines interested in evaluating “the usefulness or danger towards the social whole or religious devotion socially useful”(Apolito, 1994: 63). Evaluations, mostly ideological and instrumental, which have hindered a demarcation of the subject and have produced, over the centuries, a conceptual and thematic mixing between the characters of the feast and those, for example, of the rite (Van Gennep, 1985; Villadary, 1968; Valeri, 1977: 955–967; Demarchi, 1983; Cattabiani, 1989) and the ceremony (Valeri, 1981: 211–243).

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The importance of festive moments in social life is evidenced by the high number of days of the year dedicated to them since ancient times, starting from the end of the sixteenth century when more than one day out of three was a holiday, both religious authorities first and political authorities worked to reduce them and to control their organization (Bercé, 1976: 136–150; Camporesi, 1981: 81–157). The need for work, in fact, induced the faithful to desecrate the festive periods dedicated to worship, generating a confusion between the sacred and the profane, so Urban VIII, with the bull Universa per orbem, issued on 24 September 1642, provided to regulate a new calendar of festive days, reserving to the pontifical authority the exclusive right to institute religious feasts and prohibiting the bishops from introducing new ones: thirty-one feasts of obligation were set to which were added Sundays, patronal and diocese feasts, and those of the various nations. The affirmation, during the seventeenth century, of the absolutist policy of the European monarchies and, in the following one, of the Enlightenment philosophy decisively decreed the “end” of the party, which, considered subversive and not motivated by utility, was fought because it favored social dissolution, laziness, superstition, waste, and fanaticism. To Montesquieu, to the encyclopedists and in particular to Voltaire (Voltaire 1751)—who thought that festive occasions would be encouraged by innkeepers to profit from the custom of artisans and peasants “to get drunk on a saint’s day”—Rousseau replied. The misunderstood philosophe (Testoni, 1999:369) was a defender of tradition and identified in festivals and showed the social ties capable of reinvigorating the unity and patriotic virtues of a people. At the beginning of the story, after the great natural disasters had pushed man to join the others for a common protection, the first festive meetings were held during which “an ardent youth gradually forgot his wild nature, and mutual familiarity grew” (Renier, 2011). In this phase of the individual’s evolution, the party therefore has the function of “comparison and differentiation”, as each presents himself to the other without veils, generating authentic and lasting bonds (Einaudi, 1972: 405). Ties necessary to strengthen the relationship between citizens and the political body: “Plant a pole crowned with flowers in the middle of a public square, place a people around you, and you will get a party” that strengthens the bonds of friendship. (. . .) Such useful and pleasant institutions will never be too many “[Rousseau 1757–1758, trans. it. Rousseau, 1989: 269]. But references to the party as an element of democracy that reduces class barriers are present in many other Rousseauian writings (De Marinis, 1981: 72–87). Feast, pleasures and all sorts of entertainment do not distract man from work, but on the contrary, make him love his condition: “It is bad if the people only have time to earn their bread, they will have to have some to eat it with joy, otherwise he will not earn it for long (Rousseau 1757-1758). The influence of Rousseau’s thought will be present both in the events of the French Revolution, during which a system of civil spectacles was developed, as a “municipal” instrument of political propaganda, which supplanted religious ones, both in the historical reflections of Michelet (Michelet, 1895: 583–588), nostalgic for the animated and involving traditional civil and religious festivals, and in the social theories of Durkheim, who observed how the Australian primitives alternated periods of total dedication to work

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characterized by the daily layman with phases of collective meetings that act as tools for renewal and strengthening of sociality (Durkheim 1912) and, therefore, are configured as an expression of the sacred. The contrast between Voltaire and the Rousseau-Durkheim binomial influenced in a decisive way the subsequent socio-anthropological theories on the feast giving rise to two interpretative currents (Apolito, 1993: 13–64; Apolito, 1987: 411–442): one supported by scholars who understood it as transgression, the other supported by Durkheimian sociologists who considered it a spontaneous production of society. Among the former, the position of Sigmund Freud is interesting, according to which the party would be “a permitted excess” that stimulates a “joyful mood” that derives from the permission to do what in normal times is prohibited (Freud, 1913). At the same time, in a psychoanalytic key is the thesis of George Bataille, according to which the feast—encouraged in traditional society but abolished in bourgeois society—has its foundation in the need for destruction and dissipation (Bataille, 1992). Among the Durkheimian sociologists, Marcel Mauss, with reference to Eskimo societies, highlights how the forms of association in these communities, are the result of the succession of seasons. During the summer, the groups are dispersed and the social ties, as well as the rituals, are negligible; contrariwise, in winter life looks like a “long party”, during which relationships and exchanges intensify (Mauss, 1904–1905). It is also worth mentioning the position of those theorists who believe that the social bond is established through the periodic transgressions entrusted to the sacrificial and regenerating atmosphere of the feast (Caillois 1939). However, these are partial readings of the party phenomenon, more oriented to the study of collective behavior than to defining its characters in an exhaustive manner. The festive event, in fact, an institution present in every society, consists of “other” time compared to everyday life, that is, in the periodic interruption of the daily and repetitive unfolding of ordinary economic and social activities during which the behavior of individuals can be regulated by ceremonial rules or marked by widespread licentiousness or characterized, at different times, by both ways of acting. In this context, the essential function of the calendar is grafted, which consists in “marking the dialectic of work and free time, in the intertwining of two times: the regular but linear one of work, more sensitive to historical changes, and the cyclical one of the feasts, more traditional but while still permeable to changes in history (Cardini, 1983). It is therefore misleading to reduce this complex phenomenon, which has also given rise to a large literature in Italy (Di Nola, 1976; Jesi, 1977), only to the selfexcluding characters of transgression or sociability but, on the contrary, between the festive world and the everyday world, it is possible to highlight “a relationship of complementarity” (Valeri, 1979: 96). Festive celebrations, in fact, “mark the passing of social time” (Comba, 1997:302–303), giving rise to cycles within which the phases of life, the succession of seasons and economic activities are placed. With regard to this last aspect, it must be emphasized that the main objective of the traditional “festive complex”, between two production cycles and centered on the

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ritual prohibition of work, is to give “an answer to the latent collective crisis that has its roots in the ever-looming risk the famine and the failure of plantations “(Massenzio, 1994: 198–199; see also Lanternari, 1983).

Evolution and Characteristics of the Italian Sagre A common feature detectable in the various studies on the festival consists in the denunciation of its presumed end, which would have taken place starting from the beginning of the twentieth century, at the same time as the disappearance of the community dimension caused by the transformations of industrial society (Cardini, 1983: 23; Apolito, 1993: 63). The most recent research on the subject, on the other hand, has recovered the importance of the party as an “active response to the problems of today’s society” (Bravo, 1984: 21), despite the concerns of scholars for an excessive commercialization of events for economic purposes. Contemporary man, inserted in a “chronometric gear” devoid of quality and values, also experiences different social formations without ethnic connotations several times a day and therefore tends to anchor himself to the historically older social formation, the peasant-artisanal one, to return to live, even episodically, the qualitative time of tradition which “promotes feelings of belonging, of identity as unifying elements of a people, of a group” (Grimaldi, 1993: 46–47). Interesting is the thesis of Gian Luigi Bravo (1984: 44), according to which commuters, crossing more frequently different social formations, show the tendency to «a greater participation in parties as rituals”, aimed at an activity “of organizational recovery of disorder». There are different types of festivities: from those celebrating the life cycle (including not only the events that mark the life of individuals but also, especially in peasant societies, the phases of agricultural work and seasonal changes) to religious ones, from transgressive events (Carnival and Halloween) to civil events, to historical-re-evocative ones. Within this classification, an important position has been conquered, especially in recent decades, by the festival intended as a “popular celebration”, traditionally also celebrating the patron protector of the community, “dedicated to a seasonal product or a harvest” (Battaglia, 1987: 365; De Mauro, 2000: 812; Devoto & Oli, 2004: 2426). This definition, on the one hand, allows us to determine the constituent elements of the sagre identifiable in the feast, in its community character, in the agricultural product to be generally honored in conjunction with the celebrations in honor of the patron saint; on the other hand, it authorizes us to exclude from the sagre category all those events that are deemed to be included in it improperly (DʼAmbrosio, 2009). It is possible to outline the specific characters and structure of a typical festival, bearing in mind the multiple meanings attributed to the term festival, which, on the one hand, relate to the spiritual life (celebration of solemn religious rites, consecration of places, tabernacles, altars, churches), and on the other hand, they refer to civil

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life (celebration or commemoration of an event, an anniversary, a specific historical or cultural period). Among the examples that can bring out the specificities of the Festivals in their historical evolution, both in terms of traditional festivals, both in its claim to rediscovery or maintenance of ancient rites, and finally also of economic promotion of food and wine products of the territories are the festivals which took place in the Serenissima Republic of Venice. The Venetian chronicles of the eighteenth century tell of how many were the official holidays of the Serenissima, which were joined by others, related to the celebrations of the patron saint, or to some particular occasion (for example, the liberation from a pestilence, as in the Feast of the Redeemer). These feasts, so to speak unofficial, saw a “great contest” of the people. Over the course of the year, there were a good thirty of them. The only popular festivals were the Sagre. On that day the venetian Calli and Campielli were adorned with banners and carpets, garlands and damasks hung from the windows of the houses, paintings and portraits were displayed in the improvised barracks, on the counter of the frittole—typical Italian fried pizza -, vendor the beautiful copper and brass plates sparkled in the sun, shiny more than gold (Renier, 2011: 54).

The Republic was inclined to favor these events, with the not too hidden aim of maintaining good relations between the ruling aristocracy and the popular classes, and to demonstrate, both internally and abroad, how rich and powerful Venice was. These were occasions in which the three components of the Republic, the State, the people and the Church, came together to affirm each one its own prerogatives, its own powers; and this took place in a harmonious climate, devoid of contrasts, indeed in an atmosphere of collective joy and strong popular participation, that political climate which, moreover, is the secret that explains how a tiny state by extension and lacking in itself of each resource (in the first centuries a set of islets and sandbanks), could survive for many centuries and become one of the most prestigious in Europe (Renier, 2011: 5).

The holidays therefore represented a moment of consolidation of social relations, of strengthening of national identity and of showing one’s strength and international prestige. They took place mostly in summer, and began on the evening of the eve on the church field (. . .) and the feast continued throughout the night. A stage was raised, on which an orchestra performed with players and singers, or actors; illuminations of candles, headlights and lanterns were placed; frittole stalls were erected! (frittole was a national dish), greengrocers, sellers of wine (abundant), tripe and sandwiches, organized bonfires to roast fish or chicken or duck; Tables with many chairs were set, and the population, who could not go to the countryside in the summer, ate, drank, sang, danced, played cards or bowls, had fun, participated in the religious process, sonnets were recited and songs were sung; the café sold a large quantity of sorbets and sweets. [. . .] It was inviolable on such occasions the ancient custom of eating certain national fried pastries, which they call frittole, of which the people were greedy, and which perhaps was not disregarded, in faithful compliance with the customs, by persons of high status (Renier, 2011: 5–21).

Each feast and each sagra had its saint, its products, and its rituals, its “machines” and its installations to amaze and astound, to aggregate and consolidate one’s belonging to one’s own Campiello (neighborhood, ed.), to one’s island, to the own

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city. The moment of celebration was also the occasion to get out of everyday life in an “other” time that ritually allowed and allows to transgress some social norms to access rest, but also to wake it up, sometimes to dissipation and licentiousness. Gasparo Gozzi, humanist and illustrious man of letters of the time, wrote to a friend in 1730: «I believe that the Sagre of Venice have captivated you. Why don’t you come here, who will see cooking frittelle (typical italian fried pizza also called frittole) on the public street? It is a majesty to pass through a street, where on one side and the other you can see a line of sellers of such a blessing; you see certain little girls cooking them with the cap on their heads, smoked by the oil that evaporates from the pan; seeing them is a lordship. Then add a nice view of lords and women walking up and down with nice grace and demeanor» (Gozzi, 1862:120). From the accounts of contemporaries, the Venetian festivals appeared particularly sumptuous and suggestive, but they certainly were not the only ones in the Italian panorama. Indeed, widespread in cities and districts of almost all the ancient pre-unification states, they have been repeated for centuries, sometimes more modest, sometimes richer, but with few innovations and modifications, up to the present day. A strong impulse to such demonstrations was had in the first decades of the last century, thanks to the will of Fascism, which proposed and promoted them based on precise ideological orientations in order to strengthen popular consensus for the regime. A consensus in which «the picturesque, the anachronistic, the traditional fall into the category of the different”, of the permitted otherness but with the latent aim of gaining at any cost a consent or a lack of dissent otherwise unattainable »[Cipriani, 1979:14]. It is in this context and with these assumptions that, in 1930, the Ministry of Agriculture, through the Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro (OND)—Organizations in which, during the Fascist period, recreational and assistance institutions for workers were included—with a regulatory provision suggested, but in reality imposed to all Municipal Dopolavoro to organize a grape harvest festival or a grape sagra in all the municipalities of Italy. This is how the first food and wine festivals of the contemporary age were born, which have arrived almost unchanged to the present day, albeit with different purposes and orientations. In Marino, one of the so-called Castelli Romani small towns, in the province of Rome, already in 1925, what is considered the first festival in contemporary Italy was celebrated. Conceived by the Roman poet and playwright of marine origin Leone Ciprelli, the first edition of the Grape Festival was organized, which in some way represents the prototype of the festivals in the contemporary period, which reached its 95th edition in 2019. The event caused an enormous uproar, so much so that one of the wonders of the festival, the fountains that, in an almost “miraculous” way, threw wine instead of water, were even celebrated in a well-known song of 1926, Na gita a li Castelli, by Franco Silvestri, by now passed from the ranks of Roman ballads in the repertoire of traditional Italian songs (Comune di Marino, 2019, on website: https://www.sagradelluvamarino.it/).

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Structured according to a precise script, the Sagra included and still includes: (a) a religious program: a solemn procession that pays homage to the Madonna of the Most Holy Rosary whose effigy is placed on a 18th century processional machine carried on the shoulder; (b) historical references: re-enactment of the return of Marcantonio Colonna, winner of the battle of Lepanto, with a historical procession; (c) popular entertainment and games: parade of traditional wine carts, bands and folkloric groups; (d) food and wine promotion events: distribution and sale of grapes and wine tasting; (e) an astonishing and prodigious coup de théatre: the miracle of the fountains that throw wine, aimed at arousing great wonder and to remain etched in the memory of the welcome guests. The construction of the Sagra, as can be seen, was based on various events that referred to specific value-related factors, capable of attracting the attention of the visitors and, almost with an ante-litteram marketing action, promoting the wine of Marino, renowned among that of the Castles. In fact, it was based on religion, on history, or rather on a strictly local event somehow linked to the greatest national history (in particular to the victory against a formidable enemy, such as the infidel Turks) scenically represented in costume, on entertainment and on the rediscovery of popular traditions, on typical products. Even with some variations, these elements will then enter into the construction of all subsequent festivals, as real constituent factors of the food and wine festival and that of grapes in particular. Marketing considerations aside, the Grape Sagre was also based on an alleged re-evaluation of the rural environment, of the peasant world to which the cultivation of the vine and the production of wine were linked. In fact, reference was made to a “peasant civilization” which was a pure mental construction, within a mythical golden age, without an objective historical-social foundation. In fact, from the very first editions, the food and wine Sagre soon became forms of promotion of the typical product, which was offered for tasting by the producers (grapes and wine from the Castelli Romani in Marino, artichokes in Cerveteri, strawberries in Nemi, chestnuts on the Cimini mountains, etc.) in a context of popular festivities in which, after all, the organizational models indicated are repeated. It is believed that always through these models, starting from the years after the Second World War, the popular food and wine of the Sagre was interpreted but also reconstructed.

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Sagre and Quality of Life Therefore, traditional festivals drew their origin from religious popular festivals (whether they were Marian festivals or in honor of the patron saint of the town) linked to ancient agricultural rituals of thanksgiving for the harvest and the propitiation of the new agricultural year. They find their referents in the ancient cereal rites connected to the celebration of the fertile land with the donation of the first fruits to the divinity for thanksgiving, in the height of the summer season, in a moment of aggregation after the work lost in the fields (Giancristofaro, 1999:102). Furthermore, the religious origin of the festival is testified by both the etymological origin of the term deriving from the Latin adjective săcěr-sacra-sacrum (used by Horace, in the expression luces sacrae, as holidays), to indicate «everything that, by virtue of a public act of the civitas and its representatives, it is dedicated to the gods, that is, removed from the profane sphere to be consecrated to them» (Filoramo, 1997:552); and from the fact that most of the popular feast and sagre are of a religious nature and occur, in a society where agricultural-pastoral elements still remain. As important circumstances to recognize traces of archaic religiosity on which Catholicism has worked its connections, and as occasions for food consumption, rituals, and behaviors necessary to become aware of one’s own cultural roots (Giancristofaro, 1999:13). A significant example of this relationship between food and religion is represented by the collective banquets with which the solidarity and friendship of the group are expressed in happy moments (birth and wedding) as in painful ones (funeral lunch or so-called consolo). This case also includes the custom of the Panarda, a term that in the popular culture of Abruzzo describes the evening banquet of thanksgiving for the devotion of a Saint offered to relatives and friends (Ibidem:189–193) that includes 50 dishes with different foods. If the traditional festivals did not, however, have economic implications outside the community itself, the current ones have purposes that extend beyond the strengthening of the social bond, also involving, directly or indirectly, the sphere of profit. In contemporary society, in fact, the festival phenomenon has varied many of its rituals and characters linked to the traditional agricultural economy and, benefiting in particular from the progressive increase achieved by food and wine tourism, it has become one of the most important tools for local development (Di Francesco & Minardi, 2003). The numerous festivals set up especially in the last few years in the tourist resorts and in their surroundings, as well as the boom recorded at the same time by the agritourism restaurants, can, in fact, be considered the consequence of the strong demand, not only by vacationers, for slow food, «an ideal model of nutrition linked to local and regional gastronomy», established itself in reaction to fast food cuisine, to which industrial society and tertiary and bureaucratic services have directed us (Minardi, 2003: 58–60). In today’s scenario of the globalized world, oriented towards the triumph of dishes from exotic cultures, the rediscovery of folk cuisine constitutes not only a

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valid way to strengthen the common identity, but a heritage to be protected because it is able to convey the choice of the tourist, increasingly curious and available towards those dishes and products that tell the original story of the community where one is a guest (Volpato, 1991:3–7). To respond to this growing demand for food and wine tourism, the one to be clear that it «motivates and encourages the tourist to visit a territory to discover its identities, to experience the context of production, to know the deep and essential link between the environment and society on the one hand and traditions and products on the other» (Antonioli, 2004: 33), efforts are being made, especially since the last few decades, to design a sustainable economy based on the gastronomic resources of the individual territories, the characteristic products and the tasting of flavors traditional, despite the numerous pitfalls brought about by the falsification of the “typical”. In this regard, it seems appropriate to clarify what can (and must) be meant as “typical product”. Or, more properly, what are the typical agri-food products, which in French are identified as produits du terroir. Products can be defined as characteristic as they are specific to a place, or as products that owe their specificity to the link with the territorial context of production. Typical products are the expression of production models that are based on the co-evolution, over a long or even very long period of time, of the systems of cultivation, breeding and transformation of the product with the territory in which these systems are made and with the resources that are present in them. The link with the traditions and culture of consumption that have developed in that same territory then takes on particular importance (Arfini et al., 2010: 11). Regarding the definition of typical local products, an important terminological clarification is also required with reference to some regulatory provisions which distinguished between 1) local products, a category of typical or traditional products that are characterized by the smallness of production, by the lack of every kind of disciplinary and for the extreme variability of the production techniques; 2) typical products, that is wines and agri-food products for which raw materials of particular value are used; 3) traditional products, agri-food productions whose processing, conservation and aging methods are consolidated over time, homogeneous throughout the territory concerned, according to traditional rules, for a period of not less than 25 years. Typical products are now rewarded by the overall evolution of food consumption which, on the basis of various types of motivations (from the extreme hedonistic to the solidarity one or inspired by political-ideological motivations), are increasingly attentive to the local and tradition (Arfini et al., 2010: 11). This last hypothesis is perhaps the one that best suits the case of contemporary summer festivals, which often have also lost the specificity and characteristics of religiosity typical of traditional festivals, but which retain the common traits that characterize local kitchens and gastronomies. The description of Defendente Sacchi (1829) also goes in this sense when he describes the atmosphere that, in Venice, was found in the Saint Martha feast, one of the oldest and most heartfelt of the Serenissima.

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G. Di Francesco Glad were the meals that were prepared by the people on the feast of Santa Marta: it originated from a custom that some fishermen kept to close that sacred event with a dinner, whose only food was a fish called sole, seasoned with the sauce that was called flavor [saor in Venetian dialect, ed]. In short it was that banquet of all: the tables along the Giudecca canal were being prepared as the day fell, and it was nice to see an entire people delighting in dear knots of friendship in common table, while around it cheers for the lagoon the gondoliers and patricians. In these dinners, it is true, sometimes the sanctity of modesty suffers from some offense, but they also serve to make new friendships, and very kindly Giustina Renier Michiel observes that the Monarchs often make war because they never agree to quaff together (Sacchi, 1829).

From the chronicles of the time, the feast of Saint Martha summarizes together the characters of ritual and popular gastronomy. The common people costumed that night to sit on those spaces, and spread tablecloths on the grass, eat and drink happily. At a later time, hundreds of men and women united in confusion, who at the sound of the harpsichord accompanied mostly by a song, amuse themselves with joyful and strange carols. That class of people consider this holiday to be very important. For months before, some companies of twenty or thirty people were established, who saved small sums which must then be used for the expense of this delightful Sagra. In this evening the so-called Saori are eaten especially. They consist of fried fish with oil and onions on which previously boiled vinegar was poured. Cinnamon, carnations, sugar, cedrates, raisins and pickles are then added. The most esteemed Saori are those of mullet and sole; but in this evening those made with sole are preferred (Renier, 2011: 59).

Popular gastronomy, which springs from the inventiveness and creativity of ordinary people in creating daily preparations, becomes a ritual (Di Francesco, 2011: 200–201). On the one hand, fidelity to tradition, the need to preserve and pass on the preparation procedures, ingredients, etc., on the other hand, the ritual and celebratory reiteration, which is linked to certain religious (but also profane) occasions and holidays to build social identity. In this way, it helps to aggregate and build the local community (Gallino, 1978), often by assimilation and imitation, around a product or a series of typical products.

Conclusions The Sagre have become a vehicle for the enhancement of typical products and food and wine, for the rediscovery of local community values in the face of invasive globalization through moments of intense social life and finally, for the promotion of quality of life. In their value of ritual and popular gastronomy the Sagre represent the expression of “social” creativity, the possibility of innovation that starts from the bottom, seem to show a great boost to the construction and cohesion of the social group, of which an element of identity is found. They can also represent a good driving force for promoting and enhancing the products of food and wine fields and the preparations of terroirs in the logic of sustainability and local development.

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In the change, most of the contemporary events remain all in all hooked to the tested patterns of the first grape festivals, with the concomitant presence of religious events, local history, scenic representations, initiatives and/or rediscoveries linked to local tradition beyond typical quality products. In the various Italian territorial contexts, which do not always coincide with the regional administrative division, the feasts dedicated to local products such as the Raiano cherries or the saffron of Navelli, in the province of L’Aquila, the red garlic of the area of Sulmona and the hams of Basciano, in the Teramo area, the so-called Ascoli olives (fried olives stuffed with meat or fish), asparagus or hazelnuts, but other products and artisanal preparations are progressively introduced (sausages and multiple preparations of pork, from spicy cured meats to porchetta), the so-called “arrosticini”, i.e. lamb skewers, or artisanal or industrial products, such as certain pasta, liqueurs, pastry, etc. (Di Francesco, 2007a, 2007b, 2013). The Sagra is now and in any case something different from the meanings it had in the past, in many ways, it has evolved, improving its quality standards also by virtue of more precise and binding regulatory provisions also relating to sanitary conditions. The food and wine phenomena are also revisited and reinterpreted following innovative approaches that relate to the concepts of authenticity, local specialties, typical products, but which at the same time place food and wine in the broader context of cultural heritage. This process should probably also be read as an attempt to recompose the relationships between food and the territory, relationships that were initially shattered due to the development of the food industry and then with “the progressive disappearance of self-consumption”. The sagre, also and above all in this logic, are attractive for tourist or excursion flows as they facilitate this subjective relationship with the territory, and they are more easily usable and immediately accessible. The multiplication and spread of sagre should make us reflect on the reality and consistency of this phenomenon, on its relevance and its potential as well as social aggregation as well as mediation between the demands of tradition and innovation. Without neglecting the aspects related to the economic contribution, it is undeniable that contemporary wine and food festivals are an opportunity to become aware of the need to move towards more prudent choices, towards community reflections on fundamental ecological issues for life on earth, on the need to preserve the environment, to promote forms of consumption and transformation of food in a responsible and sustainable way. In this regard, one of the innovative features is the specialization of the operators, considered the true innovative feature that characterizes many festivals, together with the tendency to aggregate into larger groups and federations to present themselves “on the square” with greater incisiveness, quality, and competence. In the Piedmontese context of the city of Asti, this tendency to organize and associate in larger groups has given rise to the Festival delle Sagre, defined as the largest outdoor European restaurant. Founded in 1974, it sees the simultaneous participation of representatives of 45 municipalities and related associations for the promotion and enhancement of the territories and local quality products.

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«The Festival delle Sagre» reads the website of the event, «comes to life from an idea of Giovanni Borello, president of the Asti Chamber of Commerce, in the context of the Douja d’Or,3 with the aim of giving what was essentially an enological competition, a festive moment of memory of the peasant world. It was, in particular, the gastronomic aspect of the festival that stimulated the organizers’ imagination: to be able to bring together in one day the most ancient specialties of country cuisine and propose them to a large number of visitors in a great food and wine festival» (on website: http://www. Festivaldellesagre.it/). In its 47th edition in 2019—in 2020, the pandemic prevented the holding of almost all Italian sagre, fairs, and feasts—the Festival of the Sagre had always recorded an average influx of over 250,000 people, with numerous foreign presences (Argentina, England, Switzerland, Austria, France, and Germany) and other Italian regions, also thanks to the promotion carried out by the Provincial Committee of UNPLI (National Union of Pro Loco of Italy Associations). With these numbers and with these expressed intentions, it remains to be asked whether this is the new dimension and evolution of the sagre and popular gastronomy. After all, this could also be the way to respond in new ways to the challenges of globalization. In today’s globalized contexts, the sagra is in fact not only an economic and cultural resource, but also a valid way to strengthen the common identity, a heritage of the community in which one lives. Today’s sagre still represent tradition, re-proposing the customary elements of celebration, people and product or harvest. They can allow members of local communities to have a fixed point of reference to safeguard their identity, understood as a “system of representation according to which the individual feels he exists as a person, feels accepted and recognized as such by others, by its group and its culture of belonging “. But at the same time, they also express undoubted economic values both in the innovative elements expressed above all in terms of increased professionalism and quality that arises, and in terms of attractiveness in the context of the itineraries of taste (Fontefrancesco, 2020). In this logic, the current sagre can increasingly act as events for the promotion of territorial contexts, useful tools to intercept the growing demand for tourism and the tourist currents linked to “taste”, aimed at the discovery and knowledge of the so-called local food and wine fields. The sagre, through the work of its own committees and associations, can increasingly become a vehicle of this tourist flow, as they are configured: 1. As forms of tourist enhancement even in marginal contexts for mass tourism flows. 2. As an increasingly sought-after alternative to the beach-mountain road directors.

3

The Douja (in modern Piedmontese spelling doja, pronounced dùja) is an ancient and pot-bellied Piedmontese mug. The name of the eighteenth-century mask Gianduja is also linked to it. The tradition says that it would derive from a witty and clever peasant from Callianetto, a village in the province of Asti, nicknamed Gioann d’la doja because in the taverns he always asked for na doja, that is, a mug of wine. His name was soon shortened to Gianduja and became the popular Piedmontese mask. (on website: https://www.doujador.it/)

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3. As a possible opportunity to limit long-term tourist stagnations (dead periods, or less favorable ones): in fact, the sagre take place almost at any time of the year (ex. chestnut festival, artichoke festival, etc.) and could be usable all year round. 4. As an opportunity for growth and transformation in the entrepreneurial sense of a given territory, with the offer of any new investment spaces. 5. As a boost to the diversification of tourism businesses linked to the land and its products, which flank or even overlap with the offers of rural, agritourism, naturalistic, seaside, artistic, cultural, religious, folkloric, or traditional tourism. 6. As a possibility of networking, in an open but well-structured and intercommunicating system, traditional agro-food production, local public actors, private entrepreneurs, the historical and cultural components of the regions and contexts involved. In the overall interweaving of these variables, taste is placed as a real promotional and media vehicle of the territory, according to an approach that does not favor this or that product, but aims, directly and organically, on the palate and its emotions. It is the flavors, considered as “a profound expression of tradition, art, history and culture, that make a land and its people known to the general public” (Ronchetti, 2001) that make it possible to glimpse the prospects for future evolution and the lines of development in terms of sustainability and quality of life.

References Antonioli, C. M. (2004). Sostenibilità e turismo enogastronomico. In C. M. Antonioli & G. Viganò (Eds.), (a cura di), Turisti per gusto: enogastronomia, territorio, sostenibilità. De Agostini, Novara. Apolito, P. (1987). Lʼindividuo e il totem: Rousseau, Durkheim, Turner, in “Rassegna italiana di sociologia”, a. XXVIII, fasc. 3. Apolito, P. (1993). Il tramonto del totem. Osservazioni per una etnografia delle feste. FrancoAngeli, Milano. Apolito, P. (1994). Festa. In Enciclopedia delle scienze sociali (Vol. IV). Istituto della enciclopedia italiana Treccani. Arfini, F., Belletti, G., & Marescotti, A. (2010). Prodotti tipici e denominazioni geo- grafiche. Strumenti di tutela e valorizzazione. Bataille, G. (1992). La notion de dépense. In La parte maledetta. Bollati Boringhieri. Battaglia, S. (1987). Grande dizionario della lingua italiana (Vol. XVII). Utet. Bercé, J. M. (1976). Fête et révolte: des mentalités populaire du xvie au xviie siècle, Hachette, Paris (trad. it. Festa e rivolta, PelLegrini, Cosenza, 1985). Bravo, G. L. (1984). Festa contadina e società complessa. FrancoAngeli. Caillois, R. (1939). Lʼhomme et le sacré. Leroux. Presses universitaires de France, Paris. Camporesi, P. (1981). “Cultura popolare e cultura dʼélite fra Medioevo ed età moderna, in Vivanti C. (a cura di), Storia dʼItalia, Annali 4, Intellettuali e potere, Einaudi, Torino. Cardini, F. (1983). I giorni del sacro: il libro delle feste. Editoriale Nuova. Cattabiani, A. (1989). Calendario: le feste, i miti, le leggende e i riti dellʼanno. Rusconi. Cipriani, R. (a cura di). (1979). Sociologia della cultura popolare in Italia. Liguori. Clemente, P. (1981). Maggiolata e Sega-la-Vecchia nel senese e nel grossetano. Note sulla festa. In Bianco C., Del Ninno M. (a cura di) (Ed.), Festa. Antropologia e semiotica. Nuova Guaraldi.

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Comba, E. (1997). Festa. In Fabietti U., Remotti F. (a cura di) (Ed.), Dizionario di antropologia, etnologia, antropologia culturale e antropologia sociale. Zanichelli, Bologna. Comune di Marino. (2019). https://www.sagradelluvamarino.it/ DʼAmbrosio, E. (2009). Il coppo e lo spiedo. Notazioni di etnografie delle persistenze. CeRIS, SantʼOmero. De Marinis, M. (1981). La festa tra utopia e politica in Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In M. De Marinis (Ed.), Festa. Antropologia e semiotica. Nuova Guaraldi. De Mauro, T. (2000). Grande dizionario italiano dell’uso (Vol. V). Utet, Torino. Demarchi, F. (1983). Forme e funzioni del rito, In “Humanitas”, a. XXXVIII, fasc. 4. Devoto, G., & Oli, G. (2004). Dizionario della lingua italiana. Le Monnier. Di Francesco, G. (2007a). Enogastronomia e turismo del gusto. Aspetti e percorsi della cultura del cibo e del vino nella valle della Vibrata. Tradizioni, eventi, prodotti. CeRIS, SantʼOmero. Di Francesco, G. (2007b). Le sagre e la costruzione dellʼenogastronomia popolare. Un approccio sociologico. In Minardi E., Salvatore R. (a cura di) (Ed.), Tradizioni alimentari ed artigianali in provincia di Teramo: nuove risorse per lo sviluppo locale. Il Piccolo libro, Teramo. Di Francesco, G. (2011). La gastronomia popolare e le sagre nel paradigma dello sviluppo locale. In Federici M.C., Garzi R., Moroni E. (a cura di) (Ed.), Creatività e crisi della comunità locale. Nuovi paradigmi di sviluppo socioculturale nei territori mediani. FrancoAngeli, Milano. Di Francesco G. (2013), “Sagre enogastronomiche e sviluppo locale. I correlati socioantropologici”, in Di Francesco G., Cipolla C., La ragion gastronomica, FrancoAngeli, Milano. Di Francesco, G., & Minardi, E. (a cura di). (2003). Paradigmi sociologici per lo sviluppo locale, Homeless Book, . Di Nallo, E. (a cura di). (1986). CIbi simbolo della realtà d’oggi, Franco Angeli, . Di Nallo, E., & Cavassini, G. B. (1992). La dieta padana. Calderini. Di Nola, A. M. (1976). Gli aspetti magico-religiosi di una cultura subalterna italiana. Bollati Boringhieri. Durkheim, E. (1912). Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse. (It. tr. 1963) Edizioni Comunità. Einaudi, M. (1972). Rousseau. In Firpo L. (a cura di) (Ed.), Storia delle idee politiche economiche e sociali (Vol. V, tomo II). Utet, Torino. Filoramo, G. (1997). “Sacro”, in Enciclopedia delle scienze sociali, vol. VII. Fontefrancesco, M. F. (2020). Food festivals and local development in Italy: A viewpoint from economic anthropology. Palgrave Macmillan. Freud, S. (1913). Totem und Tabu: Einige Übereinstimmungen im Seelenleben der Wilden und der Neurotike. Hugo Heller & Cie. Gallino, L. (1978). Comunità locale. In Dizionario di sociologia. Utet. Giancristofaro, E. (1999). Tradizioni popolari dʼAbruzzo. Newton & Compton Editori. Gozzi, G. (1862). Lettere famigliari. Guigoni. Grimaldi, P. (1993). Il calendario rituale contadino. Il tempo della festa e del lavoro fra tradizione e complessità sociale. FrancoAngeli, Milano. Iuvenalis, D. I. (2013). Saturae, It. tr., Dotti U., Feltrinelli, Milano. Jesi, F. (1977). La festa. Antropologia, Etnologia, Folklore. Rosenberg & Sellier, Torino. Lanternari, V. (1983). Festa, Carisma, Apocalisse. Sellerio, Palermo. Massenzio, M. (1994). Sacro e identità etnica. Senso del mondo e linea di confine. FrancoAngeli, Milano. Mauss, M. (1904). Essai sur les variations saisonnières des sociétés eskimos. Étude de morphologie sociale. In Sociologie et antropologie. Presses universitaires de France. Michelet, J. (1895). Nos fils. Flammarion. Minardi, E. (2003). Percorsi nella società del loisir. Homeless Book. Nesti, A. (1979). La negazione della cultura popolare, in Cipriani R., mentioned. Renier A. (a cura di). (2011). Sagre e feste popolari nel ʼ700 e ʼ800 a Venezia, Su- dio LT2, Venezia.

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Ronchetti, G. (2001). Le strade dei vini e dei sapori dell’Emilia-Romagna: un’esperienza vincente. In Gatti S. (a cura di) (Ed.), La valorizzazione delle produzioni tipiche. Gli itinerari enogastronomici dell’Emilia-Romagna. FrancoAngeli, Milano. Rousseau, J. J. (1757). Lettre à M. dʼAlembert, sur son article Genève, dans le VIIème volume de lʼEncyclopedie [1757], et particulièrement sur le projet dʼétablir un théâtre de comédie en cette ville [1758]. In Rossi P. (Ed.) (It. tr. 1989), Opere di Rousseau, Sansoni, Firenze. Sacchi, D. (1829). Della condizione economica, morale e politica degli Italiani. Stella. Sciolla, L. (2002). Sociologia dei processi culturali. Il Mulino. Testoni Binetti S. (1999), “Rousseau”, In Andreatta A., Baldini E. A. (a cura di), Il pensiero politico dell’età moderna, Utet, Torino. Teti, V. (1999). Il colore del cibo. Meltemi. Valeri, V. (1977). Cerimoniale. In Enciclopedia (Vol. II). Einaudi. Valeri, V. (1979). Festa. In Enciclopedia (Vol. VI). Einaudi. Valeri, V. (1981). Rito. In Enciclopedia (Vol. XII). Einaudi. Van Gennep, A. (1985). I riti di passaggio. Bollati Boringhieri. Villadary, A. (1968). Fête et vie quotidienne. Les editions ouvrieres. Volpato, G. (1991). “Il folklore in un mondo che cambia”, in Studi etno- antropologici e sociologici, a. XIX. Voltaire. (1751). Le siècle de Louis XIV [It. tr. 1971]. Einaudi. Gabriele Di Francesco is a Professor of General Sociology at the “Gabriele d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara. He directs the journals Ratio Sociologica, Journal of Social Housing, and Medieval and Modern Studies. He is a member of AIQUAV. His research interests include historical and anthropological aspects related to the topic of food.

Chapter 3

New Food and Restaurant Trends Paolo Corvo, Riccardo Migliavada, and Dauro Mattia Zocchi

Abstract In this essay, we highlight some of the most relevant changes in the gastronomic field, related to consumption patterns, food practices, the organization of food services and restaurant management. Food has become a determining factor in the definition of individual identity, and a prime focus of traditional media, social networks, consumer movements and associations. First at all, the chapter analyzes the new role of social media in gastronomy, which changes the purchase procedure. We then intend to present the most significant innovations in the world of food consumption, with particular attention to superfoods, which have had a great diffusion in recent times, fusion food, that relates local and global, novel foods (such as artificial meat and insects), which instead are starting to appear now on the market. In the second part of essay the analysis focuses on the changes in catering, which accelerated sharply with the Covid-19 pandemic. Restaurants are transforming organizational models and customer relationships, while hard kitchens, ghost kitchens and cloud kitchens are born to adapt to the needs of the delivery service. Keywords Food consumption · Superfoods · Novel Foods · Fusion Food · Restaurants

P. Corvo (*) University of Gastronomic Sciences, Bra-Pollenzo, Italy e-mail: [email protected] R. Migliavada University of Gastronomic Sciences, Bra-Pollenzo, Italy e-mail: [email protected] D. M. Zocchi University of Gastronomic Sciences, Bra-Pollenzo, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 C. Facioni et al. (eds.), Italian Studies on Food and Quality of Life, Social Indicators Research Series 85, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97806-8_3

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Introduction The world of food has undergone profound transformations in recent years, taking on an increasingly important role in socio-cultural dynamics as well as in people’s daily lives (Corvo, 2015; Murcott et al., 2013). In this essay, we highlight some of the most relevant changes in the gastronomic field, related to consumption patterns, food practices, the organization of food services and restaurant management. Food has become a determining factor in the definition of individual identity, and a prime focus of traditional media, social networks, consumer movements and consumer associations (Poulain, 2005). To fully grasp the new frontiers of gastronomy is to rethink consumption patterns, lifestyles, and public policies. Today, the individual is confronted with a plurality of options and choices without any certain or absolute point of reference. This is more evident today than ever before, even if 30 years ago, Fischler had already spoken of gastro-anomy, describing a relationship to food characterized by a general absence of rules (Fischler, 1990). To describe the current situation characterizing the world of food, it seems appropriate to evoke Zygmunt Bauman’s concept of liquid society, where the globalized individual lives without certainties in an aesthetic and fragmented space (Bauman, 2000; Bauman & Leoncini, 2017). Drawing from this perspective, we can perhaps speak of liquid food or gastro-liquidity, where the consumer’s experience is in a state of constant change: from the introduction of automation into the restaurant sector (will we ever have robot waiters or robot chefs?), to the rediscovery of a direct relationship with producers; from the growing consideration of local products, to the attraction of fusion and multi-ethnic foods; from the multisensory and gustatory experiences of food (Sheperd’s theories about neurogastronomy (Sheperd, 2012) come to mind here) to the online purchase of food, which is devoid of any visual or tactile contact. In this variety of opportunities, the consumer tries to find their own identity and awareness, initially assuming contradictory, or at least inconsistent, behaviors— liquid, precisely—and eventually managing to adapt flexibly to the mutability of the food world and the food market. In this context, it is not easy to clearly outline the scenarios that await us. Nevertheless, we will comment on the new trends in the food and restaurant sector bearing in mind Bauman’s desires for society, which he hoped would move from turbo-consumerism to social coexistence founded on sustainability and a better quality of life for people (Corvo, 2020). In the world of food, as we will see, signs pointing in this direction are not lacking. The essay, therefore, is the result of a fruitful exchange of reflections and ideas among the three authors on such themes. Paolo Corvo wrote paragraphs 1.1 to 1.4, Dauro Mattia Zocchi wrote paragraphs 1.6 and 1.7, and Riccardo Migliavada and Dauro Mattia Zocchi wrote paragraph 1.5 in collaboration.

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Gastronomy Is the Social Media Queen Digital innovations are profitably interacting with the world of food, creating very interesting opportunities. Art meets science, desire meets creativity, and tradition meets innovation. Food has always united human beings: it is vital nutrition and gives pleasure to the body and mind. Over the centuries, each population has developed a specific gastronomic culture, and particular eating patterns determined both by the food products available and the demands of tradition. In Italy, the gastronomic model has significantly transformed over the last 30 years, in step with the social and cultural changes of the country. Today we can freely choose what to eat, whereas until the mid-twentieth century, the choice for a large segment of the population was limited to basic staples. This freedom of gastronomic choice has determined the new dimension the world of food has taken on in recent years: food has become an element of fundamental interest in contemporary society, thanks in part to the proliferation of social media, which have enhanced its aesthetic enjoyment. The spread of digitalization and the development of online social networking as the prevalent means of communication are changing the restaurant industry and stimulating new or renewed food consumption patterns and information methods. On the Internet, food-related searches are constantly on the rise. Many people search specialized blogs for gastronomic tips as well as for recipes that are meticulously described and illustrated. The immediacy of access to information has contributed to the spread of gastronomic know-how, supporting the valorization of typical local products and other gastronomic territorial resources. Another common practice that has been enhanced by technology is booking a table at a restaurant. Thanks to advanced booking, restaurant managers can plan food purchases and meal preparation schedules, while customers can take advantage of discounts and offers made available by the restaurateur and arrive at the restaurant knowing they have a reserved place. Digitalization also offers the consumer access to home delivery: products can be ordered at home using smartphone applications, which are revolutionizing the world of commerce in all economic sectors. By accessing to electronic catalogue consumers can purchase restaurant dishes or do their grocery shopping online at supermarkets or grocery stores. In this way, the customers are able to save time and wait for the requested products from the comfort of their own homes, even if they are deprived of direct contact with the product to be purchased. There is also an aesthetic and emotional use of social media, embodied by the so-called food selfies depicting the food and drinks being enjoyed, which are shared, especially on Instagram. The sharing of images of food seems to create a sort of virtual conviviality, which tries to reproduce the pleasure of eating together. Chefs also contribute to this by giving a fundamental importance to the aesthetics of a dish, which is often designed to be an artistic creation. Food therefore becomes a work of art to be enjoyed in a multisensory way, capable of providing a gastronomic experience characterized by a tangled web of sensory elements that create sensations

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and emotions of various kinds, which hopefully—for the individual who experiences them—will be unforgettable.

The Diffusion of Superfoods Consumers are looking for an increasingly high level of quality, both at home in the products they buy and cook, and at the restaurant: the demand for high-end and information-rich products has significantly risen. This phenomenon is not a passing trend, but a real desire to know the world of gastronomy in depth and to be able to enjoy a feeling of well-being while eating high-quality food. (Corvo & Fassino, 2015). For these reasons, we are witnessing a growing attention to farmers’ markets, niche products, food novelties, and, above all, traditional and reduced-food-miles products (Belasco, 2008; Guptill et al., 2013). This newly developed consumption model no longer concerns nutrition alone, but also, and above all, the pursuit of health, which is no longer understood as the absence of disease but as psychophysical wellbeing. Hence the success of so-called superfoods, i.e., foods with presumed health benefits due to their nutritional characteristics or overall chemical composition. These foods are also called functional foods or nutraceuticals. In recent years there has been a steady growth in the consumption of superfoods: just think of quinoa, ginseng, goji berries, turmeric, ginger, etc. It remains still to be verified if the consumption of superfoods is a trend advanced by effective marketing policies, or if it reflects heightened consumer awareness about the healthiness of food. Most likely, both elements contribute to the phenomenon. In any case, as the consequence, self-referential consumption behaviors that do not rely on the fundamental advice of specialists, such as doctors and nutritionists, ought to be avoided. In fact, there is still no scientific certainty about the actual healthiness of some superfoods. Therefore, consumers are advised to exercise a certain level of caution, especially concerning the quantity of products consumed, and to not overlook the importance of adopting a healthy, varied, and balanced diet. On another health-related note, it is important to mention that food chain professionals have the social responsibility to ensure genuine, safe, and sustainable products. The transparency of the producer is reflected in the traceability of the supply chain, which has been made easier by digitalization. Restaurants must respond to the needs of customers with special dietary requirements due to intolerances, diseases, food philosophies, religious beliefs, and other legitimate demands. As a result, restaurant menus around the world have been increasing their offer of lactose- and gluten-free dishes, as well as vegan/vegetarian-friendly dishes. In this framework, the management of restaurants and food shops is becoming more and more specialized and personalized. Satisfying all requests is a hard task: some restaurants indeed decide to propose a general offer, while others choose specific market segments.

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From the Local to the Global: Fusion Food The phenomenon of globalization has brought about a change in the approach to new knowledge in all cultural spheres. It is no longer the prerogative of the traveler to seek novelty in exotic lands and return to his country of origin with a broader cultural background. It is rather the cultures themselves that travel elsewhere, with exchanges and entanglements reaching every corner of the planet. In the context of food, gastronomic multi-ethnicity, i.e., the encounter and fusion of different gastronomic traditions, is increasingly appreciated and sought after. Gastronomy enthusiasts seek out local products from their territory, taking pleasure in the rediscovery of their sensory and health properties. But they are also very attracted to ethnic products. After they have come to know their own gastronomic tradition, origin, and identity, they want to engage with other food traditions. Diversity is recognized as a value, and food confirms itself as a universal language, which, like music and sport, does not require linguistic knowledge to be understood and appreciated. In the Western world, thousands of restaurants prepare recipes and dishes from countries and ethnic groups all around the world. In Italy, North African restaurants (with products from Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt), Central-South American restaurants (in particular Mexican, Cuban, Peruvian, Argentinian, and Brazilian), Middle Eastern restaurants (such as Syrian, Iranian, Turkish, and Israeli), Eastern restaurants (such as Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Thai) and African restaurants come to mind. Multi-ethnic stores have also become very widespread. They sell products from various countries and are often located in the city neighborhoods most populated by migrants. Similarly, multi-ethnic restaurants are consolidating their presence in Western cities. They cater to a predominantly young age group, offering particularly inexpensive menu options, such as all-you-can-eat: the consumer can enjoy an almost unlimited amount of food for a fixed price. This promotion method has led to the particular success of restaurants that sell sushi and other Japanese products. Lastly, a notable trend is the flowering of fusion food restaurants, which are profoundly transforming the gastronomic scene, proposing a meaningful blend of different but complementary recipes, flavors, aromas, emotions, and sensations. The most capable chefs have been able to transform this variety of emotions and experiences into a unique and distinctive offer.

Novel Foods: From Insects to Artificial Meat The gastronomic phenomenon of novel foods also deserves consideration. According to the definition of the European Union, novel foods are all those food products and substances that have no significant history of consumption in recent times (as of May 15, 1997, according to EU Regulation), and which therefore must undergo authorization before being placed on the market.

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In recent years, much has been said and written about the spread of insect-based diets in the West. Entomophagy, or the consumption of insects, derives from the Greek ἔντoμoν (éntomon), meaning insect and φᾰγεῖν (phagein), meaning eating. The practice of eating insects is very common in some Eastern countries such as Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia and China, and can also be found in South America and Africa. Insect breeding is a very sustainable practice: owing to their small size, insects do not pollute the environment through the emission of greenhouse gases, nor do they require large swathes of land or quantities of nutrients. Insects are also interesting from a nutritional point of view: they contain high-quality proteins, vitamins, fibers, fatty acids and trace elements useful for the human body. They can be bred for direct or indirect consumption, that is, the production of other derivatives (such as food extracts, snacks, or feed). There are 1900 known species of edible insects in the world, most of them in the West; therefore, their inclusion in future diets could be a winning bet. In fact, since January 1, 2018, the trade of edible insects and other novel foods upon authorization has been made possible in EU countries, thanks to European Regulation No. 2283/2015. Nonetheless, at the moment, the market is quite stagnant, and in Italy insects have not yet been commercialized, probably due to a certain skepticism regarding their economic functionality and potential acceptance among consumers. In the West, some consumers are still perplexed by the idea of eating insects and report feelings of disgust, most likely stemming from a combination of fear of the new combined and cultural factors. In the Western collective imagination, insects have rarely been considered anything but a pest, infesting crops, stinging, and sometimes infecting human beings. These elements lead humans to distance themselves from this source of food, a source of food that could nonetheless prove useful in developing a more sustainable model of nutrition as well as in addressing some failures of the conventional food supply chain. Actually, it is foreseeable that food practices will overcome cultural resistance (as we have often seen with other imported foods), and insects will prove to be an interesting alternative to more traditional foods, even in Western countries (Sogari & Vantomme, 2014). In fact, here some chefs are already experimenting with new cooking techniques and including insects in recipes for pasta, rice, and soup dishes. Another novel food that promises to be an interesting solution in the near future is artificial meat, which many acknowledge as capable of solving the problem of environmental sustainability. This type of meat, also called cultivated, synthetic or clean meat, is a recent creation, even if the first experiments date back to the 1970s. The production of meat in a laboratory is technically very efficient: it starts with a single muscle cell of the animal, which is cultivated in the laboratory by being fed with other proteins in order to activate a process that multiplies the cell and produces other tissues in a massive way, thus giving life to artificial meat. From an ethical point of view, the practice is more respectful of animals and could perhaps satisfy at least some animal rights activists and vegetarians. In terms of health, the problem regarding the use of antibiotics in animal agriculture, which has serious consequences not only for the animals but also for the human beings who consume those animals, is largely overcome.

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Nevertheless, the diffusion of this novel food could have unexpected consequences. Gastronomists and food experts have tasted the first hamburgers made with artificial meat, reporting that on a sensory level, the taste and texture recall natural meat, but that the lack of fat renders the synthetic meat less flavorful than its natural counterpart. Moreover, despite the progress made in recent years, synthetic meat has a very high production cost and thus remains economically unsustainable for the time being. Furthermore, we still do not know if the mass production of meat in laboratories would produce harmful polluting emissions, such as carbon dioxide, which would be worse than current emissions. Linch and Pierrehumbert (2019) claim that methane emissions (the greenhouse gas mostly associated with animal rearing) are disposed of from Earth’s atmosphere in just twelve years, whereas it takes thousands of years to dispose of carbon dioxide emissions. It follows, then, that prior to the adoption of this innovative production method, various critical issues will need to be solved, among which the development of more sustainable technical processes. In this regard, academic and scientific studies on the nutritional, social, and cultural impacts of synthetic meat will provide an important contribution. In addition, further exploration is needed to assess the extent to which artificial meat questions the relationship between nature, culture and production techniques, which is, nonetheless, increasingly conditioned by technological inventions and their dominance in contemporary society. In fact, the earliest forms of cultivation already represent a human intervention into natural heritage, and a deeper examination of the history of agriculture reveals the long-standing tendency of humans to manipulate the environment. With the advent and potential diffusion of artificial meat, we now go further, creating synthetic food whose derivation is from nature, but which is otherwise produced in a laboratory. Arguably, what is now happening to meat will soon occur to other kind of foods. Therefore, striking a balance between the need to guarantee the food supply, the development of sustainable agriculture and the search for healthy and natural food appears incumbent. Will synthetic food be able to guarantee the multisensory pleasure that is the basis of the gastronomic experience today, in terms of discovery, emotion, and experience? Will it represent an alternative to natural food, or will it become the dominant food practice of the coming decades? At the moment, there is not enough evidence to make reliable predictions: what is certain is that the social actors of the food world will be those to determine the future of food (Corvo, 2019). First of all, institutions will be called upon to develop food policies that adequately respond to the environmental and climatic crisis as well as to the needs of consumers; then the food organizations and movements will have the fundamental task of representing civil society, acting as an intermediary between institutions and citizens; and last but not least, consumers will be the ones to take action to protect their rights to a healthy, sustainable, and quality nutrition.

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The Restaurant as Theatre While today the gastronomic avant-garde is no longer the prerogative of fine dining, for a long time, this was the locus to look to in order to grasp the significance of the relationships that were being established between food and society. If the restaurant is to exist as one of those crucial places to publicly live the intimate and private experiences of consumption and relationships, then it must imagine and build its spaces to match its scenic function. The closer we inch to the present, the more haute cuisine begins to gain fame and occupy space not only in the dimension of the public sphere—in fact now almost residual—but also within the domestic space, as mainstream processes of spectacularization linked to the world of television create new informative and experiential forms of enjoyment. The spatial reorganization of society and culture around communication technologies abolishes the conventional distinction between public and private: through interconnection, physical space itself becomes an interactive channel (Corchia & Levy, 2011). In a sort of hypertrophic motion, the private sphere invades virtual and physical spaces, domesticating the public sphere and colonizing it with emotions and behavioral attitudes that were previously associated with the private realm of the home and vice versa (Kumar & Makarova, 2008). In this context, an increasing number of gastronomic TV shows have the effect of rendering the chef not as a mere provider of cooking performances, but as a full-fledged communicator, while the process of spectacularization links the show’s content to emotional aspects, thus creating a new closeness with the public and consumers. Chefs cross the threshold of their kitchens, overcoming the physical and mental barrier of the pass,1 which for centuries had delimited their workspace. Gradually the kitchen, which has always been a closed and jealously guarded space (Capatti & Montanari, 1999), opens its doors to the restaurant’s patrons, presenting itself as a new consumer environment that offers entertainment experiences. Concurrently, the chef—who for centuries remained at the margins of society, often associated with vice rather than virtue is now an icon of style: once a mere recipe purveyor, the chef has transformed into a guru to turn to for inspiration and guidance even outside the realm of food. Within the restaurant world, these changes translate into an expansion of the stage and new entertainment ideas. To continue with the metaphor of gastronomic performance as exhibition (Goffman, 1959), the backstage opens itself up to the audience: the dining room enters the kitchen. Inside some restaurant kitchens, tables are reserved for the most demanding customers so that they can personally witness the preparation of dishes, privileged spectators of the mastery of the chefs. One example is the ‘acquario’, a glass cube with a table for two people inside the kitchen of the restaurant Piazza Duomo run by chef Enrico Crippa. Another version of this new trend involves so-called ‘kitchen tables’, which combine exclusive access to the The ‘pass’ is the long, flat surface where dishes are plated and picked up by wait staff, generally used by chefs as the station from which to direct the kitchen.

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kitchen with an inclusive gastronomic experience, in which the etiquette and formality of the dining room can be dismissed and the intimate food experience the chef has to offer can be thoroughly enjoyed. But if it is true that the dining room initially ‘enters’ the kitchen in this gradual merging of spaces, it is the latter that eventually takes over, as the environments traditionally dedicated to food preparation merge with the place of consumption. The physical and perceptual barriers between man and food, service and experience, are broken down in restaurants that combine the dining room and the kitchen into a single environment. The public space of the restaurant is domesticated; the importance of intimacy and the emotional component of dining are emphasized by theatrical solutions that transform open kitchens into real stages where star chefs perform in front of an audience of a few tables. One example is ‘Casa’ Perbellini in Verona, run by chef Giancarlo Perbellini. Having become a place of multisensory experience, the restaurant is often an environment where food and design are combined with social architecture experiments. The focus, as a result, is placed on the act of ‘becoming’: the emphasis is not on the result, but on a wider-ranging conception of cooking as ‘on-going’ art, where the final dish is just one part of the entire artistic process. Somehow, the gastronomic experience undergoes further expansion, wherein artificially added sounds, smells, and special effects lend it a theatrical dimension. The customer, therefore, no longer sits still in the audience to enjoy the show, but is thrown into the middle a performance in which food has long ceased to be the main component. These restaurant-theatres—which, according to the chefs who cook there, are not places to ‘go out to eat’ but places to enjoy a multisensory experience—can be divided into two large spatial categories: that of micro-environments and that of macro environments. The first category is more than a simple evolution of the aforementioned kitchen table. It is a hyper-technological room capable of transforming itself with each course of the meal, creating environments in which customers can live augmented reality gastronomic experiences. The customer is immersed in a representation that transcends the physical space of the restaurant, and remains suspended between fiction and reality. In this way, the chefs change their role: from the leading actors of the show, they turn into its directors, while the guests are incorporated into the performance. The most famous examples of this category are Ultraviolet, chef Paul Pairet’s restaurant in Shanghai and Sublimotion, chef Paco Roncero’s restaurant in Ibiza. The second category comprises restaurants characterized by a multisensory experience that unfolds across multiple environments over the course of four to five hours. During this time, customers have to ‘chase’ the gastronomic experience, not only through the sequence of the many courses that characterize this type of experience, but also physically, moving among the different rooms used as scenes, as in a sort of traveling theatre. One example is Enigma, the Barcelona restaurant by the Catalan chef Albert Adrià, the brother of the famous Ferran. Of course, there is no shortage of hybrid versions. One example is the Copenhagen restaurant Alchemist, run by chef Rasmus Munk, where theatrical elements are

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inserted into the very structure of the dinner, which is presented as a holistic experience that can last up to five hours. In this reality, the dimensions of the theatrical space and the virtual environment merge. Diners find themselves in the company of real actors, who accompany them on a gastronomic journey divided into acts and impressions (dishes), while immersed in a virtual space where artificial northern lights alternate with images of jellyfish swimming alongside plastic bags. What these restaurant models share, in addition to a considerable amount of invested capital, is the extensive reliance on professionals from the entertainment world, such as directors, sound engineers and visual artists, which reflects an almost explicit intention to transform the restaurant into a place of spectacle by adding an artificial immaterial value to the normal banality of table service. As a last note, it is important to mention that at the time of writing the restaurant sector is perhaps one of the commercial segments most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, the fine-dining sector, which relies on a foreign clientele of gastronomic tourists, is forced to rethink its activities due to the restrictions imposed on travellers and the borders that will remain closed for many months. During the lockdown that followed the outbreak of the pandemic, many of these restaurants altered their activities. Some offered take-away meals while others extended their help to those most engaged in the fight against the virus (such as doctors and nurses), bringing ready-made meals to hospitals as well as to the communities most affected by the containment measures. In the current phase (phase two), some restaurants are planning to reopen in new forms. One example is Noma in Copenhagen, one of the most famous restaurants in the world since the early 2000s, led by the greatest interpreter of New Nordic cuisine, chef René Redzepi. Unable to serve its foreign clientele due to the pandemic, Noma has reinvented itself, opening a wine bar and kitchen dedicated to serving the local community with which it wants to reconnect, as the chef himself communicates on the Noma website. It is a social choice, and likely a temporary one, but one that, perhaps, signals the need for a change in direction and the subsequent emergence of new trends in the sector.

Food Delivery Transforms the Restaurant Sector In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, many questions regarding the future of the global restaurant industry arise (Dube et al., 2020; Gössling et al., 2020). The restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the virus paralyzed the sector for several weeks, forcing restaurateurs and customers alike to rethink the model with which they, respectively, provide and make use of restaurant services. For the first time, restaurateurs found themselves having to eliminate two central elements of their activity for a prolonged period of time: table service and the physical presence of patrons on the premises. These changes in the scenario have in turn influenced the habits of consumers, who had to cope with a substantial reduction in food and drink consumption outside the home.

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Restaurateurs and consumers have found themselves at an impasse, which has shaped the methods and occasions for purchasing and consuming food and forced an indispensable reformulation of the organization and functioning of restaurant facilities. Against this backdrop, there has been a global increase in online food delivery (Thamaraiselvan et al., 2019) from restaurants and other food and beverage facilities (Li et al., 2020). Although this service had already shown growth trends in recent decades (Chen et al., 2019), the situation created by the Covid-19 pandemic has further stimulated its desirability among increasingly larger swathes of the population. In fact, while in the past food delivery service was almost exclusively offered by ethnic and fast food restaurants, and aimed at a fairly limited segment of the population (i.e., young people living in urban areas; Suhartanto et al., 2019), in recent months it has been embraced by other types of restaurants (e.g., the delivery proposals offered by starred restaurants) and reached a segment of consumers previously not accustomed to the service (Seetharaman, 2020). While several scholars have questioned the possible implications of online food delivery service use on the eating habits and quality of life of consumers (see Yeo et al., 2017) as well as the sustainability of this model (Li et al., 2020), less attention has been paid to the potential impacts the adoption of this practice could have on restaurant industry workers and on the functioning and organization of the food service sector as the whole. Despite the fact that, in recent months, food delivery has represented a temporary solution for many restaurateurs, it is plausible to assume that this service will become an essential element of the food and beverage sector in the future. This transition will likely occur if, first and foremost, a facilitating solution will be identified; that is, effective and synergic strategies to harmoniously incorporate delivery with the other elements that comprise the restaurant offers. Starting from these assumptions, the following reflection questions the situation currently unfolding, analyzing possible solutions to address the incumbent scenario. It begins with an overview of the birth and development of the online food delivery sector and the so-called ‘aggregating’ platforms, and then goes on to analyze some versions of ‘virtual restaurants’. The term refers to innovative catering models designed and created to either develop new food delivery-focused activities, or to aid existing businesses in integrating delivery services into the current offer, with the aim of accommodating those forms of consumption the Covid-19 crisis intensified. Our intention is to explore the possible future developments of this trend: its potential, its limits, and the strategic mechanisms that might emerge from these models to cope with the future scenarios that will characterize the sector in the postCovid-19 era. Currently, the food delivery market generates a turnover of 83 billion euros, or 4% of the food sold through restaurants and catering chains, with an estimated growth rate of about 3.5% for the five-year period of 2016–2021 (Hirschberg et al., 2016). During the period between the birth of this new food service (which was first introduced in North America in the second half of the twentieth century) and its affirmation on a global scale, many transformations—in food production,

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distribution, and consumption patterns—contributed to shaping and defining the characteristics of what the food delivery market is today. On the one hand, increasing urbanization and new working rhythms have influenced the eating habits of the world’s population, kindling a process of individualization and privatization of food and beverage consumption, even within the home (Kerner et al., 2015). In this context, the time allocation dedicated to the preparation and consumption of food has been steadily decreasing, consequently prompting an increase in the use of take-away and home delivery services, often through use of online booking services (Yeo et al., 2017). On the other hand, technological and digital innovations, first developed within the broader e-commerce sector and later within the gig economy, have paved the way for the entrance into the food delivery market of a new socio-economic actor, occupying the economic space between the restaurateur and the final consumer: the aggregator platform (Li et al., 2020). These are large international companies, such as Glovo, Uber Eats and Deliveroo, born with the specific aim of meeting the emerging needs of an urban population that, in the face of demanding work rhythms and a rapid life pace, has fewer possibilities and less interest in preparing homemade meals in the domestic sphere. On the consumer side, then, these platforms make use of digital technologies to provide individuals with access to a heterogeneous gastronomic offer without requiring them to consume all their meals outside the home. Looking at the supply side, instead, these companies play the role of ‘aggregator’, offering restaurateurs a three-fold service: management of orders through a special web platform; expansion of the catchment area through the diversification of services and products; and logistical support in the delivery of food to the final customer. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that despite the interesting opportunities the food delivery market offers the restaurant industry, the traditional structure and organization of the restaurant industry has often represented a barrier to growth for the food delivery market. In fact, to implement delivery service, especially through reliance on one of the aforementioned platforms, restaurants are required to make substantial spatial, logistical, and organizational adjustments in order to meet the standards (e.g., packaging, type of dishes, etc.) and dynamics that characterize this segment (especially in relation to preparation and delivery times).

Virtual Restaurants: A New Business Model The sudden expansion of the online food delivery sector over the last decade has led to the development of innovative food service models designed to adapt to the dynamics of the sector and offer the possibility to create new commercial activities or to renovate existing ones with a focus on take-away and/or home delivery. Known as virtual restaurants, dark restaurants or ghost restaurants, these activities are primarily defined by the following elements: the preparation of dishes

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exclusively for take-away and home delivery; therefore the absence of a physical space for customers to consume food and drinks (Li et al., 2020; Muller, 2018). The first virtual restaurants were developed in the United States at the end of the last decade in response to a twofold need: to reduce fixed costs (mainly costs related to the purchase or rental of property) and to concurrently maintain strategic locations that would guarantee a high level of efficiency in terms of delivery times. The first businesses of this kind were organized around a radical optimization of space: professional kitchens were erected inside containers located in neighborhoods with a high concentration of target customers. From an operational point of view, this model is structured in the following way: the order is sent to the restaurant (directly or via the aggregator platform), the food is prepared and packaged in the facility, and the delivery is carried out either by specialized internal staff or, more frequently, by external workers (i.e. a fleet of riders working for the aggregator platform). From this prototype, various versions of ‘virtual restaurants’ have been developed around the world, with the aim of providing the restaurateur with further advantages in terms of diversification and expansion of the offer, development of new concepts, reduction of start-up costs and optimization of space and human resources. The main existing formats include dark kitchens, ghost kitchens and cloud kitchens (Muller, 2018). Of the virtual restaurant models mentioned, the dark kitchen is the simplest, since the investment required for its creation is rather limited. From an organizational standpoint, this model envisages the allocation of a specific portion of an already existing restaurant kitchen for the exclusive preparation of take-away and delivery food. This solution allows restaurateurs to diversify their offer and expand their customer base without having to incur expenses to increase the number of seats or hire new staff. The dark kitchen is an effective model, especially in urban contexts and, more precisely, in areas characterized by a high density of offices and high demand for workers’ lunch break meals. The simplicity and limited start-up costs make this format an effective alternative for diversifying small and medium businesses, which tend to coincide with those most affected by the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 containment regulations (e.g., reduction of seats in order to maintain social distancing). While dark kitchens allow for the diversification of already existing activities, ghost kitchens are conceived as opportunities for building an exclusively food delivery-oriented business ‘from scratch’. Indeed, this model involves the development of a new business, often the times in tandem with an already established restaurant, in a fully equipped kitchen laboratory managed by a third party and staffed by a team of resident chefs. In this way, the restaurateur can instrumentally design his own business, menu and preparation techniques for the provision of food delivery services, developing alternative offers without affecting the identity and brand of the main restaurant. The cloud kitchen, also known as the cook room, can be differentiated from the previously described models by the element of sharing, which is a characteristic feature of businesses related to the urban food sharing economy (Davies et al., 2017). Cloud kitchens are large spaces, often located in the peripheral areas of cities,

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where several restaurateurs share a pre-equipped kitchen and develop restaurant spin-offs focused on food delivery. Drawing on the co-working model, which is already widespread in other professional sectors, the cloud kitchen offers two or more restaurateurs—generally with no entrepreneurial ties—the possibility to share the same culinary space and related fixed costs. So far this model has primarily been embraced by aggregator platforms that rent cloud kitchen spaces to restaurateurs who produce special dishes or menus to be sold exclusively through the platform, hence limiting the entrepreneurial freedom of the restaurateurs. However, recently we have been witnessing the development of these kinds of businesses by groups of independent restaurateurs, who are beginning to exploit the two evident strengths of this model, namely the sharing of space and the access to an already equipped kitchen, which translates into significant savings, especially in terms of the time and costs associated with the development of a brand’ new project. In this sense, the cloud kitchen might represent an effective tool for new players who plan to develop a start-up in the food delivery sector. This brief review highlighted some of the potential advantages of the various forms of virtual catering and the associated provision of online food delivery services. As already observed (Hirschberg et al., 2016; Muller, 2018), the economic appeal represents one of the main strengths of these models, characterized by the reduction of start-up costs, the amortization of labor costs, the reduction of food waste and the optimization of available space. The timing of preparation and delivery, the malleability of the offer, the flexibility of the concept and the possibility for innovation represent other assets of the described formats. Looking at the future challenges of the restaurant world in the post-Covid-19 era, the dark kitchen might represent the model with the greatest potential, especially for restaurateurs willing to expand pre-existing commercial activities to include delivery services. This could be an effective tool for expanding the number of meals served, thus compensating for a possible reduction in seating, without having to take on excessive structural investments or remodel the facilities. On the other hand, the other models, especially cloud kitchens, could support the development of restaurant spin-offs focused on food delivery and take-away, or provide young restaurateurs the opportunity to test and refine their menus before incurring the start-up costs necessary to open a restaurant. However, given the importance of virtual restaurants and online food delivery during the lockdown period, it is also necessary to question the sustainability of the model in the medium-long term and how it will impact restaurateurs and consumers. Looking at the relationship between restaurateur and customer, the absence of the experiential component is immediately identifiable as one of the critical issues of the virtual catering model. Most of the formats illustrated partially, if not completely, limit customer interaction, making it difficult to satisfy some of the needs related to dining out, such as socialization, aesthetic enjoyment and other elements that go beyond the mere consumption of food. Although this limit can be partially overcome through marketing activities and the use of digital technology to encourage greater interaction between customer and restaurateur, excessive use of food delivery services could have negative consequences on consumer health due to the adoption

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of a more sedentary lifestyle. This problem becomes even more pronounced if we consider that majority of food delivery businesses build their menus around fast food and junk food dishes (Stephens et al., 2020). With the regard to the relationship between restaurateurs and aggregator platforms, the main problems concern the imbalance in bargaining power in favour of the latter and the limitation of the restaurateurs’ freedom in creating the culinary offer (Chen et al., 2019; Li et al., 2020). The decision to rely on aggregator platforms often presupposes a simplification and reformulation of the offer in order to adapt to time and logistical constraints and carries the risk of having to change the type of dishes offered. Although this problem can be partially overcome (as is demonstrated by the various high-end restaurants that have offered home cooking during the lockdown), it remains uncertain if and on what terms consumers will continue to use delivery services to order food, other than ethnic dishes, fast food, etc., after restaurants are reopened to the public. Another critical issue regards the replicability of these models, or the extent to which they can be adopted on a larger scale by heterogeneous businesses in the food and beverage sector. Given the fact that both online food delivery services and virtual restaurant models have been designed primarily for urban and metropolitan contexts, the original conception and design of the models illustrated above impede their adoption by small- and medium-sized non-urban restaurants, which is the segment that will be most affected by changes in the sector in the post-Covid-19 era. To light of this consideration, it is necessary to ask the following question: under what circumstances can virtual restaurants and online food delivery represent useful tools for these restaurants? The expansion and adaptation of this model can only take place if accompanied by a substantial change in perspective, that is, by looking at aspects that still play a marginal role in this segment of the sector. While standardization of the offer and reduction of production and delivery costs have been the main drivers underlying the development of these restaurant formats to date, the models that have recently emerged, particularly cloud kitchens, have highlighted another extremely important aspect: the possibility of creating businesses that allow the element of sharing to play a central role in the project. The possibility of sharing spaces, equipment, and resources opens up interesting scenarios for the diffusion of this model beyond urban areas. The creation of projects founded on sharing could guarantee benefits that go beyond the economic sphere, touching on aspects related to sustainability and social inclusion. While virtual catering cannot be conceived as a substitute for the restaurant as we know it, some of the elements underlying the models described could serve as a starting point for rethinking the ways of eating out in the coming period. The element of sharing could undoubtedly play a pivotal role for the recovery and innovation of the restaurant sector in the post-Covid-19 period.

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Paolo Corvo is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo, where he teaches Travel Cultures and Social Changes and New Trends of Gastronomy. He is a member of AIQUAV. The fundamental lines of his research include the social aspects of food, the relationship between food and consumption, oeno-gastronomic sustainable tourism, indicators of quality of life, trends of wellness and happiness. Riccardo Migliavada is a Ph.D. in Eco-gastronomy, education, and society at the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo. He achieved the bachelor’s degree in Gastronomic Sciences and worked in the catering industry as a manager and advisor. He obtained a master’s degree in Cognitive Neuroscience. His main research interests are choice architecture, food choices, and the role of context in consumer experience. Dauro Mattia Zocchi is a Ph.D. in Eco-gastronomy, education, and society at the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo. Graduated in Economics, he worked in the restaurant sector as a cook and advisor. After the master’s degree in Gastronomic sciences, he specialized in the valorization of local foods and cuisine. His main research interests are food geography, food scouting, and new trends in gastronomy.

Chapter 4

Food Consumption Associated with Health Status and Lifestyle Factors in the Adult Italian Regional Population: An Analysis Proposal for Official Statistics Data Alfonso Piscitelli and Michele Staiano

Abstract Prior research has shown a link between food and well-being, but also between food consumption and lifestyle or between a series of chronic diseases. So far lifestyle or well-being has been studied mainly as a motivational antecedent of food consumption, while health conditions as a consequence. This study simultaneously analyses the relationships among indicators of food consumption, subjective well-being, food-related lifestyle, and health conditions of a nationally representative sample of adult people. In this paper, we propose to stratify the regional population into age classes before calculating the chosen indicators, so as to better highlight relevant patterns in food habits and decouple the effect of population age from other drivers. Through the exploratory factor analysis on the consumption of food products and food-related lifestyle indicators, it was possible to identify different eating styles and relate them both to indicators of well-being—physical, social, economic, and subjective—and to lifestyle indicators. The results highlighted a clear generational and territorial division. Keywords Food · Life satisfaction · Subjective well-being · Health · Food-related lifestyle

Introduction It is broadly known that eating habits play a fundamental role in promoting and maintaining a good level of well-being throughout the course of life. Several studies have reported that food is one of the important domains of life that positively affect

A. Piscitelli (*) Department of Agricultural Sciences, Federico II University of Naples, Naples, Italy e-mail: [email protected] M. Staiano Department of Industrial Engineering, Federico II University of Naples, Naples, Italy © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 C. Facioni et al. (eds.), Italian Studies on Food and Quality of Life, Social Indicators Research Series 85, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97806-8_4

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an individual’s life satisfaction (Grunert et al., 2007; Schnettler et al., 2013; Schnettler et al., 2015), while other studies are, in general, interested in the relationship between health and food (Rozin, 2007), highlighting that health is indeed among the most important motives of food choice (Grunert & Wills, 2007; Raaijmakers et al., 2018; Ronteltap et al., 2012; Steptoe et al., 1995). On the other hand, some studies have shown a link between food consumption and a series of chronic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases or some types of cancer (Shan et al., 2020; Trichopoulou et al., 2003) and diabetes (Schulze & Hu, 2002). Food consumption is an important factor for well-being and disease prevention (Amine et al., 2003) and people can form their food habits based on health-related attitudes motivated by expectations of a longer and higher quality life (Roininen et al., 2001). Despite the widespread awareness of this relationship, overweight and obesity rates continue to rise in most OECD countries, with 56% of adults overweight or obese and almost one-third of children aged 5–9 overweight (OECD, 2019), and the prevalence of dietary-related diseases is still on the increase, regardless of public health interventions and recommendations regarding healthy eating (Gortmaker et al., 2011; Turnwald & Crum, 2019; Yu et al., 2018). In the light of these concerns, people have reconsidered the approaches to food consumption and, together with a set of environmental and ethical reasons, an increase in the consumption of organic, seasonal, and proximity products has been recorded in the last decades (Rana & Paul, 2020). Crucial to the success of implementing public strategies for behavioural change is understanding more in depth consumers’ attitudes, therefore more and more researchers are increasingly interested in how food decision-making influences health and well-being (Apaolaza et al., 2018; Block et al., 2011; Bublitz et al., 2019; Frentz, 2020), a piece of valuable knowledge that can be leveraged in promotional interventions to increase healthy food habits. The habits of Italians with regard to food obviously remain varied: in addition to being influenced by aspects related to health, well-being, lifestyles, or individual socio-economic context, they also depend at some extent on the region in which people live. In fact, in each of the Italian regions there exist specific eating habits which can mainly be traced back to local traditions, to the typicality, and to the areas of origin of food products. It is a matter of investigation, addressed in the present study too, if these specificities survive only in minor niches and are overridden by global lifestyles and blurred by common contextual drivers for the majority of the population. The study of food as a life domain in Italian people is particularly relevant because in Italy, since its unification, different food cultures coexist; there is an incredible context of “biodiversity of food” not only to specific historical reasons but also because the Italian regions do not produce the same agricultural products or raw ingredients. The cooking stories of all the Italian regions still seem to point toward some of the same dynamics that were observed a few decades after the unification (Artusi, 1891): the survival of specificities or regionalism even as it subsumed within the incredible richness of Italian cuisine. Moreover, the expression “Mediterranean diet” was born with reference to the food situation of Southern Italy and some areas of the Mediterranean in the medical-nutrition field between the end of the fifties and

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the beginning of the sixties of the last century. The promotion of a “Mediterranean” diet, as opposed to the “continental” dietary models of western industrialized countries, was established with Ancel Keys who related food consumption—in particular excess of animal fats—and risk factors of atherosclerotic clinical events in seven countries (Keys, 1980; Keys & Keys, 1975; Lăcătușu et al., 2019). The Mediterranean Diet was inscribed already in 2010 on UNESCO’s “Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” (In 2010, Italy, Spain, Greece, and Morocco were the first countries to be recognized as cradles of the diet; since then, on 4 December 2013, Portugal, Cyprus, and Croatia were also included in this group by UNESCO). The same list includes Neapolitan pizza (Art of Neapolitan “Pizzaiuolo”, in 2017), and in 2020, the Italian culinary tradition was presented as a candidate to be part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In this study, we focus on a representative sample of the Italian adult population surveyed about life satisfaction and habits also with regard to the food domain. Studying the relationship between overall satisfaction with life and in some domains of importance, including food, is relevant because high levels of life satisfaction are attributable to a balanced diet and diversity of food consumption (Huffman & Rizov, 2018). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to explore and distinguish among Italians some relevant typologies, on the basis of their food consumption and foodrelated lifestyle, and to characterize these according to their health conditions, their life satisfaction, and satisfaction with regard to the social and economic domains; indeed, as highlighted by a previous study (Morrone et al., 2019), satisfaction for the economic situation, satisfaction for the job, as well as satisfaction for family relationships are the most important predictors in explaining the overall life satisfaction, and thus it is worth to explicitly analyse these determinants once exploring the relationship between well-being and food consumptions. The present study is organized as follows: after the Introduction, in section “Origins of food style(s) in Italy”, we propose a short historical overview of the Italian gastronomic identity and the different food styles in Italy. In section “Data and methods”, we describe the dataset on which we will base the selection of the indicators that will be used, and our proposal of data organization for data analysis, as well as the statistical methods used. The results of the analysis are illustrated in section “Analysis results: Food habits based on patterns of food consumptions”. The paper ends by summing up the results and describing possible future developments in section “Discussion”.

Origins of Food Style(s) in Italy Nowadays, food is no longer considered a means of subsistence, it is a challenge of contemporary social complexity (Maggino & Facioni, 2016). In modern society, indeed, food is connected to all areas of our life; it also does not exist independently

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and detached from other areas of life, that partly overlap with and influence each other on a constant basis (Brymer et al., 2010; Roscoe, 2009). In Italy, the connection between food and other areas of life is even more evident and has its roots in times before the unification of the Italian state. Currently, food is perceived as the most distinctive aspect of Italian identity (Naccarato et al., 2017). Food culture plays a central role both in the way Italians show their national identity and in the consolidation of Italianness in a global context. Nonetheless, we should recognize that: “gastronomic identity, just like other aspects of identity, is a continuous construction that consolidates through practice across history and geography rather than an essence to be discovered in a purified moment of origin, a welldelimited site, a single product or recipe. Creolization and hybridization are indeed a feature of any cuisine. This is particularly the case for Italian cuisine, exposed as it has been to a variety of influences—so, for example, tomatoes arrive from America, but tomato sauce for pasta was not indigenous in Pre-colombian civilizations, and in Italy, it was the most distinctive use they were put” (Sassatelli, 2019, p. 2). Specifically, the Italian gastronomic identity passes through the history of Italian cities and their territories. Italian cuisine, as well as Italian history, is marked by division and localism as much as it is by creativity. All of these things are ingredients that make up the Italian identity, as highlighted by Dickie (2008), “Italian food is city food. . . . It is no coincidence that so many Italian products and dishes are named after cities: bistecca alla fiorentina, prosciutto di Parma, saltimbocca alla romana, pizza napoletana, risotto alla milanese, pesto genovese, pesto trapanese, olive ascolane, mostarda di Cremona . . . For centuries, Italy’s cities have been where all the things that go to create great cooking are concentrated: ingredients and culinary expertise, of course, but also power, wealth, markets, and competition for social prestige” (Dickie, 2008; p. 7). Local Italian historical traditions, simple and natural ingredients, and enological identity are probably among the reasons of the international success of Italian cuisine and its gastronomic products. This happens at a so large extent that some products have become iconic representatives of the “Made in Italy” brand around the world, even if they are associated more with the national imagination than with the local one. Local food develops in a new way, in a national context, in a cross-referencing dance from the local to the national and the other way around which is deployed to stress Italianicity (Capatti & Montanari, 2003). Often it is set against the global food, understood as standardized, unhealthy, and unfair food (Born & Purcell, 2006). Italian local food specificities must be intended as a level corresponding to a social and spatial sphere built on lifestyles, tastes, and ordinary practices of the place, in one sentence: “taste of place” (Trubek, 2008), laying the foundations for the introduction of quality marks based on the identity of the place. Italian gastronomic identity is defined on multiple levels—local, regional, and national—which can tell us a lot about the different food styles in Italy. Culture, beauty, creativity, history, tradition, localism, and “terroir” they are enough to illustrate how talking about a single Italian food style means making a no-sense generalization (Facioni et al., 2019).

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Data and Methods In order to explore the relationships among food consumption, food-related lifestyle, subjective well-being, satisfaction with regard to the social and economic domains, lifestyle factors, and health conditions of Italian adult people, we performed a Principal Component Analysis followed by cluster analysis, on some indicators relating to food consumption, with the aim to explore and distinguish Italian typologies on the basis of their food consumption in the regions of Italy, on data collected by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT). The data considered for the present study comes from the Multipurpose Survey on Everyday Life Aspects, which is a large scale, cross-sectional survey—that is part of an integrated system of social surveys called: The Multipurpose Surveys on Household—that has been carried out by ISTAT annually since 1993. The sample size of the survey is around 50,000 respondents and is designed to be representative of the entire Italian population and to allow disaggregation of the main indicators at the regional level and by socio-demographic characteristics. The survey is based on a face-to-face questionnaire, designed to collect response at family level to questions that require the help of an interviewer, and a self-administered questionnaire designed for questions that can be answered directly by the individuals. The study is carried out on the 2018 wave (the most recent edition of the survey for which full microdata are publicly available); a total of 44,672 individuals answered to the questionnaire and 37,391 of them were aged 18 or over. The survey collects information on the citizens’ habits about everyday life, including ones related to food. Besides, some sections included in the questionnaires address different social aspects consenting to explore the objective and perceived (subjective) quality of individual life, by means of determinants (e.g. their economic situation, the area in which they live, the functioning of all public utility services) and the degree of satisfaction with their conditions, respectively. Statistical analyses were carried out in the “R” environment (R Core Team, 2020). Applying the PCA function in “FactoMineR” package (Lê et al., 2008), we obtained the Principal Component Analysis. Hierarchical clustering procedure was carried out by the HCPC function in “FactoMineR” package. The selected indicators The indicators selected for analysis in this paper fall into two broad groups: • active (chosen to project and group the observations); • supplementary (introduced to sustain the interpretation). Table 4.1 summarizes the indicators derived from data of the 2018 wave of ISTAT’s Multipurpose Survey on Everyday Life Aspects. The estimation of the indicators, for each Italian region, was carried out on people aged 18 or over, to limit the study to a more homogenous population with respect to the questions collected by the questionnaire. Since the aim of the paper is to explore and distinguish Italian typologies on the basis of the values of the selected indicators over the Italian regions, we have derived

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Table 4.1 The active and supplementary indicators, partitioned by domains Domains Foodconsumptions

Subjective wellbeing Lifestyle

Health conditions

Active Leafy vegetables every day (LED) Fruit every day (FED) Vegetables every day (VED) Legumes weekly (LEW) Bread and pasta every day (BPD) Fish weekly (FIW) White meats weekly (WMW) Cow meat weekly (CMW) Pork meat weekly (PMW) Cheese every day (CED) Eggs weekly (EGW) Snack weekly (SNW) Cold cuts weekly (CCW) Attention to salt intake (ASI) At least four servings per day of leafy vegetables, vegetables, or fruit (LVFD) Fizzy drinks every day (FDD) Beer every day (BED) Wine every day (WED) Spirits every day (SPED) Milk and food at breakfast time (BMF) Lunch at home (LAH) Principal meal at dinner time (DPM)

Supplementary

Life satisfaction (LS) Smoke (SMOKE) Sedentary lifestyle (SEDENT) At least three chronical diseases (ATL3CD) Good perceived health (HEALTY) Regular assumption of drugs (DRUGS) Body mass index classified as obese (BMI_O) Body mass index classified as normal (BMI_N) Limitations in daily activities (LDA) (continued)

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Table 4.1 (continued) Domains Socio-economic domain

Active

Supplementary Low satisfaction for family relationships (FAMRLS) Low satisfaction for friends relationships (FRIRLS) Low satisfaction for the economic status (ECOSLS) Low satisfaction for leisure time (TIMELS) Low satisfaction for the job (JOBLS)

(in brackets are the labels used in the figure)

a customized version of them that is more focussed on the potentially discriminant thresholds. Specifically, the indicators have been obtained through the variables chosen from the survey on Everyday Life Aspects by dichotomously coding them: the derived indicator has value 1 if the answer from the respondent fulfils the indicator condition, and 0 otherwise. For example, the indicator Low satisfaction for the economic situation (ECOSLS) is derived from the SITEC variable (satisfaction with the economic status with regard to the past twelve months) collected in the survey. For each individual respondent, ECOSLS is set with the value 1 if the answer recorded by the SITEC variable is “slightly satisfied” or “not satisfied at all”, and to 0 otherwise. Hence, by scaling each individual respondent to the universe and summing up by region, we have finally obtained an absolute frequency for each indicator and made it relative to the population.

A Proposal for Data Organization Some researchers have concluded that life satisfaction is age-sensitive (Gerstorf et al. 2008) and this has implications also when dealing with food. For example, it is accounted the common misbelief of young people that life satisfaction decreases with age; this can lead to food habits of hedonist and unhealthful nature, rooted in the idea of exploiting life to the highest possible extent during youth (Garry and Lohan 2011). Conversely, adult people are increasingly concerned about avoiding negative experiences and focusing on health-related aspects (Clench-Aas et al. 2011). Aged adults and elderly, with poor economic self-rated status, are associated with an unhealthy diet (Simsek et al. 2014) and a poor quality of life (Chiao et al. 2011), therefore they may have a low level of food-related life satisfaction (Liu and Grunert 2020). Elderly people, due to a number of biological, environmental, and social factors, such as decreased sensitivity to taste, poor oral health, decreased appetite, and loss of independence, are at greater risk of malnutrition, e.g. low protein intake

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Table 4.2 Age groups, intervals, and labels Age class Minor Youngster Adult Aged adult Elderly

Age range (years) 0–17 18–34 35–54 55–64 65 and over

Label [excluded from our analysis] You Adu Age Eld

or vitamin D deficiencies (Granic et al. 2018). Hence, life satisfaction, satisfaction with regard to the social and economic domains, as well as food habits and food consumptions can be expected to change over the years. We think that for the above reasons it is desirable to stratify the regional population into age groups, in order to obtain the selected indicators for each group. In this way, we are able to highlight different behaviours of distinct age groups that would otherwise be flattened out in the total regional population. Therefore, in the present study all the individuals of the Everyday Life Aspects survey were classified into five age classes (see Table 4.2). Respondents under age 18 were ruled out since they were not asked to fill completely some sections of the questionnaire; specifically, they skipped over questions necessary for the construction of some key indicators used in our calculations (e.g. BMI, alcohol use, consumption of fizzy drinks, etc.). Therefore, the indicators used in the analysis were recalculated for each Italian region in each of the four considered age groups (see Table 4.2), and the coding scheme was exploited to calculate the relative frequency of a specific habit, attitude, or subjective evaluation by scaling data obtained from the survey to the whole target population of Italian adults.

Methodology Facing the problem of extracting information from a large set of indicators about food consumption and food-related lifestyle (the active variables of our study, in statistical parlance) and exploring relationships with another set of indicators related to health conditions, lifestyle factors, subjective well-being, and satisfaction with regard to the social and economic domains (the supplementary variables) can be approached by apt multivariate techniques. In general, the methods for operating a dimensionality reduction rely on new variables obtained from the original ones by minimizing the loss of their information when only a few of these synthetic variables is used. In our case, we applied the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to the set of selected indicators, with the aim of extracting the relevant information from the active variables and thus highlighting patterns and similarities among observations and active as well supplementary variables (Abdi & Williams, 2010). Nonetheless PCA is one of the oldest methods for dimensionality reduction, it is widely used and

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its easy interpretable results, thanks to expressive graphs too, make it an effective tool for exploratory analysis in an adaptive fashion (Jolliffe & Cadima, 2016). Application of PCA to frequency data for identifying profiles and classifying regions is not novel, it dates back to the classical paper by Cavalli-Sforza related to gene frequencies (Menozzi et al., 1978), but it is an effective way to summarize most of the available information in a large data matrix by means of few latent variables, obtained as linear combinations of the original variables—as have been widely done in biology and particularly in genetics (Patterson et al., 2006)—and to generate plots useful also for clustering analysis. In the context of this work, Cluster Analysis (CA)—developed after the PCA— was carried out in order to obtain groups that show at the same time a high degree of internal homogeneity and relatively large differences among them. The combination of factorial methods and classification techniques allows us, once the groups have been identified, to locate them on a map, by drawing their positions in the plane of the most important latent variables (Gherghi & Lauro, 2004). Moreover, PCA is an effective approach to indagate Italian population structure about food habits, since its main aim is not to classify the regions into separate groups, but instead to describe few continuous axes of variation (the principal components) by means of which heterogeneity and mixed patterns are not flattened and so can be highlighted and addressed. It is worth noting that our preliminary exploratory analyses have shown us that the gender does not add significantly to the explanation of the principal components, conversely it hinders the interpretation by cluttering the plots of positions on the principal components’ plane. Therefore, we decided not considering gender in this work, so that the data matrix used for the analyses contains eighty rows that correspond to our observations (four age classes for each of the twenty Italian administrative regions).

Analysis Results: Food Habits Based on Patterns of Food Consumptions Aiming at discovering and identifying distinct patterns in food habits of Italians that are also related to life satisfaction, satisfaction with regard to the social and economic domains, food-related lifestyle, and health conditions, the active as well as the supplementary variables derived from the survey have been used to explore the profiles in the distinct age groups of the twenty regions of Italy. The trends and the relationships, as well as the groups that we can highlight through PCA and clustering, are described in the following. The active variables, directly used to obtain the principal components as linear combinations, are the indicators of the food consumptions domain combined with some indicators of food-related lifestyle; besides, we have also introduced as supplementary variables some indicators related to health conditions and satisfaction

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Fig. 4.1 Active and supplementary variables plotted on the correlation circle related to the first two PCs

with regard to the social and economic domains (the reader is referred to Table 4.1 for their list and also the short coding of variables used as labels in the figure). The role of the active variables in constructing the principal components is clearly seen on the correlation circle in Fig. 4.1 by looking at the solid arrows: • the horizontal axis (the first principal component explaining 38.34% of the variation in the original data matrix) contrasts Fruit every day, Wine every day, Attention to salt intake, Lunch at home, and Milk and food at breakfast time on the left-hand side to Principal meal at dinner time, Spirits every day, Beer every day, Cold cuts weekly, White meats weekly, Fizzy drinks every day, and Snack weekly on the right; these patterns suggest an interpretation of this axis as the relationship with food: traditional vs. modern food choices. Supplementary variables, represented by dotted arrows on the same plot, not surprisingly set people with

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health issues (who take drugs on a regular basis and suffer of limitations in daily activities—Regular assumption of drugs, Limitations in daily activities, At least three chronical diseases, Body Mass Index classified as obese, Low satisfaction for friends relationships, Sedentary lifestyle) on the left and healthy people that are fit and tend to smoke (Low satisfaction for the job, Smoke, Body Mass Index classified as normal, Good perceived health) on the right-hand side of the same axis. • On the vertical axis (the second principal component explaining 22.99% of the variation in the original data matrix) the contrast is between diets based on the daily consumption of cheese and vegetables (Cheese every day, Vegetables every day, Leafy vegetables every day, At least four servings per day of Leafy vegetables, Vegetables, or Fruit) on the bottom, and dietary regimes including bread and pasta daily along with regular consumption of legumes, pork meat, eggs, and fish (Pork meat weekly, Eggs weekly, Bread and pasta every day, Fish weekly, Legumes weekly) on the top, indicating the interpretation of this axis as tied to the diet type, i.e. mostly vegetarian vs Mediterranean. Looking at supplementary variables, we can surprisingly find people with high levels of self-reported life satisfaction near the lower side (Life satisfaction) and people that tend to be sedentary and with low levels of satisfaction related to their economic status and leisure time (Sedentary lifestyle, Low satisfaction for the economic status, Low satisfaction for leisure time) along the upper side of the same axis. The above remarks are further developed by looking at the position of the regions and age classes on the plane set by the first two principal components (that are conjunctly able to express the 61.58% of the variation in the original data matrix). Once the observations are projected on this plane, as in Fig. 4.2, it seems clear that differences on the horizontal depend on age (with a shared pattern in the trajectories from young to elder ages), whereas the ones on the vertical are mostly related to the latitude of the region, contrasting southern regions on top versus northern in the lower side of the plot. Grounding on the dimensionality reduction of the data matrix obtained through the PCA, the eighty rows have been grouped by means of a clustering technique aimed at deriving from the first ten principal components homogeneous clusters that capture significantly different patterns. We have assigned the observations tied to each row (the adult population sampled in each region as partitioned into four age classes) to clusters by means of a hierarchical clustering procedure developed according to the Ward method and the Euclidean distance measure. The hierarchical tree so obtained has been then cut at the height that gives five clusters, to keep a good degree of differentiation among clusters and at the same time obtaining an interpretable partition—as also backed up by an empirical criterion about reduction of internal variance in the groups. By looking at the centroids of the five clusters with respect to the position of the observations, it is straightforward to label the groups and describe the differences by contrasting the mean values of the considered indicators to their overall averages computed on the whole sample. The reader is referred to Table 4.3 for the short coding of Italian regions used as labels in Fig. 4.2.

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Fig. 4.2 Observations and the centroid (+) of the clusters projected on factorial plane. (row labels share the colour of the cluster they belong to)

Cluster #1: Youngsters and Adults of the Southern Regions This cluster (that represent 16.5% of the sampled population) is mainly characterized by people who tend to feel healthy with a higher probability than the average Italian but share food consumption patterns that seem driven more by lifestyle trends than conscious dietary choices: their weekly menus include eggs, cold cuts, legumes, and cow meat as well as snacks; they tend to drink daily beer, fizzy, and alcoholic beverages with a prevalence higher than in the whole observed sample. The frequency of them who declare themselves scarcely satisfied with personal economic status is higher than the one observed overall in the sample. Notably, the youngsters

4 Food Consumption Associated with Health Status and Lifestyle Factors. . . Table 4.3 Labels of the Italian regions used in Fig. 4.2

ISTAT code 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Region PIEDMONT AOSTA VALLEY LOMBARDY TRENTINO SOUTH-TYROL VENETO FRIULI V.G. LIGURIA EMILIA ROMAGNA TUSCANY UMBRIA MARCHE LAZIO ABRUZZO MOLISE CAMPANIA APULIA BASILICATA CALABRIA SICILY SARDINIA

69 Label PIE V_A LOM TRE VEN FRI LIG E_R TOS UMB MAR LAZ ABR MOL CAM PUG BAS CAL SIC SAR

of Sicily are grouped within the next cluster by the clustering algorithm, likely because of a specific pattern of consumption about beverages.

Cluster #2: Youngsters and Adults of the Northern Regions Also this cluster (that represent 15.6% of the sampled population) is mainly characterized by people who sharply show a positive perception about their health and tend to have a Body Mass Index classified as normal; they avoid a sedentary habit more than the average Italian, indeed; nonetheless, smoking in the group is more prevalent than in the whole sample and individuals in the group shows eating habits that seem more tied to common trends labelled as healthy than really rooted in balanced diets. In fact, they tend to consume both cow and white meats, partly miss to eat fruit every day whereas other snacks are frequent in their food choices; furthermore, they tend to have daily fizzy drinks and alcoholic beverages, just to cite the most evident inconsistencies. It is easy to relate these habits to a lifestyle driven by working duties. Indeed, people in this cluster declare themselves satisfied about life with a higher probability than the average Italian, but at the same time tend to express low satisfaction about leisure time; it seems also evident that working duties prevent them from having lunch at home, consequently shifting their main meal to dinner time.

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Cluster #3: Adults and Aged Adult People of the Central and Northern Regions This cluster (that represent 35.4% of the sampled population) collects a large fraction of the subset of working people, as the prevalent role of dinner as the main meal suggests; nonetheless, the cluster is tied to specific food habits: daily consumption of beer, vegetables, and leafy vegetables; specifically, they tend to have at least four servings of leafy vegetables, vegetables, and fruit every day, with a higher frequency than overall in the sample. It is interesting to highlight that low satisfaction with regard to the job and for leisure time too are more prevalent in the group than in the whole sample, maybe indicating that the majority of interviewed people (since the households in the cluster reside in that area of the country where the productive system is more developed) works really hard. A kind of vegan food style emerges in the cluster since the scarce frequency of consuming meats and eggs compared with the high preference of vegetal servings.

Cluster #4: Elderly People of the Central and Northern Regions This cluster (that represent 19.7% of the sampled population) is mainly characterized by people with a sedentary lifestyle in the vast majority, hence are more prone to obesity; the group includes people suffering from at least three chronic diseases in a proportion higher than in the whole sample; as a consequence, taking drugs on a regular basis and experiencing limitations in daily activities are more frequent in the cluster than overall. Eating habits that could be tagged as “typically Italian” are the most discriminating aspect of the group, partly due to old age, a traditional lifestyle, and partly motivated by health issues: they have a full breakfast, lunch is their main meal and it is consumed at home for the vast majority, they pay attention to salt intake, and also tend to have daily consumption of vegetables and leafy vegetables, along with bread, pasta, wine, cheese, and fruit. On average express low satisfaction about the relationship with friends but seems less prone to scarce satisfaction with their job and economic status. It is worth noting that in the cluster there is a lower frequency of cold cuts and pork meats servings than overall, so a kind of vegetarian eating style emerges, associated with a general moderation of habits with regard to smoke, alcohol (low consumption of spirits, beer), snack, and fizzy beverages. The clustering procedure has added to this cluster also aged adults from Marche and Umbria, mainly since a frequent earlier age of retirement from work in these regions, that associates the habits of this group to the ones of elderly people.

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Cluster #5: Aged Adults and Elderly People of the Southern Regions This cluster too (that represent 12.8% of the sampled population) is mainly characterized by people who are prone to overweight and obesity because of a prevalent sedentary lifestyle, and also suffering an incidence of at least three chronic diseases higher then overall; hence it includes a high share of people that take drugs on a regular basis and suffer limitations in daily activities (being the group composed of elderly people as the previous cluster). Their eating habits are clearly connected to the health issues they face: lunch is their main meal and it is had at home, special attention is paid to salt intake and the traditional menu (including bread and pasta, legumes, and fruit); unlike cluster 4, for which the main source of animal proteins and fats are dairy products, people in the cluster tend to have eggs and fish servings during the week with an higher prevalence than overall. Besides, they also tend to have less frequently vegetables and leafy vegetables than the average Italian and are also less keen on white meats; as could be expected because the age, fizzy drinks, snack, smoking, and beer do not pertain to their common eating habits. On average people in the group express low satisfaction about the relationship with friends and for their leisure time, thus motivating—along with the incidence of diseases that spoil their satisfaction with regard to health—a level of life satisfaction lower than the overall one; nonetheless, they tend to declare themselves unsatisfied with work in a percentual lower than the average Italian. The eating habits that emerge in this cluster could reasonably be related to Mediterranean diet.

Discussion By analysing data made available by ISTAT, we have pursued information to shade some light about two main operative research questions: • Is it possible to identify regional food style in Italy through the analysis of food consumptions as reported in the official statistics? • What are the drivers of shared food habits and identifiable patterns? Addressing these questions is only possible in part through data reporting about the frequency of consumption of some food categories and generic eating habits: since our analysis aimed at exploring the existence of patterns of food consumption on a regional and age basis and not to highlight any true regionalism, as such it allowed us only to speculate indirectly on potential underlying food style(s). The trends and the relationships, as well as the groups that we can identify though PCA and clustering, enabled us to answer to the first question: food consumptions in terms

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of raw ingredients do not offer any evidence of significant regional differences, left out some well-known tendencies—as the one related to cheese. This is not really surprising, because the Italian styles sprang out mostly in the way those ingredients are creatively combined, cooked, and served. Nonetheless, the diets underpinned by the observed consumption patterns show a kind of latitude effect. Besides, a clear dependency on age emerges and the analysis of the concurring phenomena (social context, health, and work conditions) sharply points out that a standardization of practices has permeated also the eating habits and blurred the regional traditions about food, being the drivers of the observed differences mostly rooted in the working and socioeconomics conditions. In a sense we could say that the socioeconomics context exerts on the eating habits of Italians a more powerful influence than the territorial one, and that traditions and specificity give way to globalized lifestyles and trends for the vast majority of the population or, maybe better, for most of their lifetime. Moreover, by relating the patterns of food consumptions to health conditions, a significant discrimination emerges where differences in the predisposition toward physical exercise and a culture of ageing well—sustained by suitable welfare policies—are contrasted to a more lax and fatalist approach to facing disease and ageing. A two-face scenario about job and welfare—contrasting the northern and southern parts of Italy—returns an echo also in the picture of eating habits we have sketched by means of the map of regions and age classes drawn on the plane of the first two principal components, as shown in Fig. 4.2. Further considerations about regional differences are worth: clusters labelled 1 and 2 highlight the difference in regional food styles (roughly segmented as northern vs southern regions of Italy) related to the younger age range: the pattern can be mostly accounted to the different age threshold to achieving means for autonomous life by young people in the two socioeconomical contexts: accessing to paid work and moving out of the original household are both key events that on average happen later for youngsters living in the southern regions and, as a consequence, the food habits of youngsters and young adults living in this area stick to the ones of the household. Cluster number 3, including active people of northern and central Italian regions, emphasizes how lifestyles dominated by working duties are almost the same and override regional food styles: eating out for lunch, having dinner as the main meal, and pursuing fitness are common habits that tend to standardize food-related choices too. Finally, the groups identified via clusters labelled 4 and 5, grouping elderly people facing chronic diseases, suggest that in Italian northern regions some specific attitudes (also involving food habits) related to health motivation are more pronounced and are likely tied to expectations of a longer life and a better quality of ageing.

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Schnettler, B., Miranda, H., Lobos, G., Orellana, L., Sepúlveda, J., Denegri, M., Etchebarne, S., Mora, M., & Grunert, K. G. (2015). Eating habits and subjective Well-being. A typology of students in Chilean state universities. Appetite, 89, 203–214. Schulze, M., & Hu, F. (2002). Dietary patterns and risk of hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and coronary heart disease. Current Atherosclerosis Reports, 4(6), 462–467. Shan, Z., Li, Y., Baden, M. Y., Bhupathiraju, S. N., Wang, D. D., Sun, Q., Rexrode, K. M., Rimm, E. B., Qi, L., Willett, W. C., Manson, J. E., Qi, Q., & Hu, F. B. (2020). Association between healthy eating patterns and risk of cardiovascular disease. JAMA Internal Medicine, 180(8), 1090–1100. Simsek, H., Doganay, S., Budak, R., & Ucku, R. (2014). Relationship of socioeconomic status with health behaviors and self-perceived health in the elderly: A community-based study, Turkey. Geriatrics & Gerontology International, 14(4), 960–968. Steptoe, A., Pollard, T. M., & Wardle, J. (1995). Development of a measure of the motives underlying the selection of food: The food choice questionnaire. Appetite, 25(3), 267–284. Trichopoulou, A., Naska, A., Antoniou, A., Friel, S., Trygg, K., & Turrini, A. (2003). Vegetable and fruit: The evidence in their favour and the public health perspective. International Journal for Vitamin and Nutrition Research, 73(2), 63–69. Trubek, A. B. (2008). The taste of place: A cultural journey into terroir. University of California Press. Turnwald, B. P., & Crum, A. J. (2019). Smart food policy for healthy food labeling: Leading with taste, not healthiness, to shift consumption and enjoyment of healthy foods. Preventive Medicine, 119, 7–13. Yu, E., Malik, V. S., & Hu, F. B. (2018). Cardiovascular disease prevention by diet modification: JACC health promotion series. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 72(8), 914–926.

Alfonso Piscitelli is a senior researcher in Applied Statistics at the University of Napoli Federico II, where he serves as a lecturer in the Food Science and Technology Master. His main research interests are in people’s satisfaction, well-being, food, and consumer preferences. He is a member of AIQUAV and of the group DIAS (Data, Indicators and Analysis for Sustainability) of SIS (Italian Society of Statistics). Michele Staiano is a senior researcher in Applied Statistics at the University of Napoli Federico II, where he serves as a lecturer in the Data Science Master. His main research interests are in the field of sustainability, well-being, and complexity. He is a member of AIQUAV and of the group DIAS (Data, Indicators and Analysis for Sustainability) of SIS (Italian Society of Statistics).

Chapter 5

On the Theory of Measurement of Experience-Based Food Insecurity at the Global Level Elena Grimaccia, Filomena Maggino, and James Mohan Rao

Abstract The paper is a contribution to the theory related to the measurement of food security at the global level using experience-based tools, to provide fresh insights on the conceptualization and estimate of a phenomenon that is at the top of the international agenda on sustainable development. The study analyses and critiques the research approach of methods of direct collection of information on individual food insecurity, with particular reference to the recently developed FAO Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), taking into account specifically the global comparability issue. The paper highlights the advantages and disadvantages of self-perceived measures of food insecurity, both at the micro and macro level. The epistemological value of the use of subjective variables is discussed, the differences between subjective definitions and subjective methodologies are emphasized, and suggestions for further developments on the issue are offered. Keywords Theory of Measurement · Food insecurity · Global comparability issue

Introduction Food insecurity is still—and increasingly so—a serious obstacle to sustainable development (UN, 2018; World Food Programme, 2021). It has catastrophic consequences on individuals and societies, in the well-known “vicious circle of poverty” (Bauer, 1965; Nurkse, 1971), affecting the ability of people of learning and working (Rao, 2009; Sinclair & Howat, 1980). Hunger and food insecurity have also a strong

E. Grimaccia (*) Italian National Institute of Statistics, Rome, Italy e-mail: [email protected] F. Maggino “Sapienza” University of Rome, Rome, Italy J. M. Rao Economist, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 C. Facioni et al. (eds.), Italian Studies on Food and Quality of Life, Social Indicators Research Series 85, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97806-8_5

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association with other dimensions of sustainable development such as education, health, and gender equality (UN, 2018). “Zero hunger” is thus the objective stated among the Sustainable Development Goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the United Nations Assembly, in its resolution 70/1. In the document, UN defines food insecurity as one of the most relevant development challenges that nowadays low-income countries have to cope with (UN, 2015). In the 2030 Agenda, food security is a very ambitious, stand-alone goal: Goal 2. “End hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”. SDG2 includes 5 multidimensional targets, which cover aspects related to: food access, nutrition, agricultural productivity, sustainable food systems, genetic diversity, investment, trade, and market information. The first Target (2.1: “By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round”) is monitored by the prevalence of undernourishment (PoU) and by the Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES). The PoU is an estimate of the proportion of the population whose habitual food consumption is insufficient to provide the dietary energy levels that are required to maintain a normal active and healthy life, and it is based on the overall availability of food. The second indicator measures, instead, the percentage of individuals in the population who have experienced food insecurity at moderate or severe levels, based on a survey module asking to a worldwide sample if they had perceived any constrain or worries in the access to food: the FIES. FIES is then a metric of food insecurity, measuring the access dimension, and based on perceptual individual data. In the pursuit of objectivity, subjectivity has often been regarded as undesired. However, recent scientific literature reconsiders the definitions of “objective” and “subjective” among theoretical frameworks aimed at better understanding subjective constructs (Brulè & Maggino, 2017). In particular, the debate on the epistemological, theoretical, and methodological validity of perceptual measures of food insecurity is open and needs further insight, thus leaving room for alternative interpretations and inferences (Alkire, 2015; World Bank, 2017). The most important issue regarding experience-based food insecurity scales during the history of their development addressed the feasibility of creating an internationally valid instrument using a single scale for the many diverse cultural and socioeconomic contexts in the world. The considerations here presented on the FAO Food Insecurity Experience Scale enrich and augment the prevailing perspective on the self-perceived measures of food security and, more generally, on the use of subjective definitions, measures, and indicators in social and economic research. The aim is twofold: to extend and deepen understanding of subjective metrics of food security and to consider the theoretical validity of perceived food security measures, FIES included, as tools to assess policies.

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Conceptual Framework: Definitions of Food Security Food security is a very complex, multi-faced, and comprehensive concept, which has evolved along time (Maxwell, 1996). Some authors mention the existence of about 200 definitions for concept of Food Security (Clay, 2002). Accurate measurement and policy targeting therefore remains a challenge due to the many dimensions involved (Aliber, 2009). Here we provide an overview of the main theories for the definition of food insecurity, among a very extensive literature, with the aim to briefly illustrate the main different approaches and their evolution. The oldest approach to food security is the “food availability” one. It dates back to Thomas Malthus’ work “An Essay on the Principle of Population” (1789), which has been very influential for the study of population, food, and political economy. The approach is focused on the equilibrium between population and food, and other natural resources in general: in order to maintain this equilibrium, the rate of growth of food availability should be not lower than the rate of growth of population. This theory had a huge visibility in MIT project of the Club of Rome (Meadows et al., 1972). According to this approach, the units of analysis have usually been countries, or the world. However, as noted in Griffin and Khan (1978) in the International Labour Organization (ILO) study, “there certainly is no evidence that the world is moving toward a Malthusian trap. When the poor starve, it is not mainly because there is no food but because they do not have the wherewithal to acquire food. In other words, the problem of world hunger cannot be solved merely by attempting to increase production. The solution requires better distribution and more productive employment both to increase incentives to expand output and create effective demand for greater food output” (ILO, 1977). In 1983, FAO expanded its definition of food security: from the definition of 1974, based on food supply (“Availability at all times of adequate world food supplies of basic foodstuffs to sustain a steady expansion of food consumption and to offset fluctuations in production and prices”), the concept of food security was extended to include access by vulnerable people to available supplies, so that food security refers to a condition that “ensure that all people at all times have both physical and economic access to the basic food that they need” (FAO, 1983). The concept of a “basic needs” development strategy was born in the middle of the Seventies. This idea originated in the psychology literature of the 1940s and more specifically in an article by Albert Maslow in the Psychological Review of July 1943 in which he distinguished a hierarchy of five needs starting with physiological and ending with self-actualization needs (Maslow, 1943). The ILO report for the 1976 World Employment Conference defined basic needs in terms of food, clothing, housing, education, and public services: “the satisfaction of basic needs means meeting the minimum requirements of a family for personal consumption: food, shelter, clothing; it implies access to essential services, such as safe drinking-water, sanitation, transport, health and education; it implies that each person available for and willing to work should have an adequately remunerated job. It should further

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imply the satisfaction of needs of a more qualitative nature: a healthy, humane and satisfying environment, and popular participation in the making of decisions that affect the lives and livelihood of the people and individual freedoms” (ILO, 1976). This is the main approach behind the view of food security as “Consumption of less than 80% of World Health Organization (WHO) average required daily caloric intake” (Reardon & Matlon, 1989) and as “The ability . . . to satisfy adequately food consumption needs for a normal healthy life at all times” (Sarris, 1989). Within the “basic needs” framework, there are two different approaches to measure food security. The first method is based on the direct observation of food consumption but obtaining detailed data on food security status—such as 24-hour recall data on caloric intakes—can be time consuming and expensive and require a high level of technical skill both in data collection and analysis. The second method assesses food security by asking people the number of meals eaten per day or the frequency of consumption of certain types of food, as in the dietary diversity approach, defined as the number of unique foods consumed over a given period of time (Hoddinott & Yisehac, 2002). These approaches directly consider food, rather than the income necessary to buy it. In this way, no information on current prices per unit are needed. Moreover, by concentrating on what is actually eaten, the first approach implicitly estimates the food produced at home rather than purchased in the market. Directly observing the individual intake of food is particularly important because of gender bias: by observing directly the food intake of women, we do not assume that they receive the same amount of food as men (Burchi & De Muro, 2016). The definition of food security based on food consumption, that include food consumed or acquired by households in terms of quantities and monetary values, uses data collected in National Household Surveys, including expenditure and quantities of food items acquired or consumed during the reporting household survey period from the different food sources in sufficient details to allow for the estimation of food dietary energy and nutrient consumption. This very interesting and useful approach presents, however, some drawbacks. First, data collected at the household level could not provide estimated for individual household members. Furthermore, this approach does not consider subsistence production, which not only contributes directly to these households’ food security as a supply of food, but also enables households to divert income to meet other requirements (Aliber & Hart, 2009). A more general way of looking at food security is the “entitlement approach” of Amartya Sen. In his 1981 paper, Sen presents an alternative approach to famines, moving the attention from the availability of food, measured by the average food supply per head, towards the people’s ability to command food through legal means available in the society (including the use of production possibilities, trade opportunities, entitlements vis-à-vis the state, etc.). Sen explains that “the entitlement of a person stands for the set of different alternative commodity bundles that the person can acquire through the use of the various legal channels of acquirement open to someone in his position” (Sen, 1986). Given this definition, famines are due to the failures to assure entitlements to large groups of population.

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Starting from the 1981 work of Sen, Chambers and Conway elaborated the concept of Sustainable Livelihoods (SL). The SL framework has many communalities with the basic needs approach and the entitlement approach. Like the former, it focuses on “gaining a living” (Chambers & Conway, 1991), which is “the necessities of life”. The SL concepts have been also widely used for food security measurement, especially in humanitarian emergencies (Maxwell, 1995; Maxwell et al., 1999, 2013) and famines (Devereux, 2006; Howe & Devereux, 2004). The entitlement approach was overcome from Sen himself after a decade (Drèze & Sen, 1989), applying the capability approach to food security. From the perspective of the capability approach, poverty and food insecurity are surely the worst forms of unfreedom conceivable, especially in a world characterized by unequal levels of wealth in human history (Sen, 1999). Hence, if the ultimate end of development relates to the removal of the substantive unfreedoms that constrain the flourishing of human beings and their actual possibility to live the life they have reason to value, the reduction of poverty and food insecurity becomes one of the key priorities in the development agenda. An important development of the approach is stability: the capability to be food secure should have a long-time perspective (Burchi & De Muro, 2016). In 1996, the World Food Summit (WFS) adopted a still more comprehensive definition of food security, assessing that “Food security, at the individual, household, national, regional and global levels [is achieved] when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life” (FAO, 2002). At the beginning of the millennium, subjective measures of poverty, based on individual perceptions collected by surveys, have been developed, acknowledging that the “threshold” methodologies used to calculate poverty lines could present serious problems of comparison and robustness (Kuivalainen, 2014; Pradhan & Ravallion, 2000). In a paper on “the missing dimensions of Poverty Data”, Alkire (2007) highlights the importance of “psychological and subjective states of wellbeing, which have clear intrinsic and instrumental value”. More recently, the Stiglitz–Sen–Fitoussi commission gave a positive appraisal of the subjective measures of poverty and well-being. In the Recommendation 6 of their Report (2009), they state that the evaluation of quality of life “requires both objective and subjective data”. Moreover, in Recommendation 10 they state that “measures of both objective and subjective well-being provide key information about people’s quality of life. Statistical offices should incorporate questions to capture people’s life evaluations, hedonic experiences and priorities in their own survey” (Stiglitz et al., 2009). As noted in Alkire (2015), well-being measures are highly likely to engage subjective and self-report data among other data sources, and happiness is often recognized as a dimension of well-being also in the capability approach. Posel and Rogan (2016) underline that subjective poverty metric can measure poverty, considering also broader domains of poverty, not merely its symptoms (i.e. low income). In particular, they find significant overlap between per-capita

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expenditure measures and personal assessment of the economic status of their household, ranging from “very poor” to “wealthy”. They also identify different characteristics that classify households where these poverty measures do not overlap, such as the share of children and the elderly in the household, household size, home ownership and housing type, access to piped water, electricity, and to farming land. These findings indicate that expenditure measures are not able to capture the multidimensional nature of economic well-being. The subjective measures are a key component of the other dimensions proposed here, as well as an end result of their attainment (Posel & Rogan, 2016). According to Atkinson et al. (World Bank, 2017), the use of subjective assessments of personal poverty status should be considered. In order to measure the subjective assessment of poverty, the use of the Gallup World Poll is to be commended because it covers most countries of the world every year, including more than two-dozen countries in Africa, and asks identical questions throughout the world. Posel and Rogan (2016) note several advantages of self-assessed poverty measures compared with money-metric poverty measures. For example, subjective assessments of poverty do not depend on a pre-determined, expert-derived poverty threshold and they do not require assumptions about how to adjust resources for household size economies in consumption and for the different needs of adults and children (Ravallion & Lokshin, 2001). Furthermore, there is also “no obvious reason” why respondents would not be willing to self-assess their poverty status (Ravallion & Lokshin, 2001), while respondents may be reluctant to give information on income (Posel & Rogan, 2016). In addition, subjective assessments are likely to capture longer-term measures of economic status (such as a household’s asset base and accumulated wealth) than current income and expenditure, and they may also reflect anticipated future shocks and opportunities for household members (Posel & Rogan, 2016). Subjective measures of poverty are also likely to incorporate a far wider range of welfare components than can be measured by narrow money-metric indicators (Ravallion & Lokshin, 2001, 2002). Similarly, to the approaches used for stating poverty and well-being, survey modules for collecting information on food insecurity based on personal perceptions have been developed. Though there is certainly a great deal of variation in both the causes and consequences of food insecurity in different countries, experiential measures capture cross-cultural aspects of food insecurity and have proven their validity across global regions (Coates, 2013; Perez-Escamilla, 2012). Many studies have validated experiential food insecurity scales in the USA, Canada, Mexico, and Latin America over the past few decades (Coates et al., 2006; Frongillo & Nanama, 2006; Nord, 2012; Perez-Escamilla et al., 2004). As a micro-level measure, experiential food insecurity measures offer insight into the determinants of food insecurity at the individual level, making it possible to show the characteristics and geographic concentration of the food insecure (Ballard et al., 2013; Nord, 2014).

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The FIES is an experience-based scale developed by the Voices of the Hungry project at FAO (FAO, 2016). FIES module of the Gallup World Poll asks people directly about their having to compromise on the quality and quantity of the food they eat due to limited money or other resources, and it offers an informative and novel perspective in regard to the debates around self-perceived measures of food security (Ballard et al., 2014). Each item refers to a different situation and is associated with a level of severity according to the theoretical construct of food insecurity underlying the scale, providing a direct measure of the problems that individuals and households experience in having access to food (Grimaccia et al., 2018; Nord, 2014). It can be used at the individual level, while allowing for the analysis of inequalities in access to food differentiated by personal characteristics (e.g. gender or age).

Epistemology of Subjective Measures A number of concerns with subjective data have been raised in both the psychology and economics literatures. First of all, respondents can be expected to interpret subjective questions relative to their personal frame of reference, which will depend on latent aspects of their own knowledge and experience (Ravallion et al., 2016). Furthermore, respondents may provide a self-assessment that reflects their aspirations rather than the real circumstances of their lives (Posel & Rogan, 2016), and subjective assessments may be influenced not only by the household’s own economic well-being but also by how this is seen to compare with the economic wellbeing of other households (Lokshin et al., 2006). It is, then, worth clarifying some issues and rationales in the theoretical development of a “subjective” instrument. If we use the term “subjective” with reference to the definition of phenomena, then there is no objective measure in the world, because the definition of phenomena is always subjective (Brulè & Maggino, 2017). We consider “objective” to be what is actually shared: a phenomenon may be considered to be “objective” if it is observable and if there is a high degree of inter-subjective agreement on what is observed. The degree of consensus on what is observed constitutes a phenomenon’s measurability. Although, it still reflects our vision of the world, which, although shared, is ours and cannot be asserted to exist in nature. On the other hand, in the process of measurement, we have to define and use methods that are transparent and ethically correct, and that allow us to produce measures which are comparable in different places and for different people, both for subjective and objective constructs. This implies that one must not use “subjective” measures in the sense that the method aims to measure the same phenomenon but variably, varying with, time, place, and circumstance (Brulè & Maggino, 2017). There is a third framework one may use to characterize a “subjective” approach. When we look at reality, we acknowledge that there are phenomena not directly observable, such as expectations, perceptions, satisfaction (Macku et al., 2020;

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Manski, 2004). Some traits of life are irreducibly subjective because they are directly unobservable and only indirect “observations”, based on the subjective responses of the individuals concerned, are possible (Manski, 2001; Voukelatou et al., 2020). But even in a subjective dimension, measurement—employing binary or rating scales based on the subjective assessments—may be possible As in the case of objective measures, inter-subjective agreement allows for significant comparability, particularly within a culture. Now that we have clarified the term “subjective”, under three different frameworks, we understand that economists also use subjective measures scientifically.

The Process of Measurement in Terms of Policies Well-being is, or at any rate should be, at the heart of all our inquiries in economics. The dominant approaches to human well-being and development via the concepts of utility and capability, together with income and the Human Development Index (HDI) being their respective measure or indicator, can seem to be completely independent of, and even opposed to, each other. This is understandable because their referents constitute seemingly unbridgeable divides: between subjective versus objective concepts of well-being, and between realizations versus opportunity sets of well-being. In truth, however, utility and capability are best seen as complementary constituents or aspects of well-being. The subjective/unobservable and objective/observable constituents both have intrinsic value. Their mutual compatibility and complementarity are evident in the fact that income is a crucial component of the HDI measure just as health and education are implicitly valued in the income measure (Alkire, 2007; Anand & Sen, 1997; ul Haq, 1976). To reject either aspect is to deny that our experience of well-being is irrefutably subjective as well as objective (Alkire, 2015; Sen, 2008). Affirming these general principles makes it a lot easier to negotiate the more practical difficulties that must inevitably arise in assessing and measuring, comparing and evaluating, well-being in general, and poverty and food security in particular (Carletto et al., 2013). The use of subjective or perceptual indicators in assessing well-being seems eminently valid and useful, even necessary in important cases. From an epistemological standpoint, because the truth about well-being phenomena is not entirely or exclusively objective, it is perfectly reasonable to seek subjective responses of individuals. In some instances, the advantage of using subjective indicators may be overwhelming as when they provide the only means of assessing the fact of the matter, e.g. feelings of hunger. Just as well-being notions (utility and capability) are conceptually complementary, so too each measure can compensate for deficiencies of others. Speaking of well-being, both in general and in relation to specific issues such as food security, one must decide whether to focus on outcome or process measurements. If you measure outcomes, or goals, you can identify result indicators, but you

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lose control over the process leading to those outcomes. However, this approach leaves the policy makers more freedom to choose how to reach that target. The capabilities approach relies more on processes than on objectives. While this has value, the goals should not be presumed to be subsumed by the fact that one creates every possible opportunity for people, but one must rather decide whether these opportunities enable them to achieve the goal of well-being. And when wellbeing is the desired goal, one must be mindful of its being similarly met across all groups: men and women, different age groups, people with unequal capabilities, and so on. In short, equity in achievement of well-being, not merely equality in distribution of opportunity, is the desideratum. The problem is really to identify goals. In this, there are different approaches, and these vary from culture to culture. Among the needs that may be considered to be indisputably essential, adequate and healthy food must surely rank at the top.

Subjective Indicators for Measuring Food Security Given norms of nutrition adequacy and quality, under-nutrition and malnutrition are objectively measurable states in the sense noted above, the actual measures of their incidence varying with the availability and accessibility of instruments (Rao, 2009). Even so, neither food intake (“input”) nor nutrition (“output”) norms can be met without the food consumer have a modicum of cognition and understanding of food qualities available and food qualities needed as well as some knowledge of the importance of health to the conversion of food intake into nutrition adequacy. Thus, food insecurity and hunger are among the most important instances where subjective indicators are not just valuable but critical. Even if, being subjective measures, they no doubt suffer from the biased knowledge, preferences, beliefs, and social or physical conditioning of the respondent, they have the particular merit of being close to the subjective/unobservable constituent of well-being. Whether or not the subjective responses obtained from the FIES scores are correlated strongly with objective measures of food security obtained from the traditional information sources, the subjective FIES data is still useful because it affords a window into the subjective experience of hunger and food insecurity, an essential component of well-being or of its lack. This is the undeniable gain in knowledge for assessing an important component of well-being and hence a basis for policy design and interventions. This is a gain in information, in the first instance, at the “micro” level of individuals and households. Nevertheless, any such gain, when aggregated to the whole society/nation, will also represent a gain at the “macro” level. But one may make an even stronger claim for the subjective information that FIES delivers. It has been known for some decades now that objective data about food intake can be misleading because observations on intake do not control for the body’s adaptation to chronic conditions of insufficient or excessive intake, so consequently norms of adequacy may fail. With the subjective FIES, however, a

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person’s response regarding one’s state of hunger may be expected to reflect the aforementioned adaptation. In these situations, the subjective response provides an additional viewpoint if not a definite corrective to the food balance sheet estimates on food consumption and food insecurity. It provides a piece of knowledge which is simply not available from the objective sources. One may also note some weaknesses of the FIES interview-based data. The FIES data are affected by the Gallup World Poll (GWP) research design which lacks demographic sensitivity. One major deficiency arises from the fact that GWP does not consider children below the age of fifteen. A second issue concerns gender imbalances and gender disparities in food insecurity. It is arguable that in regions such as South Asia with a strong tradition of gender disparities in food intake (as also in access to education and health care), hunger would be felt most by the women. So, for any given degree of disparity in reported hunger, one may infer a higher effective degree of hunger for women than for men. A third point is that similar disparities or biases may also hold for older people compared to younger people. Younger people may well be more important breadwinners in the family than older people, a condition that may imply that older people will get less food in circumstances of shortage within the household. More generally, the FIES responses of older people may be more suspect than those of younger people, just as women’s responses may be in comparison with those of men. This suggests that there could be contextgoverned gender and age biases in FIES. If so, this would vitiate cross-cultural comparability of FIES data in comparison with objective sources of data. The recorded experience of gender and age biases in access to food provides a reasonable basis for entertaining some doubt about the reliability of FIES observations. In this connection, it is also worth noting that the use of item response theory (or IRT models), while motivated by the need to satisfy the criterion of statistical comparability, does not quite address the problem of cross-cultural or contextual comparability. One further limitation may be noted as regards the four different dimensions of food security: availability, access, utilization, and stability. Since FIES measurements are recorded on an annualized basis, FIES data cannot provide any information as regards the stability dimension of food security. Given the age and gender bias concerns noted earlier, it is probably fair to say that FIES data will also be less reliable on the utilization dimension as well. In comparison, FIES data may be more informative and more reliable on the counts of access and availability. The FIES module presents two dimensions: behaviour of the subject and the subjective aspects of perceptions and evaluations. Conceptually, behaviours should be kept separate from the subjective aspects. So, it would have been best to keep the two dimensions distinct. And within the domain of the subjective dimension, perception needs to be distinguished from evaluation.

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Conclusions The epistemological value of the use of subjective variables has been considered from different points of view. There is agreement on the fact that the definition of phenomena is always subjective because it is the accepted projection of a culture. It is critical to distinguish between subjective definitions and subjective methodologies: a method that depends on the characteristics of the interviewer or of the interviewee should of course be declined. But if we measure subjective, personal comportments and perceptions we have a gain in knowledge that could be very useful for policy making. The most fruitful way of approaching the use of objective and subjective measures is to “follow the path of relatedness rather than opposition” (Brulè & Maggino, 2017). Direct measures of food insecurity, referred to individuals, allow us to analyse the results in different population subgroups, in relationship with economic, social, and demographic characteristics of people. FIES is a useful tool for policy maker also because it can be surveyed in rich and more developed countries too, providing useful insight to design specific policies across the globe. These issues have of course to be further investigated and FIES data should be evaluated among different groups of population in order to achieve a deeper knowledge of the comparability at world level. With regard to FIES, it has been noted that not all the items of the scale are subjective; rather, many are indeed reporting objective situations. It will be very useful to analyse more precisely the characteristics of each item, which sometimes refer to evaluations, sometimes to perception, and sometimes to satisfaction. Also, this aspect can be further analysed with statistics and econometric methods. In sum, the FIES scale offers a gain in knowledge on the very important issue of food insecurity, a subject that is connected to all the dimensions of living: health, work, social relations, peace, and democracy.

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Elena Grimaccia, Ph.D. is a Researcher at the Italian Institute of Statistics (Istat). She has gained international experience in multidimensional analysis of socioeconomic issues. Her main research interests are food security, sustainable development and well-being, model based composite indicators, and structural equation modelling. Filomena Maggino is a Professor of Social Statistics at the “La Sapienza” University of Rome. She is a Director of the international scientific journal Social Indicators Research and of the Encyclopedia on research in the field of Quality of Life and Well-being. She is a president and co-founder of AIQUAV. Collaborator of various government organizations, among her main research interests and activities, there are analysis and measurement of well-being, indicators of inequality and sustainability, statistical and political communication. James Mohan Rao is a Professor of Economics at Amherst, University of Massachusetts from 1996. In the years 2009–2015, he was at the “Sapienza” University of Rome, and at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences of Bombay as a Visiting Professor of Economics. In the years 2006–2007, he directed the Institute of South Asian Studies and was a Visiting Professor of Economics at the National University of Singapore. His main research interests are Agricultural Development and Policy, Development Economics, Institutional Economics, and Political Economy. He is a Consultant to FAO, UNDP, UN, ILO, and other institutions.

Chapter 6

Experienced Food Insecurity: A Compared Analysis between Formative and Reflective Approach Elena Grimaccia

Abstract Overcoming Food Insecurity (or food poverty) in the world is at the heart of any meaningful effort of sustainable development as it is a fundamental pillar for quality of life. In recent years, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) developed the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES), the first experience-based metric for the measurement of food insecurity at the individual level to be surveyed globally. A key aspect of FIES is the fact that it measures food insecurity across the population both in developing and in developed countries, allowing to understand changes which are of upmost importance in the challenging times we are living. The FIES is a most interesting case where the nature of the measure (formative or reflective) is not defined theoretically. In the intention of the developer of the scale, it is a reflective measurement (and this is confirmed by high correlation). However, this study argues that their objectives may be better aligned with formative investigations, due to the short length of the scale, and based on the results of the exploratory factor analysis. To illustrate this approach, the author discusses the distinction between commonly used reflective measures in comparison to the formative latent variable model, and points out the advantages and limitations of formative specifications using the example of the FIES. The specific informational value of each formative indicator will be discussed in terms of policies implications for the assessment of food insecurity in different areas. Keywords Food insecurity · Formative measurement model · Reflective measurement model · Scale development · Index construction · MIMIC · Confirmatory Factor Analysis

E. Grimaccia (*) Italian National Institute of Statistics, Rome, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 C. Facioni et al. (eds.), Italian Studies on Food and Quality of Life, Social Indicators Research Series 85, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97806-8_6

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Introduction The number of people affected by hunger and malnutrition is expected to increase due to the Covid pandemic (World Food, 2020) both in high-income countries (Gundersen et al., 2020) and in middle- and low-income ones (Bidisha et al., 2021; Mishra & Rampal, 2021). Food insecurity is estimated to affect 690 million people in 2019, increasing by ten million people in one year and by nearly 60 million in five years (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, and WHO, 2020). This figure only considers low- and middle-income countries. Another figure provided by FAO states that the number of people affected by severe food insecurity shows a similar trend: in 2019, close to 750 million—nearly one in ten people in the world—were exposed to severe levels of food insecurity. This second figure is based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) that was developed by the Voices of the Hungry project (VOH) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and has been surveyed starting from 2014. FIES provides a direct measure of the problems that individuals and households experience in having access to food; it captures aspects related to deprivation in terms of diet quality and quantity, as well as features of anxiety or uncertainty regarding the ability to procure enough food. This experience-based individual measure presents many advantages, allowing to measure food insecurity also in developed Countries and relies on the possibility of designing development or nutrition assistance policies ad hoc to specific characteristics of the population, which may be more effective than a blanket approach (Lokosang et al., 2016; Smith et al., 2017; Sébastien et al., 2014; Perez-Escamilla, 2012). National estimates of food insecurity prevalence based on FIES were published in the annual State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report in 2017 (FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP, and WHO, 2018), and the Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, are indicators used for monitoring Goal 2 (“End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN, 2015). However, there is still a need for exhaustive validation of FIES in order to better understand its strength and limitations in measuring food insecurity in different cultural and national frameworks (Saint et al., 2019). Moreover, the FIES is a most interesting case where the nature of the measure (formative or reflective) is not defined theoretically. In the intention of the developer of the scale, it is a reflective measurement (and this is confirmed by high correlation among the items of the scale). However, this study argues that their objectives may be better aligned with formative investigations, due to the short length of the scale, and based on the results of the empirical analysis of the scale (Myszkowski et al., 2018). The objective of this study is to compare the theoretical and empirical differences between formative and reflective approaches. The measurement models have been compared using the example of experiencing food insecurity surveyed by the FIES module. The findings from the simulation and the empirical application can help

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researchers to choose the right approach in the validation of a scale: formative or reflective. To analyze and discuss the differences between the two approaches, their principal characteristics will be presented, the distinction between commonly used principal-factor (reflective) measures in comparison to the composite (formative) latent variable model will be discussed, and the advantages and limitations of formative specifications using the example of the food insecurity construct will be pointed out. Finally, as in Myszkowski et al. (2018), Ikanga et al. (2017), and Diamantopoulos and Siguaw (2006), the two approaches are assessed, after theoretical considerations and the analysis of association between items, through the estimation of Structural Equation Model (SEM), as confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in the case of the reflective approach and in a MIMIC specification, in the case of the formative approach.

Formative and Reflective Measurement Models The debate between formative and reflective models is still very alive in current literature (Alaimo & Maggino, 2020; Bollen & Diamantopoulos, 2017; Crocetta et al., 2020; Wilcox et al., 2008). Broadly speaking, a model of measurement (e.g., the relationship between a latent construct and the indicators aimed at measuring it) is reflective when the latent variable foresees the indicators, while it is formative when indicators are considered as causing the phenomenon. In the formative approach, changes in the indicators determine changes in the latent constructs, two uncorrelated indicators can both serve as meaningful indicators of the same construct and indicators are not interchangeable (Maggino, 2015). As well known in literature, the choice between reflective or formative perspectives should be theoretically driven. However, sometimes the choice between a formative and a reflective measurement model is not obvious and, in some cases, the choice is indeed not straightforward. Several studies (Jarvis et al., 2003; Rossiter, 2002; Diamantopoulos & Winklhofer, 2001) have provided examples of constructs measured by reflective scales while a formative model should have been used. Other studies underline the difficulties in determining the direction of the relationships or the causal priority between indicators and latent construct (Edwards and Bagozzi, 2000; Bollen & Ting, 2000). In such cases, the empirical analysis could provide useful information to support the theoretical choice. In order to guide the choice between the two types of models, it could be useful to illustrate the specificity of the two measurement approaches. It is worth mentioning that the choice of type of construct should be guided by its appropriateness to the definition of phenomenon under study (Alaimo & Maggino, 2020; Diamantopoulos & Siguaw, 2006; Maggino, 2017). A reflective indicator can be seen as a function of a latent variable (or construct), whereby changes in the latent variable are reflected in changes in observable

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indicators. However, in formative cases, changes in indicators determine changes in the value of the latent construct (Bagozzi, 2011). Theoretical features aimed at distinguishing reflective and formative models can be broadly distinguished in three points. The first relies on the nature of the construct (Alaimo & Maggino, 2020; Coltman et al., 2008; Hoyle, 2012; Maggino, 2015): in reflective models the latent construct is existing, while in formative is, indeed, formed by a combination of indicators (Borsboom et al., 2003, 2004). The second instance is the direction of the causality: in reflective models, the direction is from construct to items, and a variation in the construct causes variation in the item measures, and this does not apply to formative construct (Bollen & Lennox, 1991; Edwards and Bagozzi, 2000; Rossiter, 2002; Jarvis et al., 2003). In a reflective model, items share a common theme, and they are interchangeable (adding or dropping an item does not change the conceptual domain of the construct (Rossiter, 2002; Jarvis et al., 2003). These considerations do not apply to formative constructs. Hoyle (2012) provides very clear examples. A reflective construct is the inflation rate that is caused by the change in the price of food, gas, household goods, etc. and not the other way around. Otherwise, socioeconomic status could be the outcome of income, education, and occupation but not vice versa. Compared with reflective models, it is more difficult to assess the validity of formative indicators and to compare the hypotheses with the sample data and predicted model. However, there are situations where we need to use the formative model: for example, when the indicators are multidimensional because unidimensionality is an assumption in reflective models (Hoyle, 2012). The theoretical perspective is to be supplemented with additional empirical considerations (Bollen & Ting, 2000; Gudergan et al., 2008; Hair et al., 2014; Jarvis et al., 2003) that are presented in Sect. 3.2.

Data and Methods The FIES is widely used as a measure of the proportion of the population experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity. It is included among the indicators monitoring the SDG2 (“Zero hunger”) and it allows to measure food insecurity also in rich and developed countries. The module is formed by eight questions on food-related behaviors and experiences associated with difficulties in accessing food due to resource constraints. We argue that such different features of food insecurity would be better synthesized according to a formative measurement model rather than a reflective one.

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The Data FIES originates from experience-based food security scales already used in the past (Ballard et al., 2013). However, FIES has been simplified to make it more comparable at the international level by having only eight questions (items) in the module, by limiting the response categories to “Yes” or “No,” rather than ordinal variables, and by having a reference period of 12 months in order to take into account seasonality in a different part of the world (FAO, 2016). Furthermore, information is collected at the individual level and not for the whole household as in previous surveys. FIES survey module is aimed at measuring self-reported behaviors and experiences in accessing food. The questions are posed in an increasing order of severity in the experience of food insecurity (Ballard et al., 2013): respondents are asked whether, in the last 12 months, they have been worried to run out of food; or if they have been unable to eat healthy and nutritious food; or if they had to limit the variety of food, had to skip a meal or ate less than they thought they should; or if the household ran out of food or if they were hungry but did not eat or if the respondent did not eat for a whole day due to the lack of money or other resources. The validation of the FIES scale aims at verifying the applicability of this innovative tool to detect with accuracy individuals that present a critical level of food insecurity, thus allowing us to focus policies on specific groups of a population (Coates et al., 2006; Frongillo et al., 2018; Mcleroy, 2008). The FIES has been validated by applying the Rasch model by Nord (2012), and its validity has been analyzed by several studies (Cafiero et al., 2018; Wambogo et al., 2018; Nord et al., 2016; Ballard et al., 2013). Application of the FIES to different countries showed that the relative position of the questions of the scale in terms of severity was similar in most countries with some variations, and this allowed FAO to develop a global reference scale. Based on these results, the FIES has already been used to evaluate sustainable development across the globe (UN, 2015). However, the need for a more in-depth study of the scale has been underlined by most recent studies (Saint et al., 2019). In particular, an analysis according to the formative construct was needed and has been carried out in this contribution. FIES data are surveyed in more than 140 countries in the framework of the Gallup World Poll on a sample of 150,000 respondents representative of the population older than 15 years distinguished by gender (Gallup, 2017). Data collected from a large cross-sectional survey assure the statistical soundness of the analysis.

The Method Alongside theoretical consideration shown in Sect. 2, empirical analysis helps understand the nature of the measurement model (Coltman et al., 2008; Diamantopoulos & Siguaw, 2006).

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In a reflective model, the measure can literally be said to “reflect” the latent variable and items should have high positive intercorrelations (Christophersen & Konradt, 2012). Internal consistency should be tested, and reliability assessed via the Cronbach alpha, measure of unidimensionality of a scale (Cronbach, 1951; Santos, 1999). Furthermore, items should have similar signs and relationships, and the content validity could be assessed via convergent and discriminant validity. For reflective models, common factor analysis can be used. Instead, in a formative model, “manifest” indicators are not expected to correlate, and items can present any pattern of intercorrelation, with the same directional relationship formative model, and indicator reliability cannot be assessed empirically (Christophersen & Konradt, 2012). All in all, technically, the difference is that reflective measures are expected to have high intercorrelations, while in formative models cause indicators could be intercorrelated in any way (positive, negative, or zero): “it is because composites (formative latent) often reflect the contribution of multiple dimensions.” So, internal consistency is not required in formative models (Hoyle, 2012, p.119, 120). Various analyses are useful to check directionality. For formative models, validity can be assessed through measurement models (Bagozzi, 2011). More specifically, the relationships with the construct can be assessed by applying a MIMIC model (Christophersen & Konradt, 2012; Coltman et al., 2008; Diamantopoulos, 2011; Diamantopoulos & Siguaw, 2006). As a first step, according to the procedure suggested by Maggino (2005), the internal consistency of the scale was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. The scale scores were analyzed with descriptive statistics, item difficulty measures, item discrimination indexes, and item total correlation. Examination of the eight questions by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) allowed the analysis of dimensionality. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) can be described as an orderly simplification of interrelated measures. EFA is used to explore the possible underlying factor structure of the FIES set of items without imposing a preconceived structure on the outcome (Child, 1990; Costello & Osborne, 2005). By performing EFA, the underlying factor structure is identified. Under the general tag of SEM, there are similar methodologies that vary on the basis of the statistical tools employed and on the assumptions they make, regarding the nature of the associations between the variables and their causal links. However, CFA, Multiple Indicators and Multiple Causes (MIMIC), and full SEM models share the insight that a latent construct can be estimated through a set of observable indicators (Kline, 2011; Krishnakumar & Nagar, 2008). In particular, SEMs allow to verify relations and interactions among variables. A factor is an unobservable variable that influences observed variables and which accounts for their correlations (Radzi et al., 2016; Bollen, 2002). In an SEM approach, it is up to the researcher to put forward hypotheses on the number of latent factors and how they are associated with the observed indicators, and later to check the consistency of his theory with sample data. SEMs appear to be particularly suitable for the analysis of multidimensional phenomena (Krishnakumar & Ballon, 2008; Krishnakumar & Nagar, 2008), such as food insecurity.

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In this paper, the SEM methodology has been used to compare the formative and the reflective approach for the measurement of food insecurity personal experience (as in Diamantopoulos & Siguaw, 2006; Roberts & Thatcher, 2009; Ikanga et al., 2017). Thanks to the estimation of SEMs, we have been able to combine the eight items of the FIES in an “experience food insecurity” latent construct according to the formative or reflective approach because an SEM allows for testing the hypothesis that a relationship exists between the observed variables and their underlying latent constructs (Hartwell et al., 2019; Iglesias et al., 2017; Lauro et al., 2018; Muncer & Speak, 2016; Biesecker et al., 2013; Suhr Diana, 2006). The solution of an SEM model leads to the simultaneous determination of all the latent dimensions considered in the model. Given that these models provide a simultaneous determination of the relations between many dimensions of wellbeing, poverty, or other multidimensional concepts (Fattore & Maggino, 2018), SEM goes beyond one-way causal relationships usually found in empirical work as it allows for reciprocal feedback among different latent dimensions that are constitutive of overall latent construct. Moreover, a full structural equation model is an efficient tool to deal with measurement error in both endogenous and exogenous variables. The SEM estimation provides latent construct that explains the greatest possible amount of variance for the corresponding manifest indicators. It estimates the coefficients to the original variables considering the network of relationships between the latent construct and the variance and covariance structure within and between the indicators. It is a very flexible approach that allows the definition of both formative and reflective measurement models. The linear coefficient that represents the effect of the latent factor on each item must be estimated, considering the relations among all the considered items. The estimation of a system of simultaneous equations allows us precisely to consider this dependence structure, by estimating the variance and covariance matrix of the accidental components of the different equations. In the reflective specification, each indicator reflects the corresponding latent construct. In this case, the original variables should be highly correlated, due to the fact that they are correlated with the latent factors of which they are expression. In the formative specification, the latent construct is generated by the different indicators which, in this case, represent a different aspect of the underlying latent concept. CFA is a type of structural equation modeling that deals with the relationships between observed measures or indicators (in our case, test items) and latent factors (Brown & Moore, 2013). In other words, observed measures are intercorrelated because they are influenced by the same underlying construct. Thus, a measurement model such as CFA provides a more parsimonious understanding of the covariation among a set of indicators because the number of factors is less than the number of measured variables (Delea et al., 2018). MIMIC models also aim at explaining what causes the latent variables to change by introducing some exogenous variables that are believed to have a causal influence on the latent factors (Krishnakumar & Nagar, 2008). In this framework, observed variables are a function of the latent factors, which, in turn, depend on some exogenous variables. MIMIC allows for the simultaneous estimation of the

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x1

φ13

φ12

γ1 ζ

x2

φ23

φ14

γ3 φ24

x3

φ34

λ1

γ2 η

y1

ε1

y2

ε2

λ2

γ4

x4

Fig. 6.1 MIMIC model (Source: Diamantopoulos, 2011)

measurement model and the incorporation of a set of causal variables in the structural model for the latent construct (Diamantopoulos & Siguaw, 2006) (Fig. 6.1).

The Results The comparison of the measurement models according to different approaches begins with theoretical considerations, with the analysis of the meaning and the aim of each item. After the content analysis of the scale, empirical analysis according to the reflective and formative models are presented.

Theoretical Considerations The eight items of the FIES vary in a range of severity of individual food insecurity. The first question asks the respondent to report their personal experience with uncertainty and anxiety about acquiring food during the previous 12 months. The second and third questions consider the quality and variety of food. The respondents should state if they have not able to eat healthy and nutritious food, or an undesired monotonous diet whit little diversity in the different types of foods consumed because of lack of money or other resources. Questions four and five deal, instead, with the quantity of food. They ask whether the respondents had to eat fewer meals than the number typically eaten in the food

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secure households in their area or if the respondents felt that the amount of food in any meal during the past four weeks was smaller than they felt they needed, because of lack of money of other resources. The respondent should answer according to their perception of what constitutes enough food for their needs. Question six asks about a situation in which the household has no food to eat of any kind in the home, thus food was not available to household members through the households’ usual means (e.g., through purchase, from the garden or field, from storage, etc.). Only in this case, the respondent needs to answer on behalf of all household members. The seventh question asks whether the respondent felt hungry because of lack of food due to income or other resources reasons, while the last item considers whether the respondent did not eat, from the time they awoke in the morning to the time they awoke the next morning due to lack of food. It is possible to observe that the eight items refer to both subjective perceptions and evaluations and to actual lack of food. Therefore, the latent construct could possibly not be a unique concept of experienced food insecurity, but rather two constructs, one referred to personal evaluation or perception about food, and the other related to the lack of food in the household because there is not enough money in the household. More in detail, the first three items relate to personal worries or the evaluation of the quality of food. The fourth and fifth questions consider personal evaluation of the quantity of food intake. Finally, the last three items relate to actual experiences of lack of food. Therefore, from a theoretical perspective, the first five items could be considered a subjective perception or an evaluation of access to food. The final three questions survey, instead, information on the lack of food. The above theoretical considerations allow us to identify a formative measure model for FIES. First of all, the latent concept is formed by a combination of its indicators, chosen according to the literature. The first item measures the perception of food insecurity (anxiety, worry), then a group of indicators measures the personal evaluation of the quality and variety of food, and finally, a group of three items measures the actual experience of lack of food. Therefore, considering the nature of the construct, it appears of formative nature. The second instance is the direction of the causality: a variation in the construct does not cause variation in the item measures, for instance in the “personal evaluation” part. In this formative model, items are not interchangeable: dropping one or more items related to the quantitative assessment would make the construct change completely, from a measure of experienced food insecurity to a metric of perceived anxiety.

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Empirical Analysis In reflective models, items are highly correlated. In the case of FIES, this is partially true. According to Kendall’s Tau (Weisburd & Britt, 2014), items were correlated but some of them do not present very high values of the index of association (Table 6.1). The results shown in Table 6.1 point out that, supposedly, the items measure different aspects of the latent construct because correlation is not so high, in particular between the first three items with the last three. Reliability is the overall consistency of a measure (Maggino, 2007). A measure is said to have a high reliability if it produces similar results under analogous conditions. The reliability of the FIES was evaluated using Cronbach’s coefficient alfa (Cronbach, 1951), which is 0.927. We can deduce that the internal consistency is very high. The definition of food insecurity adopted according to the reflective model assumes that this characteristic is one-dimensional; consequently, the scale assumes the hypothesis that the total score is monotonously linked with the measured dimension (Maggino, 2007). However, the analysis of the internal consistency of the group of items shows that the order of the items was not perfect because the first half-second half method presents higher values than the odd-even one, thus indicating different responses of the subjects to the two groups of questions (Grimaccia & Naccarato, 2020). In the analysis of internal consistency, the same scores can be obtained with different response models (profiles). Therefore, it is necessary to verify, when a respondent chose an item, if all the “easier” items have also been selected. In this way, it is possible to assume that the items are ordered according to the increasing severity of the same latent construct. Item Response Theory (IRT) is a test theory that can be used singly or in conjunction to complement the other’s strengths. The primary goal is to obtain functional items (i.e., items that are correlated with each other, discriminate between individual cases, underscore a single or multidimensional domain, and contribute significantly to the construct). In scale development, item reduction analysis is conducted to ensure that only parsimonious, functional, and internally consistent items are ultimately included. Therefore, the goal of this phase is to identify items that are not or are the least related to the domain under study for deletion or modification. Under the IRT framework, the item difficulty parameter is the probability of a particular examinee the probability of a particular examinee correctly answering any given item. This has the advantage of allowing the researcher to identify the different levels of individual performance on specific questions, as well as develop particular questions for specific subgroups or populations. Item difficulty is estimated directly using logistic models instead of proportions. Researchers must determine whether they need items with low, medium, or high difficulty. For instance, researchers interested in general-purpose scales will focus on items with medium difficulty, i.e., the proportion with item assertions ranging from 0.4 to 0.6 (Raykov, 2015).

Data source: FIES

Items WORRIED HEALTHY FEWFOOD SKIPPED ATELESS RUNOUT HUNGRY WHLDAY

WORRIED 1 0.700 0.684 0.586 0.643 0.587 0.553 0.437

FEWFOOD

1 0.618 0.687 0.601 0.569 0.441

HEALTHY

1 0.745 0.603 0.654 0.595 0.567 0.450 1 0.711 0.6838 0.703 0.580

SKIPPED

Table 6.1 Measures of association between the items (Kendall’s Tau values)

1 0.685 0.676 0.526

ATELESS

1 0.724 0.598

RUNOUT

1 0.6554

HUNGRY

1

WHLDAY

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Table 6.2 Item difficulty and discrimination Item WORRIED HEALTHY FEWFOOD SKIPPED ATELESS RUNOUT HUNGRY WHLDAY Mean Std dev N cases

Item P 0.689 0.637 0.679 0.371 0.495 0.344 0.277 0.111 0.45 0.197 8

Difficulty
0.762
0.560
0.723 0.449
0.034 0.557 0.851 1.828 0.201 0.842 8

Std Err 0.007 0.007 0.007 0.007 0.006 0.007 0.007 0.009 0.007 0.001 8

Discrim 0.983 0.983 0.983 0.983 0.983 0.983 0.983 0.983 0.983 0.0000 8

Std Err 0.009 0.009 0.009 0.008 0.008 0.008 0.008 0.008 0.008 0.0000 8

The item discrimination index (also called item-effectiveness test) is the degree to which an item correctly differentiates between respondents or examinees on a construct of interest (Whiston, 2008). It is, then, possible to validate the scale through the comparison of the actual distribution of the responses with a theoretical model of perfect scalability. In this study, we chose to use the item response theory probabilistic approach. The logistic version with two parameters (difficulty and discrimination) was applied (Table 6.2). According to the IRT analysis, it emerges a double facet FIES: one related to the perception of food insecurity, while the other relates to the actual experiences of lack of food. The items present a distribution of answers that are close to the theoretical assumption, with the exception of “Whlday,” and on a lesser extent “Hungry.” This variable indicates the most severe symptom of food insecurity and presents a different distribution, with much lower frequencies (Grimaccia et al. 2018). The Rasch model assumes that the probability of response to an item given by a person is only governed by the difficulty of the item and the ability of the person, and its prerequisites are unidimensionality and local independence (Bond & Fox, 2015). However, some elements that emerged from the analysis above allowed us to hypothesize that FIES, as it has been defined and how it is perceived, is not perfectly one-dimensional. In particular, we could hypothesize the presence of (at least) two components (factors). Exploratory factor analysis allowed to verify which components of FIES present some orthogonality (Maggino, 2005). According to Boateng et al. (2018), as in Thompson (2004), factor extraction is the phase in which the optimal number of factors, sometimes called domains, that fit a set of items are determined. This is done using factor analysis. Factor analysis is, then, used to understand the latent structure of a set of items and the extent to which the relationships between the items are internally consistent. This is done by extracting latent factors which represent the shared variance in responses among the multiple items and analyzing the number of

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Fig. 6.2 Exploratory factor analysis—Factor loadings (VARIMAX, gamma ¼ 1.0000)

factors, the factor loading estimates, and the relative residual variances (McCoach et al., 2013). Following Diamantopoulos and Siguaw (2006), the original pool of items was subjected to an EFA with varimax rotation to gain initial insights into item dimensionality. Two primary factors were extracted explaining almost 80% of the total variance. The estimation of EFA to the 150,000 individual data shows two factors (Fig. 6.2). The two factors refer to two different aspects of food insecurity: while the first component concerns perceptions and personal evaluations and seems more related to subjective aspects of food insecurity (being worried about not having enough food, not eating nutritious and healthy food, or eating less food than desired), the second concerns more “objective” activities, such as not eating for a whole day, feeling hungry or running out of food, which are all actual experiences. The exploratory factor analysis showed thus a difference in respondents who effectively ate less, and those who perceived a form of food insecurity but had actually eaten. It is worth noticing that the two items “ateless” and “skipped” failed to load highly on either factor. Therefore, the two variables cannot be considered in determining the latent construct, because they present a lower communality on both axes that is below the threshold value (Grimaccia & Naccarato, 2020). According to the reflective approach, the eight items were entered into a confirmatory analysis (CFA), following a one-factor reflective model. The resulting estimation shows that only the first six items of the FIES present high coefficients (Table 6.3).

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Table 6.3 Model estimations (Coefficients and errors) Variable Worried FoodInsecurity L1 _cons Healthy FoodInsecurity L1 _cons Fewfood FoodInsecurity L1 _cons Skipped FoodInsecurity _cons Ateless FoodInsecurity _cons Runout FoodInsecurity L2 _cons Hungry FoodInsecurity L2 _cons Whlday FoodInsecurity L2 _cons Var(e.worried) Var(e.healthy) Var(e.fewfood) Var(e.skipped) Var(e.ateless) Var(e.runout) Var(e.hungry) Var(e.whlday) Var (FoodInsecurity) Var(L1) Var(L2)

One construct reflective model

Two constructs reflective model

1 0

0.26955***

1 0.27232***

1.0165*** 1.01753*** 0

1.0208*** 0

Two constructs formative model

1 1 0

0.98715*** 0

One constructs formative model

0.24896***

1.0677*** 0.24859***

1.0321*** 1.031357 *** 0

0.83866***
0.01509***

0.26374***

1.0601*** 0.26471***

0.94204*** 0.157***

0.93392*** 0 0.79441*** 0

0.92761*** 1 0

0.7315*** 0

1 0.15093***

0.87608*** 1.00922*** 0

0.50119*** 0 0.09505*** 0.08200*** 0.08153*** 0.05613*** 0.05479*** 0.05690*** 0.05496*** 0.06186*** 0.23596***

0.14759***

0.1265***

1.04*** 0.12442***

0.61538*** 0.6979031*** 0 0.079844*** 0.051676*** 0.059987***

0.057344*** 0.029962*** 0.048877***

0.08246*** 0.09466*** 0.08343*** 0.08506*** 0.05622*** 0.05366*** 0.05054*** 0.05783***

0.73323*** 0.08086*** 0.07879*** 0.05177*** 0.05973***

0.05515*** 0.03141*** 0.04798***

0.251881*** 0.148658*** (continued)

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Table 6.3 (continued) Variable Cov(L1,L2) FoodInsecu/ extreme poverty Var(e. FoodInsecurity) L1 L2 Var(e.L1/ extreme poverty) Var(e.L2/ extreme poverty)

One construct reflective model

Two constructs reflective model

One constructs formative model

Two constructs formative model

0.39297*** 0.10642*** 0.37782*** 0.34389*** 0.12396***

0.09209***

legenda: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001

Considering the results of the EFA and of the previous CFA results, two items (“ateless” and “skipped”) were dropped from the analysis, and the factors were constrained to two. The items are associated with each factor on the basis of the EFA results: the first latent construct (L1) represents the factor related to perceived aspects of food insecurity (worried, healthy, fewfood), and the second construct (L2) is the latent factor for the actual experiences of food insecurity (runout, hungry, whlday). The coefficients estimated in the model with two factors presented higher values compared to the model with only one latent construct. Overall, the resulting two factors CFA model’s fit appears better, compared to the goodness of fit of the one-factor model (Table 6.3), indicating that a two factors reflective model represents experience food insecurity better than a single factor model (Grimaccia & Naccarato, 2020). Therefore, two possible latent constructs were found, which correspond to a “perceived food insecurity” construct and an “experienced hunger” construct. Confirmatory factor analysis suggested that the “two latent constructs” model is better than a single scale. Moreover, the first model considers eight items, while the second only six, therefore also according to the parsimony principle in the implementation of models, and for the reduction of statistical burden, in the development of a scale for the measure of food insecurity based on individual experiences, it would be better to reduce the number of questions to those that really have an impact on the latent construct. Finally, analyzing the values of the coefficients, considering the eight items as they would lead more to a measure of perceived food insecurity than to an actual experience of lack of food. In Fig. 6.3, the FIES measurement model, according to a reflective approach, is presented. In a reflective model, the measure can literally be said to “reflect” the latent variable and items should have high positive intercorrelations (Christophersen & Konradt, 2012).

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Fig. 6.3 FIES’s model of measurement: reflective approach

Fig. 6.4 FIES’s model of measurement: formative approach

Even if FIES’s internal consistency is quite high, and the measures of association among its items are not low too (Grimaccia et al. 2018), from the theoretical analysis of the content of the questions and because of the empirical results presented above, it is possible to identify (at least) two underlying latent constructs: one referring to personal evaluation, while the other considers actual events of lack of food (Fig. 6.4). The empirical analysis gives indications coherent with the theoretical considerations on a formative model: internal consistency and reliability assessed via Cronbach alpha are good, but factor loadings from common and confirmatory factor analysis indicate that items are not interchangeable. Therefore, a MIMIC model has been estimated (Ikanga et al., 2017, Coltman et al., 2008, Roberts and Thacher, 2009, Diamantopoulos & Siguaw, 2006). The estimation of MIMIC models according to the formative approach (Fig. 6.4) allows us to discuss if the nature of the FIES latent construct is formative rather than reflective. In the case of formative construct, nomological validity should be assessed empirically using a MIMIC model, and/or structural linkage with another criterion variable (Coltman et al., 2008). The extreme poverty factor presents a high level of association with the items and is significantly related to the latent construct (Grimaccia & Naccarato, 2020). Following these results, the variable is included in the MIMIC model. Since a high level of multicollinearity in a formative measure can be problematic, the item with the higher level of association with the other items was not considered in the analysis, thus excluding “ateless” from the estimation of the model. The results are presented in Table 6.3, where the coefficients based on the estimation of reflective and formative measurement model are presented.

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Table 6.4 Goodness of fit measures (RMSEA, CFI, TLI, AIC, BIC) Statistics Chi_2 RMSEA AIC BIC CFI TLI SRMR

One construct reflective model 149,340 0.193 605,083 605,252 0.822 0.815 0.263

Two constructs reflective model 204,656 0.303 633,662 633,780 0.620 0.620 0.416

One constructs formative model 68,073 0.152 600,712 600,930 0.903 0.864 0.048

Two constructs formative model 82,468 0.207 602,475 602,673 0.852 0.761 0.224

In Table 6.4, the most relevant measures of goodness of fit (GOF) are also presented (Wooldridge 2012, Schermelleh-Engel et al., 2003). The root mean squared error of approximation (RMSEA), the comparative fit index (CFI), the Tucker–Lewis index (TLI), Akaike’s information criterion (AIC), and the Bayesian information criterion (BIC). The measures indicate that the best choice for the model was the SEM with two factors with the interaction between the two latent constructs, because it presented lower values for RMSEA, AIC, and BIC and values higher than 0.95 for TLI and CFI (Brown, 2006; Cheung & Rensvold, 2002). All the coefficients present higher values than in the reflective approach, and the general goodness of fit is better than the other models. Although the initial estimation of the MIMIC model presented a good fit, a more complex model taking into account two different latent constructs was estimated. In this case, the “actual experienced” latent contract is finally well represented, and it presents a strong connection with the “extreme poverty” variable. However, the goodness of fit indices lead to a less representativeness of experience food insecurity. This is explained by the fact that a formative approach could represent different latent, such as worries, perceptions, personal evaluation, and actual lack of food, as estimated in the one-factor formative model.

Conclusions Food poverty can affect the quality of life of people across the world, also in rich and developed countries. Maternal malnutrition may lead to severely malnourished children, as well as malnutrition results in poorer quality of life of older people, hunger does not allow people to work and earn a decent income, in a terrible circle. Food insecurity can have negative consequences for mental and social well-being, even in the absence of measurable negative effects on nutritional status (Baraniuk, 2019; Trenouth et al., 2018; Coates et al., 2006). Overcoming hunger and food insecurity is at the basis of sustainable development (Harris, 2019; Hoddinott, 1999), and this is acknowledged by the United Nations which included this goal in the 2030 Agenda (UN, 2015).

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Experiential food insecurity measures offer insight into the determinants of food insecurity at the individual level, making it possible to show the characteristics and geographic concentration of the food insecure (Grimaccia & Naccarato, 2019; Nord, 2014). FIES represent a step forward in the collection of data on food insecurity comparable across the world and referred to individuals, allowing the analysis of personal and familial characteristics related to food insecurity also in with the aim of designing policies more focused. However, the theoretical and empirical statistical analysis of the scale allows to underline some drawbacks. First of all, analyzing the content of the items, theoretical considerations lead to identifying two latent constructs rather than a unique one, being the first part of the scale more related to perceptions and personal evaluations, while the second part considers actual lack of food. Moreover, the empirical analysis suggests that some items can be deleted without losing information, with the advantage of a more parsimonious model, with a lower probability of errors and with a lower burden on respondents. Finally, the study of FIES according to the reflective or formative approach allows to suggest a formative rather than a reflective model of measurement. The FIES provides useful individual data for the analysis of food insecurity across the world, offering a good quality tool for policies. Nevertheless, as it is, it appears more a measure of perceived food insecurity than of a measure of actually experienced hunger. This paper systematically compares procedures based on reflective measurement models with formative measures. The results obtained are based on a microeconometric analysis with comparable results, based on SEM model estimations aimed at identifying the most appropriate latent constructs for the phenomenon. In this way, we demonstrate that empirical analysis based on SEM models can be a useful help to researcher when the theoretically based distinction between formative and reflective measurement model is not straightforward.

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Schermelleh-Engel, K., Moosbrugger, H., & Müller, H. (2003). Evaluating the fit of structural equation models: Tests of significance and descriptive goodness-of-fit measures. Methods of Psychological Research Online, 8(2), 23–74. Sébastien, L., Bauler, T., & Lehtonen, M. (2014). Can indicators bridge the gap between science and policy? An exploration into the (non)use and (non)influence of indicators in EU and UK policy making. Berghahn Journals, 9(3), 1–24. Smith, M. D., Rabbitt, M. P., & Coleman-Jensen, A. (2017). Who are the world’s food insecure? New evidence from the food and agriculture Organization’s food insecurity experience scale. World Development, 93, 402–412. Suhr Diana, D. (2006). Exploratory or confirmatory factor analysis? Proceedings of the Annual SAS Users Group International Conference. SAS Institute. Thompson, B. (2004). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis: Understanding concepts and applications. American Psychological Association. Trenouth, L., Colbourn, T., Fenn, B., Pietzsch, S., Myatt, M., & Puett, C. (2018). The cost of preventing undernutrition: Cost, cost-efficiency and cost-effectiveness of three cash-based interventions on nutrition outcomes in Dadu, Pakistan. Health Policy and Planning, 33, 743–754. UN General Assembly. (2015). Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015 n. 70/1. Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. New York. Wambogo, E. A., Ghattas, H., Leonard, K. L., & Sahyoun, N. R. (2018). Validity of the food insecurity experience scale for use in sub-Saharan Africa and characteristics of food-insecure individuals. Current Developments in Nutrition, 2(9), nzy062. Weisburd, D., & Britt, C. (2014). Measures of Association for Nominal and Ordinal Variables. In Statistics in criminal justice. Springer. WFP. 2020. COVID-19: Potential impact on the world’s poorest people: A WFP analysis of the economic and food security implications of the pandemic. 3 April 2020. Whiston, S. C. (2008). Principles and applications of assessment in Counseling. Cengage Learning. Wilcox, J. B., Howell, R. D., & Breivik, E. (2008). Questions about formative measurement. Journal of Business Research, 61(12), 1219–1228. Wooldridge, J. M. (2012). Introductory econometrics: A modern approach (5th ed.). SouthWestern, Cengage Learning.

Elena Grimaccia Ph.D. is a Researcher at the Italian Institute of Statistics (Istat). She has gained international experience in multidimensional analysis of socio-economic issues. Her main research interests are food security, sustainable development and well-being, model-based composite indicators, and structural equation modelling.

Chapter 7

Agriculture and New Technologies: A Basic Challenge for the Twenty-First Century Adele Bianco

Abstract In modern society, the importance of agriculture is reduced in comparison to the past. In spite of it, agriculture is not of little importance in modern society. It is a key sector for economic development, particularly in less developed countries. Secondly, agriculture is linked to the environmental question as a climate change agent. Today technological development could be the way to develop agriculture and improve sustainability. The paper is structured as follows. The first paragraph reconstructs very shortly the relationship between technology and agriculture from the historical point of view. The second paragraph is devoted to today’s new technologies for agriculture, considering the problems in implementing them. The third paragraph reports which are the digital technologies most frequently used in agriculture and the measures that governments should implement to improve the sector. Keywords Agriculture · Technological Development · Sustainability

Introduction In modern society, the importance of agriculture is reduced in comparison to the past.1 For a long time in the industrial society, agriculture has been synonymous with backwardness and poverty, with the exception of the business managed by the agrofood industry.

The reduced importance of the primary sector compared to the importance acquired first by industry and then by the service sector is measured in terms of its incidence in contributing to GDP and to the number of employees employed in agriculture.

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A. Bianco (*) Sociologist University G. d’Annunzio” Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 C. Facioni et al. (eds.), Italian Studies on Food and Quality of Life, Social Indicators Research Series 85, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97806-8_7

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However, the reduced importance that agriculture has in modern society does not mean that it is of little importance. First, it is still a key sector for economic development, as the less developed countries have experienced. Secondly, the environmental question, which is a global issue, is linked to the role of agriculture. Agriculture is indeed a climate change agent, just looking at the impact of the intensive farming cultivation or also considering the unsustainable farming practices often carried out by local populations. It is not a surprise if the first goals among the sustainable development ones are in some way linked to agriculture. They stress the priority role of agriculture from the socio-economic as well as the historical and artistic-cultural (Pearson & Nasby, 2008) point of view. In advanced countries, young people, who face employment crisis and are at risk to be under- or unemployed, rediscover agriculture as a job opportunity.2 The “back to land” tendency in the West is undertaken by young professionals. They are appropriately skilled for the sector and therefore employ new technology support. Something similar should be promoted in developing countries, so that working in agriculture is no longer considered a makeshift. Investing in technological development could be the way to create new jobs in agriculture. Creating new jobs is a pivotal issue in the coming years and it concerns particularly young people. In fact, according to the ILO (2020, p. 36), “today, about 41 million young people are in the potential labour force.” This paper is structured as follows. The first paragraph reconstructs very shortly the relationship between technology and agriculture from the historical point of view. The second paragraph is devoted to today’s new technologies for agriculture, considering the problems in implementing them. The third paragraph reports which are the digital technologies most frequently used in agriculture and the measures that governments should implement to improve the sector.

Agriculture and Technology. A Long Relationship in History Looking at Tomorrow The relationship between agriculture and technology is as old as mankind. Farming has always been a hard work with a poor production, also because technological innovation to improve agricultural outcome has been usually very slow. The “agricultural revolutions” have marked two great caesuras from the historical point of view: the first agricultural revolution dates back to about 10,000 BC (Bellwood, 2004). The transition of human communities from nomadism to the first settlements dates back to that period. The more stable forms of living have 2

https://ec.europa.eu/info/food-farming-fisheries/key-policies / common-agricultural-policy / income-support / young-farmers_en

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meant an economy no longer based exclusively on hunting and fishing but also flanked by cultivation and breeding. In addition, some forms of craftsmanship functional to the activities that ensured the survival of human groups began to specialize. The first agricultural revolution can be defined as the first real revolution in the history of mankind. Its relevance was equaled only by the industrial revolution at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century when goods were manufactured using machinery. In the long time span between these two revolutions ─ the first agricultural revolution and the (first) industrial revolution ─ technological innovation in agriculture was not without significant innovations, but they took place very slowly. Compared to our modern and industrial standards, the quality and extent of technological innovation were not able in order to determine the take-off that occurred when the mechanization of agriculture took place in 1900–1930. After the Second World War, from the mid-1960s to mid-1980s, more resistant crop varieties have been implemented also thanks to agrochemicals. It is the period of so-called “The Green Revolution” (Altieri, 1995, chp. 4). The purpose was to solve the problem of lacking food that affected the less developed countries and particularly Asia. In order to increase agricultural production and to develop the agro-food industry, modern means such as biotechnologies and technical discoveries were promoted. And it was successful. But at the same time, as an unintended consequence, the increased crop production turned in a market price drop, and the income of small farmers fell. Moreover, biotechnology has created an artificial crop quality that disappointed populations, particularly in the Third World, so that the hunger problem was not overcome. Later, since the 1990s, genetic modifying technologies have been applied in agriculture (McHughen, 2000). Nowadays, also agriculture is witnessing the so-called “digital revolution” (Schwab, 2015). This means that even an ancient and tiring job like farming is experiencing a disruptive change as well as the other spheres of society. The introduction of digital technologies in agriculture could help particularly in the less developed countries to join the first sustainable development goal: “zero hunger” (FAO, 2017, p. 140). Despite the current production capacity worldwide being enough, there are still imbalances between advanced and developing countries in feeding people adequately (Nuscheler, 2016, pp. 319 ff.). In fact, according to the FAO, 815 million people in 2016 were still affected by poor nutrition. In less developed countries, 155 million children under the age of 5 suffer from growth problems due to insufficient nutrition, compared to 41 million of their peers in advanced countries. Many among young people in the advanced countries latter have the opposite problem, suffering from excessive weight. This is the reason why FAO (FAO et al., 2017) supports the food security campaign in order to provide to everyone the needed calories (Bennett & Jennings, 2013). Digital innovation in agriculture could also contribute to mitigating climate change (Farooq & Pisante, 2019) and to address a set of problems that affect

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contemporary global society such as the increasing population and the rising urbanization. Concerning the increasing world population, up to 11 billion people are expected by the end of the century, mostly concentrated in poor or developing countries. This requires increasing agricultural production.3 Concerning the rising urbanization rate, the UN estimates that in 2050 over two-thirds of the world population will live in cities4 and estimates that by 2030 more or less 43 cities in the world will exceed ten million inhabitants. These people should be guaranteed food supplies for the years to come. Other current problems are linked to water scarcity5 and to the quality of arable land (Bai et al., 2008; Venkatramanan et al., 2020) which have been reducing due to climate change and progressive desertification. Agricultural production, livestock farming, and our life are impossible without water. The demand for drinking water concerns about half of the world population and this can grow by 2050.6 Agriculture is also the productive sector with the highest water use, about 70% of available water resources, while industry only 20% and domestic needs 10% (WWAP, 2018, p. 11). This is the reason why water should be used appropriately and rationally, taking care both of the quantitative and the qualitative aspects (Mirumachi, 2015, pp. 136–146). Summing up, thanks to technological digital innovation, it is possible to promote sustainable production (Bianco, 2016), also in order to achieve the development goals that the UN has promoted between now and 2030.7 It means that agriculture becomes a cutting-edge sector and to improve the development and well-being in contemporary society (Trydeman Knudsen et al., 2006). It is also possible to implement cultivation production asked by consumers, tracing, perhaps also anticipating their requests and guaranteeing the quality of the products too. Technological innovation makes it possible to face the sustainability challenges posed by the global agri-food market and climate change (Sage, 2015, pp. 264–277), thanks to solutions such as artificial/lab-grown meat,8 with less environmental impact than traditional livestock farms, at the moment. Technological and digital innovation facilitates also better production planning, more suitable storage, more efficient distribution, and more measured consumption

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http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/wsfs/docs/Issues_papers/HLEF2050_Global_Agricul ture.pdf 4 https://www.un.org/development/desa/publications/graphic/world-urbanization-prospects-2018more-megacities-in-the-future; https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html 5 Although the planet’s surface is covered by 70% water, 97% of this is salt water, 2% is in the form of natural production and only 1% is potable water (Done, 2012, p. 92). 6 In supply and water consumption the less developed countries are disproportionally negatively affected in comparison to the advanced ones. 7 Regarding the fight against hunger (goal 2): https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/hunger/; relative to the ac availability clean here 8 https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/poll/would-you-eat-in-vitro-lab-meat-saveenvironment-poll

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of food, avoiding food waste and contributing to saving the necessary resources (soil, water energy) to produce it (Vogels et al., 2018). Last but not least, the digitalization process is a modernization challenge, particularly for those societies mostly characterized by traditional agricultural features in terms of both work organization and social order. However, as we are going to see in the next section, the spread of digital technologies is far from to be easy, especially in less developed countries.

New Technologies in today’s Agriculture: Problems and Perspectives The emerging technologies of today are slowly advancing also in agriculture. Palmer and Darabian (2017) point out that the digitalization of agriculture is very promising. The big agribusiness companies have been profitably active in this sector for years. They have access to the financial resources to invest in agritechnological solutions which are very expensive. But the small or micro-businesses should be focused on as the real drivers of sustainable agriculture. That means that social processes and conditions matter. This leads to overcoming the technocritical approach and shifting to the idea of sustainability as a “social construct” (Karami & Keshavarz, 2010). Therefore, we will draw the attention on small farmers, on the many problems they face in adopting digital technologies, particularly in the global South (European Parliament, 2015). ICTs offer farmers the opportunity to get information more easily about market trends, among them the predictability of prices (Aker, 2011; Asongu, 2015). Consequently, market distortions are reduced thanks to the information circulating on the web. According to Nsabimana and Amuakwa-Mensah (2018), the reduction in cocoa and coffee price is estimated at about 0.54% in Mexico and 0.32% in Brazil. This means that farmers could sell their products better, increase their incomes, and organize their activities with greater awareness and choose what to do. In India, for instance, farmers have diversified their production, thanks to better information got from the web (Mittal & Mehar, 2012). Furthermore, they can benefit from a set of services and updates about any opportunities, e.g., financing, concerning their activity and business (USAID, 2018). Referring to the problems challenging technological innovation, particularly in the less developed countries, there are both from the infrastructural and social side, in spite of the increasing number of people that every day use the internet. From an infrastructural point of view, the barriers to digital diffusion are due to the bad quality of electricity supply, the limited availability concerning facilities for ICTs, and the non-standardized data. The latter means that it makes difficult the connection and problems in using them. Another problem concerns the too much expensive connection (UN Broadband Commission, 2017). Other problems have not a technical but a legal nature, f.i., the lacking regulation concerning the ownership

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and the use of the data. These factors make the access to the web difficult and expensive, particularly in less developed countries. These problems affect particularly the rural regions. ICT companies, in fact, concentrate their business in urban contexts where the provisions are higher. Rural areas are infrastructurally less equipped and consequently less attractive to provide internet. Although it is estimated that around one billion people will start using mobile Internet in the next few years, still half of the world’s population is offline and great imbalances persist between advanced, developing, and less developed countries. From a social point of view, the difficulties in digital expansion are due to lacking digital skills among the population. This means that such people are at risk to be left behind, to face difficulties in accessing training in digital technologies, and consequently in achieving opportunities in life and on the labor market. It should be noted that there are several kinds of digital divides. The gender digital divide regards disadvantaging women in comparison to men. This also affects agriculture, because many times small farmers, particularly in the developing world, are women (Boserup, 1970). Since in rural areas, in the less developed countries, and among the old generation women suffer from a lack of digital skills and Internet connection, FAO calls this situation a triple digital divide: gender, rural, digital (http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/1197743/icode/). But today the gap between genders is becoming smaller. This is particularly among young people, in the cities and because of a medium-high education level. Therefore, despite the persisting, even if reducing, gender digital divide, young women are able to benefit from digital technologies (Mittal, 2016). So, they can access the labor market, better their economic position, enhance the social consideration of their role and activity within the family and the village. In a word, they improve their living standard, and it turns into an advantaging condition for the whole community (Bianco, 2019). The digital gap also divides generations. The elderly are less prepared than young people and perhaps less interested and motivated to acquire these skills. In this sense, Rhodes and Aue pointed out (Rhoades & Aue, 2010) that the digital divide is also a question of awareness of the importance of these media. According to the World Bank (2018), in South Africa, 35% of households do not consider relevant accessing the Internet, and it is because of their socio-economic conditions. The digital divide is also, as we have seen, a geographical gap between urban contexts and rural areas, where, as mentioned above, Internet connection experiences a lot of trouble. Finally, the digital divide affects several economic-productive sectors. Digital skills are usually requested and consequently widespread more frequently in manufacturing and services than in agriculture. As shown, in order to improve quality standard in development, it is crucial that the whole population is digitally skilled, even if at a basic level. The basic digital skills are not particularly sophisticated, and everybody learns them by self-taught, using daily our common devices.

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Because of the spontaneity of the phenomenon, the daily basic digital users could be considered the “digital capital” within a country and therefore the starting point for the diffusion of these technologies. Anyway, education makes possible the dissemination of basic digital skills and consequently the implementation of a modern and sustainable agriculture in the twenty-first century.9

Production and Services for Smart Agriculture Considering the digital technologies used in agriculture, I am going to distinguish the productive from the service sphere. Concerning the service sphere, digital technologies provide a set of services linked to the marketization of products, as well as a whole range of supporting activities both for producers and consumers. One of the major challenges the farmers have to face is that around 50% of the farm production is lost due to wastage and suboptimal prices. According to Pattnaik et al. (2020), the technological solutions particularly based on the Internet of Things (IoT) help farmers in cultivating and supplying high-quality production. The technological solutions enable farmers in reducing transport costs, improving information on the current market conditions, and reducing the distance between the farmer and the end consumer due to a number of middle steps and agents. Analogously to the smart factory,10 it is possible already to speak of a smart agriculture. The digital technologies used in agricultural production led to the so-called “Precision Agriculture” (PA) (Casa, 2017). Particularly the IoT-based monitoring system helps farmers to analyze crop environments more efficiently. Similarly, to what happens in manufacturing, smart solutions allow optimal farm management. The driving systems of agricultural machinery, f.i., tractors, combine harvesters, sprayers, seeders, work and in addition provide data on the status of crops. Also, drones are very useful.11 They collect a series of data in order to plan activities such as irrigation, fertilization, and harvesting of products. The interventions are

“Sustainability refers to the ability of an agroecosystem to maintain production through time, in the face of long-term ecological constraints and socioeconomic pressures,” Altieri, 1995, p. 58. 10 The smart factory is based on the Machine to Machine (M2M) connection that makes possible the data exchange. Data and several kinds of digital equipment or resource are much more frequently available in cloud. The next step is the interaction between humans and machines (IPA FraunhoferInstitut, 2015, p. 11). 11 “In 2014, drones helped farmers in China to cut use of pesticides by half, reduce water consumption by almost 90 percent, and reduce labor and material costs by 70 percent. Drones are faster than humans as they can apply pesticides up to about 132 acres of farmland each day in northern China, whereas one person is usually able to cover a maximum of 5 acres per day,” ivi, p. 108. 9

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implemented according to the needs of the land and crops. So, it is possible to manage the crops in a timely manner and to save money for labor and resources.12 Furthermore, the data can then be stored on the Cloud and shared by the farm with the stakeholders. Implementing sustainable solutions is also possible by applying nanotechnology (Thangadurai et al., 2020). Nanotechnology controls plant pathogens, helps in food packaging and preservation, increases agricultural productivity, and contributes to wastewater treatment and bioenergy production. As shown, the agritechnological market is expanding, but it requires a lot of financial resources.13 This is the reason why the most profitable use of technologies in the agribusiness sector is dominated by large corporations. They are key players in governing the agricultural commodity chains and the global agricultural trade regime (Clapp & Burnett, 2014, pp. 79–94). On the other side, countries that face difficulties and delays in using digital technologies are recording remarkable progress in spite of it, despite their limited potential. For small farmers, mobile phone services seem to be the best solution to improve agritechnological entrepreneurship. It is a facilitator in partnerships and contribute to the development and dissemination of marketing services. In this sense, the App plays a key role as a dynamic element of modernization of the agricultural sector.14 On the one hand, small farmers benefit from mobile phone services like the Apps because they are very easy to use, not very expensive, fast and secure in performing any kind of service such as payment or as fiscal and administrative duties. On the other hand, consumers can connect and get what they want, such as home delivery of products, or they can get information referred to food traceability and be guaranteed on the quality of products. Other channels may help the small farmers. Thanks to the network and social media farmers, even in the poorest countries, are able to share suggestions, experiences, best practices. Community networks help them to improve their production by exchanging information on activities and suggestions on how to manage it. These networks connect farmers who are often very distant from each other (Aker, 2011), in substitution of the traditional trade associations or cooperatives in the West. Smartphones, social networks, and apps can therefore represent the enabling technologies that the small farmers can benefit to achieve, particularly in developing and less developed countries, solutions for smart agriculture (Raj & Raman, 2017;

“The economic benefits of guiding systems in the UK were estimated for a 500 ha farm to be at least at 2.2 € / ha (Knight, Miller and Orson, 2009) [. . .] In Germany, economic benefits from savings of inputs were assessed at 27 € / ha for the case of winter wheat,” Trendov et al., 2019, p. 101. 13 “A drone costs at least US $ 1000. An Internet-enabled tractor costs around US $ 350,000,” ibidem, p. 31. 14 In fact, it is estimated that “Worldwide, in 2018, 115 percent more downloads were registered of the top five food-delivery apps compared with 2016,” ibidem, p. 65. 12

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Ringel et al., 2015).15 This sector—mobile telephony services linked to e-agriculture—is growing and it is estimated that in 2020 it would have touched 13 billion dollars (Huawei, 2015). To implement and develop this sector, the role of governments is crucial. Governments in fact are the only actor able to invest resources, to create infrastructure such as digital networks, and to develop a range of services in favor of the small farmers. In some cases, governments promote the ICTs diffusion.16 Among the e-farming services that governments provide are information on government websites. These are seed and fertilizer catalogs from their dealers. Other information concerns the possibilities of applying for loans and subsidies. Governments can also financially support rural communities as well as proceed in the field of regulation for agribusiness, ensuring certainties and shared standards, as well as developing networks and infrastructures, guaranteeing their efficiency and safety.

Concluding Remarks Summing up, innovation in digital agriculture harnesses the power of digital technologies to manage and develop the high potential of the agricultural and food sector in an innovative way. A quality agriculture based on technological innovations is to be considered a global public goods, has a strength and a weakness. The strength lies in the younger generations who are more educated than adults and able to handle digital devices naturally as digital natives. They provide the professional foundation for twenty-first-century agriculture. Young farmers are designing business plans, seeking funding, builds the new incubators farms, based start-up, and is inclined to use but also to develop and launch new digital solutions,17 they document, participate in scientific conferences. In this sense agriculture is becoming a more knowledge-intensive sector. The weakness of this smart agriculture that enhances rural communities both in the advanced and in the developing and less developed countries are the infrastructures, in particular those of communications and digital. They are still too weak and

15

Enabling technologies: Equipment that allows the user to achieve better performance and enhance their capabilities. 16 “The Department of Agriculture in the Indian state of Karnataka has made it mandatory for agricultural development officials to have a smartphone so they can share information, messages and circulars through WhatsApp,” Trendov et al., 2019, p. 67. 17 Just two examples. The Italian agricultural producers’ association Coldiretti (www.coldiretti.it) reports that in Italy, already in 2013, more than 12,000 agricultural start-ups were created by young men and women aged between 25 and 30 years (see Inea, 2014, www.inea.it). In Africa at the beginning of 2018, 82 agritech start-ups were registered, of which 52% started in the previous 2 years (Disrupt Africa, 2018).

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insufficient to withstand the data traffic that multiplies exponentially every year.18 In fact, despite the strength of numbers and the impetuous growth in the use of new technologies and the spread of digital, and although the Internet is a fundamental component, universal access to it is a problem to be solved. Not only smart agriculture, but the whole society in the twenty-first century will benefit from the overcoming of this obstacle, because it will be easier to solve the global problems we face from a sustainable, social, and economic point of view.

References Aker, J. (2011). Dial “a” for agriculture: Using ICTs for agricultural extension in developing countries. Agricultural Economics, 42(6), 31–47. Altieri, M. A. (1995). Agroecology, the science of sustainable agriculture. Taylor & Francis. Asongu, S. (2015). The impact of mobile phone penetration on African inequality. International Journal of Social Economics, 42(8), 706–716. Bai, Z. G. et al. (2008). Global assessment of land degradation and improvement, Identification by remote sensing. Report 2008/01, ISRIC—World Soil Information, Wageningen: WUR. Bellwood, P. (2004). First farmers: The origins of agricultural societies. Blackwell. Bennett, D. J., & Jennings, R. C. (Eds.). (2013). Successful agricultural innovation in emerging economies: New genetic technologies for global food production. Cambridge University Press. Bianco, A. (2016). Green Jobs and policy Measures for a Sustainable Agriculture, “Agriculture and Agricultural Science Procedia”, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aaspro.2016.02.030. http:// authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S2210784316300304 Bianco, A. (2019). The emergence of the middle class and improving QOL in the global south. In A. Bianco, P. Conigliaro, & M. Gnaldi (Eds.), Italian studies on quality of life (pp. 387–401). Springer International Publishing, 978-3-030-06021-3. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-03006022-0 Boserup, E. (1970). Woman’s role in economic development. George Allen & Unwin. Casa, R. (2017). Agricoltura di precisione. Metodi e tecnologie per migliorare l’efficienza e la sostenibilità dei sistemi colturali. Edagricole-New Business Media. Clapp, J., & Burnett, K. (2014). Governing trade in global food and agriculture. In M. Moschella & C. Weaver (Eds.), Handbook of global economic governance: Players, power, and paradigms. Routledge. Disrupt Africa. (2018). African tech startups funding report, https://disrupt-africa.com/fundingreport/ Done, A. (2012). Global trends. Facing up to a changing world. Palgrave Macmillan. European Parliament. (2015). ICT in the developing world. Brussels: European Parliamentary Research Service, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2015/563482/ EPRS_STU(2015)563482_EN.pdf FAO, et al. (2017). The state of food security and nutrition in the world 2017. Building resilience for peace and food security. FAO. http://www.fao.org/3/a-I7695e.pdf Farooq, M., & Pisante, M. (Eds.). (2019). Innovations in sustainable agriculture. Springer. Huawei. (2015). The connected farm: A smart agriculture market assessment. Huawei. ILO. (2020). Global Employment Trends for Youth 2020: Technology and the future of jobs International, Geneva, https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/%2D%2D-dgreports/%2D %2D-dcomm/%2D%2D-publ/documents/publication/wcms_737648.pdf

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INEA. (2014). Nuova imprenditoria per l’agricoltura italiana. Caratteri, dinamiche e strutture aziendali, www.inea.it. IPA (Fraunhofer Institut für Produktionstechnik und Automatisierung). (2015). Industrie 4.0— Chancen und Perspektiven für Unternehmen der Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar, Stuttgart, https://www.pfalz.ihk24.de/blob/luihk24/innovation_und_umwelt_und_energie/downloads_ channel/2962316/f9c0f019d072a7c5581140ae4f166dc0/Studie-Industrie-4-0-MetropolregionRhein-Neckar-data.pdf Karami, E., & Keshavarz, M. (2010). Sociology of sustainable Agricolture, Lichtfouse, E. (ed), Sociology, Organic Farming, Climate Change and Soil Science, “Sustainable Agriculture Reviews”, 3, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3333-8_2. McHughen, A. (2000). Pandora’s picnic basket: The potential and hazards of genetically modified foods. Oxford University Press. Mirumachi, N. (2015). Water and sustainable development. In M. Redclift & D. Springett (Eds.), Routledge international handbook of sustainable development (pp. 136–146). Routledge. Mittal, S. (2016). Role of mobile phone enabled climate information services in gender-inclusive agriculture. Gender, Technology and Development, 20(2), 200–217. Mittal, S., & Mehar, M. (2012). How mobile phones contribute to growth of small farmers? Evidence from India. Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, 51(3), 227–244. Nsabimana, A., & Amuakwa-Mensah, F. (2018). Does mobile phone technology reduce agricultural price distortions? Evidence from cocoa and coffee industries. Agricultural and Food Economics, 6(20), 1. Nuscheler, F. (2016). Weltprobleme. In R. Stockmann, U. Menzel, & F. Nuscheler (Eds.), Entwicklungspolitik. Theorien Problemen Strategien (pp. 207–421). De Gruyter, Oldenburg. Palmer, T., & Darabian, N. (2017). Creating scalable, engaging mobile solutions for agriculture. A study of six content services in the nutrition initiative portfolio. GSMA. Pattnaik, P. K., Kumar, R., Pal, S., & Panda, S. N. (Eds.). (2020). Internet of things and analytics for agriculture (Vol. 2). Springer. Pearson, C., & Nasby, J. (2008). The cultivated landscape. An exploration of art and agriculture. McGill-Queen’s University Press. Raj, P., & Raman, A. C. (2017). The internet of things: Enabling technologies, platforms, and use cases. Taylor & Francis. Rhoades, E., & Aue, K. (2010). Social agriculture: Adoption of social media by agricultural editors and broadcasters. Human and community resource development. Ohio State University, Columbus. Ringel, M., et al. (2015). Enabling Technologies. Enabling Innovation, bcg. perspectives, http:// img-stg.bcg.com/BCG-Enabling-Technology-Enabled-Innovation-Dec-2015_tcm9-88787.pdf Sage, C. (2015). Food and sustainable development: How should we feed the world? In M. Redclift & D. Springett (Eds.), Routledge international handbook of sustainable development (pp. 264–277). Routledge. Schwab, K. (2015). The fourth industrial revolution. World Economic Forum. Thangadurai, D., Sangeetha, J., & Prasad, R. (2020). Nanotechnology for food, agriculture, and environment. Springer International. Trendov, N. M., Varas, S., & Zeng, M. (2019). Digital technologies in agriculture and rural areas—Status report. Rome. Licence: cc by-nc-sa 3.0 igo. http://www.fao.org/3/ca4985en/ca4 985en.pdf Trydeman Knudsen, M., et al. (2006). Global trends in agriculture and food systems, https://www. researchgate.net/publication/255625132 USAID. (2018). Digital farmer profile: Reimagining Smallholder Agriculture, USAID, Washington D.C., https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/15396/Data_Driven_ Agriculture_Farmer_Profile.pdf.

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Venkatramanan, V., et al. (2020). Global climate change and environmental policy: Agriculture perspectives. Springer. Vogels, J., Van der Haar, S., Zeinstra, G., & Bos-Brouwers, H. (2018). ICT tools for food management and waste prevention at the consumer level. REFRESH Deliverable, 1, 5. https:// eu-refresh.org/sites/default/files/WP1.5%20report%20FINAL.pdf World Bank. (2018). Overcoming poverty and inequality in South Africa: An Assessment of drivers, constraints and opportunities. Washington DC: http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/ 530481521735906534/pdf/124521-REV-OUO-South-Africa-Poverty-and-Inequality-Assess ment-Report-2018-FINAL-WEB.pdf WWAP (United Nations World Water Assessment Program)/UN-Water. (2018). The United Nations world water development report 2018: Nature-based solutions for water. UNESCO. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0026/002614/261424e.pdf

Adele Bianco is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Chieti-Pescara and Ph.D. in Sociology of Development (University of Pisa, 1994). She is a member of the Italian Association for Quality-of-Life Studies (hereinafter AIQUAV). Her research interests are globalization, technological changes, and labour market analysis, German sociological theories (Simmel and Elias).

Chapter 8

Food and Communities: Perspectives of Sharing Society Gabriele Di Francesco

“The human being has its roots in the concrete, active and natural participation in the existence of a community that keeps alive certain treasures of the past and certain presentiments of the future”. Simone Weil, 1954.

Abstract The work explores the role of food as a fundamental tool to create social identity and to change society itself too. Nutrition is a fundamental process for existence, not only because it would be impossible to survive without eating, but also because this need is linked to particular moods, to the sense of taste, and to the very consciousness of living. Food is linked to living together, to working together. It acquires strong symbolic and social values because food, meals, habits, and eating styles are essentially social facts. The work will explore how, in history, food can be analyzed as an organic cultural whole. Foods are therefore at the basis of the construction of social groups in terms in which all foods become identity messages. The new emerging criticalities show how food is part of both the problem and the possible resolution. Keywords Food · Sharing society

Food and Communities Nutrition is a fundamental process for existence, not only because it would be impossible to survive without eating, but also because this need is linked to particular moods, to the sense of taste, and to the very consciousness of living. When we eat, we feel a certain indefinable and particular sense of well-being that probably derives from the instinctive awareness that by eating we make up for our losses and extend our lives (Brillat-Savarin, 1825). G. Di Francesco (*) Department of Business Administration, “G. d’Annunzio” University, Chieti-Pescara, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 C. Facioni et al. (eds.), Italian Studies on Food and Quality of Life, Social Indicators Research Series 85, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97806-8_8

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Food is also linked to living together, and to the sharing of hunting or harvesting activities, to working together. It acquires strong symbolic and social values because food, meals, habits, and eating styles are essentially social facts. Food must be “considered as an organic cultural whole, in which food has great importance for establishing and strengthening the bonds of solidarity within a community” (Baraldi, 2002: 303). The moments of sharing represented by consuming food together are the basis of socialization processes and create close interpersonal bonds. They build rituals with fundamental sacred values. The rituals of food preparation, their reiteration and their passing on over time, as well as the building of traditions and normative values, create a sort of opinio juris seu necessitatis, i.e., the awareness that to prepare or cook a food it is necessary and substantially correct to operate only in a certain way, or in any case with few variations. When carried out in moments of collective aggregation, these rituals ultimately serve as the glue for that “desire for community” (Bauman, 2000), also expressed as an instance of comparison of one’s individual identity aimed at building social and community identity. And this is regardless of what you eat or its species or the lack or abundance of resources (economic or natural) to be allocated to food. On the basis of these qualitative and quantitative differentiations, social hierarchies have often been constructed or identified, roles have been distinguished, class and caste differentiations have been realized. Food products are identified as real individual and collective status symbols, eventually becoming stereotypes of a region, or an ethnic group, a nation, an entire people. On the other hand, the quantity and quality of food available have always affected living organisms (not only humans and animals) in a more or less marked way, their prosperity, and their expansion, also in terms of numerical increase, or their regression, sometimes with adaptation to extreme conditions of survival, sometimes at the cost of one’s own life, with the extinction of the species (Di Francesco, 2015). Hunger has provoked and caused dramatic social effects; it produces phenomena of great importance on a planetary level. The starvation refugees have produced and are producing epochal migrations and crowd the borders of the States, looking for answers that most of the time do not come. In countries with advanced economies, these images counterbalance these images on the one hand by an equally penalized and marginal humanity that spends its time and life picking up food from garbage cans; on the other hand, the increase in obese people, as an effect of an unbalanced and incorrect diet, in which quantity prevails over quality and healthiness. In this regard, it can be observed that the conditioning of income is very stringent. The food gap and inequalities in access to food resources highlight social distances and differences in class and income. With the Grocery Gap, a document published in the United States in 2010, through the collation of 132 national surveys “it is shown that low-income communities and those of color (. . .), as well as those in rural areas, lack fresh food in their neighborhoods, with the obvious consequences of increased exposure to the contraction of chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Unequal access to healthy food is a major cause of health inequalities; data from the Center for Disease Control

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and Prevention in fact attest to a percentage of obesity among Latinos that is 21% higher than among whites, a percentage that even reaches the 51% differential for African Americans” (Esposito, 2013: 232–233). In the light of these evidences, it is possible to affirm that there is therefore a very close connection between food and quality of life; relationship conditioned by different factors, mainly of an environmental and economic nature, but also of a social and cultural nature. A very particular variable this of the quality of life in relation to food, which therefore seems to be characterized almost exclusively in terms of health. Foods are therefore at the basis of the construction of social groups in terms in which all foods become identity messages. The ability of gastronomic culture to create and innovate also seems to be attributable to the presence of contradictions and inconsistencies in cultural systems. Differences between groups, the presence of intellectual elites and minority and/or marginal groups within a society, the emergence of new movements that can arise precisely to contrast and replace a doctrine or ethics deemed ambiguous and inconsistent can in fact to propose, re-propose, and modify values and symbols on the basis of the evolution of social life. This implies, as for any cultural phenomenon, also the continuous evolution of gastronomic phenomena. Finally, it is always from popular culture, from the culture of social groups, and from their meeting that communities arise, the ensembles that build social life.

Some Models of Sharing Communities Food is therefore not only a response to vital needs. It takes on the specific contours of an urgent request for certainties and reassurance, for reciprocity, in the precariousness of contemporary social relations. These pushes to the sharing society arise as an “innovative” response to some basic social needs that are perceived as urgent. Indeed, the idea of jointly solving the needs of daily life, both personal and as a social group, is by no means new. Indeed, it is possible to trace in the course of history, ancient and recent, many examples and many forms of collective life, sometimes concretely realized, sometimes only theorized, but always considered excellent and “new” to solve subjective, family, community, and economic needs., both psycho-social and values. And it is to old and traditional forms of community and neighborhood life that in general the creators and supporters of the sharing society have made and refer, so much so that they affirm with reference to cohousing: “In many respects, cohousing communities are not a new idea. In the past, most people lived in villages or tightly knit urban neighborhoods. Even today, people in less-industrialized regions are typically living in small communities. Members of such communities know one another’s families and histories, talents, and weaknesses. Traditional community relationships demand accountability, but in return provide security and a sense of

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belonging. Cohousing aims to provide the small household of today with a community designed to foster such values” (Hertzman, 1995). In a sharing society context, therefore, the fundamental objective is to favor the individual a good quality of life, both individual and group, and a general psychophysical and social well-being through the rediscovery of “ancient lost values” and the enhancement of life in common, where individual well-being is linked to an excellent group life, to the shared use of homes, services, food, and the sharing of socio-vital spaces. The cardinal principle is, in fact, living in community in order to develop one’s own sense of belonging to the place through interaction and cooperation with the other (Di Francesco, 2019). The principles and the solutions proposed seem, however, rather idealized and make one think on the one hand of those forms of communal utopias conceived and advocated by philosophers and social reformers, since the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries (Thomas More, Campanella, Bacon) which laid the foundations of those models of “ideal cities” then designed by the Renaissance urban planners, on the other to the utopian socialists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (Owen, Saint Simon, Fourier), who advocated the realization of harmony and therefore of universal happiness by dictating precise requirements for realizing them. As an example, we cite the theories of Robert Owen who propagated the creation of small communities composed of a maximum of 1200 inhabitants to be planted in the countryside as a solution to economic problems and problematic livelihoods in the industrial city. Industrial colonies located in the countryside had however already been established at the end of the 1600s, equipped with collective and welfare buildings and surrounded by plots of land cultivated in common (Benevolo, 1966, p. 242 ff.). Fourier for his part imagined models of social urbanism to be realized in the passage of seven stages that represented the epochs of transition toward the ultimate stage of harmony. Placed the humanity of his time between the fourth stage of barbarism and the fifth of civilization, he prefigured the achievement of the sixth stage of guarantorism and the seventh of universal harmony in which anarchy and disorder will leave room for a precise and regulated order. Which would find expression in the social and constructive model called Falansterio. The phalanges, communities made up of 1620 inhabitants each, would have found accommodation in it, who would have resided precisely in the phalanstères and who on the basis of the passionate, emotional, and affective characteristics of man, would finally have achieved the Great Domestic Harmony (Fourier. 1822, p. 184 and Benevolo, 1974, p. 104). “The lodgings, plantations, and stables of a society that operates in series of groups,” says Fourier, “must differ prodigiously from our villages or suburbs occupied by families who have no corporate relationship and act in contradictory ways; in place of this chaos of houses, which rival each other in dirt and differences in our villages, a Falange builds a regular building as far as the terrain allows. (. . .) The Falansterio must contain, in addition to the individual apartments, many public

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relations rooms, which will be called ‘Seristeri’, or places of meeting and carrying out the passionate series” (Benevolo, 1974, pp. 85–86). The Fourierian model of association—writes Laura Tundo Ferente in the introduction to the Le nouveau monde industriel et sociétaire (Tundo, 2005: 22–23) Italian edition—has its pivot in the work of all as a condition for belonging to the community. Each one works by freely aggregating into groups and graded series of groups that are spontaneously constituted on the basis of identical or similar aptitudes and corresponding work functions (Fourier, 1848 p. 22). In a similar context, the old wage system of workers’ remuneration could not make sense, in its place a system of dividends proportional to the three components of the new organization of production is applied: labor, capital, talent (Ibidem, p. 23). Nevertheless, it is another utopian, Jean Baptiste Godin (1817–1889), who perhaps comes closest to the current forms of the sharing society, through the theorization and creation of the family. Godin was the son of a blacksmith and patented the use of cast iron for stoves. In 1837 he founded a company for their production in Guise, France. This is the starting point for his social project, an experience that must be considered the happiest experiment among those who were attempted in the nineteenth century by the theorists of socialism (Benevolo, 1974). For the production needs but without forgetting the instances of social happiness and harmony on which his thinking was based, he gathered together the workers, who participated in a cooperative form in the management of the company and in corporate profits, placing them in the family house where he himself lived until his death. However, fundamental aspects of the Fourierist concepts remain, such as the very advanced social assistance (pension fund, workers’ sickness fund, medicine fund, workers’ insurance) and the pedagogical approach, which transfers the education of children from the family to the community. In the theorized building and social constructions, in many ways, it seems possible to read some basic concepts that were then at the basis of Le Corbusier’s unitè d’habitation. Moreover, utopian creation is recurrent in the history of civilizations and is manifested essentially in periods of decline and transition, or when profound changes in the social structure appear more and more necessary (Mumford, 2002). Faced with phenomena of profound social discomfort that also characterize our age, such as job insecurity, the dissolution of the traditional family, the growth in the number of mononuclear families, or those ones formed by a single parent and one or two children, the sharing society seems to be an extremely interesting answer, although in many respects a little too idealized and perhaps even utopian in some ways.

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The Community and the Neighborhood Interesting, from a historical-sociological perspective, is the analysis made by Max Weber (1922) regarding the original or domestic communities, founded precisely on the family. Weber observes how in the original social formations, identified with lasting sexual communities, the fundamental relationships are economic of sustenance, that is, linked to the common domestic economy and in particular to the procurement of food. The relationships that are established in the family group produce a community action as they become the basis of a specifically economic group: the domestic community. The home community does not represent something absolutely primitive. It does not presuppose a “house” in today’s sense, but a certain degree of systematic income from the fruits of the earth. Under the conditions of a search for nourishment, based on the simple occupation of the land, it does not seem to have existed. Even on the basis of a technically well-developed agriculture, the domestic community often has such a structure that it can appear as a secondary formation, compared to a previous situation, in which the greatest power was held by the social formations of the parental and neighborhood group. It also confers greater independence to the individual vis-à-vis the set of parents, children, grandchildren, siblings. For this reason, the domestic community represents the universally most widespread economic community. The principle of domestic communism, for which the individual contributes according to his strength and enjoys according to his needs (within the sphere of available goods), still survives today as an essential characteristic of the family community, in particular for the sharing of goods for sustenance. The domestic group covers the regular needs for goods and work of daily life. On special occasions, of acute need or danger, it is the action of the community that pursues the obtaining of important parts of the extraordinary need for services in an agrarian economy. Community action extends beyond the single domestic community, that is, through the help of the “neighborhood.” Moreover, according to Weberian analysis, in the context of the country’s economy, the village—that is a group of households settled in close proximity to each other—constitutes the typical neighborhood group. The neighborhood practically involves, especially in situations of underdevelopment, a dependence on each other in need: the neighbor is the typical aid provider. The neighborhood is the bearer of “brotherhood” in a sense stripped of any sentimentality, but mainly ethical-economic. In cases of insufficient means of one’s home community, mutual aid services arise within the neighborhood, through the free loan of consumer goods and the interest-free loan of consumer goods. Work also enters into this reciprocity, through precarious work free of charge, that is, emergency aid in the form of work in cases of particularly pressing need. And this is a product of the original fundamental principle of the unsentimental popular ethics of the whole world: like you do to me, so I do to you (what is suggestively evident from the

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Roman name mutuum for interest-free loan). In fact, everyone can find themselves in the situation of needing the help of others (Weber, 1922). In this logic, even precarious work—which excludes the rational principle of the market and price formation, but which is so important in practice—is spontaneously offered both to those who are economically needy and to those who are economically prominent and more powerful. In the latter regard, the reference is to aid for the harvest, which the owner of large tracts of land needs the most. In exchange for this, we expect a representation of common interests against the threat of other powerful people, or the possibility of having a free loan of superfluous land (precarious loan), or even a relief of its reserves in the event of famine. In a system of mutual sustenance economy, whoever has more power grants other charitable benefits from him since he too finds himself in the situation of having to depend on the goodwill of his environment.

The Sharing of Food Resources and the Monti Frumentari Weber’s considerations about the sense of domestic communities were reflected in a still rural society that was evolving in an industrial sense, modifying cultivation practices and techniques as well as ancient traditions. The connection of communities with food resources had however always been very close and felt since ancient times also to respond to the needs of populations exhausted by famine, wars, and extreme poverty. One of the most interesting historical examples in the Italian panorama is that offered by the wheat pawn shop, established at the end of the fifteenth century. Their institution responded to the requests for solidarity expressed above all by some religious orders. The impulse of the Franciscans in this regard had really been very impactful in a historical context in which the scarcity of crops and the need to meet basic needs pushed people to usurious loans. Highly educated and religious such as San Bernardino da Siena (1380–1444), San Giacomo della Marca (1393–1476), or the beato Bernardino da Feltre (1439–1494) delivered fiery sermons against usury and contracts that strangled the contractors and reduced most of the population in poverty. One of the founding values on which their thought and their action was based can be summarized in the principle according to which the property does not “belong to man,” but that “it is for man,” that is, that men and communities owe it to serve as a tool for achieving improvement in society as a whole. An instrument that came from God and that man had to deserve, apply, and make fruitful as a wise administrator. With this premise, some friars, including Bernardino da Feltre and Friar Michele Carcano, founded the first Monte di Pietà (i.e., pawnshop) in Perugia on February 23, 1462, at the end of a cycle of homilies against the practice of loaning money for usury at the base of which there is it was the terrible vice of avidity and greed.

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(hiips://www.treccani.it/encyclopedia/bernardino-da-feltre-beato_%28Encyclo pedia-Italiana%29/). “The purpose of the financial institution was to provide limited time loans, usually one year, non-profit to people in difficulty by providing them with the necessary liquidity. The beneficiaries provided assets of value as collateral for the loan that were repaid when they paid off the debt. For this characteristic the populations of the cities where many people lived on pure subsistence turned to the Monti di Pietà (pawnshops).” (hiips://www.bellunesinelmondo.it/beato-bernardino-da-feltre-fondatore-delmonte-di-pieta/) In this perspective, at the end of the fifteenth century, the aforementioned Monti Frumentari (i.e., wheat pawnshops), also called Monti granatici (i.e., grainy pawns) or Relief pawnshops, were established at the end of the fifteenth century for the purpose of distributing to poor peasants, with the obligation of restitution, the wheat and barley of which they had a need for planting. The Monti Frumentari had a notable diffusion during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They turned to those who lived in conditions of pure subsistence when, out of need, they were forced to eat even what was to be reserved for sowing or were forced to turn to usurers. Sometimes the poor settlers of the municipality were reserved some rustic funds whose income was to be used for seeds.1 Among the oldest are the Monti Frumentari of the Umbrian cities of Rieti and Foligno, erected in 1488. The following year the one in the Abruzzo city of Sulmona was founded (SIUSA, online at hiips://siusa.archivi.beniculturali.it/). The Monti Frumentari spread rapidly in the central regions of the Papal State and in the Kingdom of Naples, where in 1767 an edict made the establishment of a mountain in each municipality mandatory. The importance of the contribution of promotion and management by ecclesiastical institutions is testified by both the work of Cardinal Orsini, archbishop of Benevento. Having become Pope with the name of Benedict XIII, he ordered all the bishops of central-southern Italy to support in every way the opening of new Monti Frumentari, establishing the following purposes: 1) administration of food to poor farmers; 2) obligation of restitution, in the days of the harvest, with a 5% increase on the foodstuffs lent; 3) annual appointment by the parish priest of one or

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Their function was to constitute a support to the agricultural cycle. To this end, for their functioning the peasants participated with free workdays during the sowing and harvesting and the result was preserved as seeds to be distributed to the farmers who did not have them. When there were large surpluses in the warehouses, a part was sold, and the money thus obtained was used for the creation of pawnshops in order to lend to farmers the sums for the expenses of the harvest at a rate of 5%. Ghinato, I primitivi Monti frumentari di fra Andrea da Faenza in Antonianum. Periodicum philosophico-theologicum, 33 (1958:423–442); 34 (Ghinato, 1959: 32–72). For the loan of cereals, the interest was calculated according to the tradition of measuring the grain “at level” of the unit of measurement at the time of sowing and returning it “full” at the time of harvest.

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more administrators obliged, at the end of the financial year, to report on the management in the hands of the episcopal authority. But the lack of guarantees, however impossible to expect given the poor economic conditions in which the beneficiaries found themselves, soon put the functioning of some Monti Frumentari in difficulty in the not infrequent cases of insolvency (even of mass) in the climatically unfavorable seasons.2 Transformed into coffers for agrarian forced loans, in 1922 the surviving Monti Frumentari were removed from the legislative discipline of the assistance and charitable institutions. Transformed into municipal agricultural credit funds, they were later absorbed by the agricultural credit sections of public credit institutions (Novissimo digesto italiano, 1964, ad vocem Monte di Soccorso, pp. 889–890; Garrani, 1966; Di Zio, 2005 online at hiips://siusa.archivi.beniculturali.it/). Both the frumentary and pecuniary pawnshops operated in rural areas and in this they were complementary to the pawnshops, established in the cities at the end of the fifteenth century always by the Franciscans. These institutions, providing their loans on a case-by-case basis according to actual needs (like the current microcredit), can be seen as the first lenders of consumer credit or even as the banks of the poor ante litteram (Sensi, 1972).

Solidarity Communities and Sharing Society The examples given so far show how the relationship between food and communities is central to individual and collective life at any time. The need for security and the need to defend oneself from unforeseen events made and make it indispensable for mutual help from people experiencing the same problems. Hence, also the birth of mutual aid societies, of realities that have spanned centuries and generations, and which even today can represent a response to the new needs of sustainable wellbeing. The phenomenon of voluntary mutuality was born and developed with the transition from the rural economy, essentially closed in self-consumption systems, to the opening of the market economy to the outside. Originating first in England as a result of the industrial revolution as a response to the social crises induced by changes in living conditions, the first Mutual Aid Societies (or Friendly Societies) affirmed the principle of solidarity through worker brotherhood, that is, mutual aid, of those who lived in the same difficult situation of poverty and marginalization. In the first half of the century. XIX the Monti Frumentari were subjected to a vast work of revision and reconstitution: they were assimilated to “establishments of humanity,” or pious works, and regulated in the procedures of conservation, loan, and return of the grains. At the time of the unification of Italy there were over 1900 Monti Frumentari in the Opere Pie (i.e., Pious Institutions or Public Institutions of Assistance and Charity), with a massive concentration in Abruzzo and Molise, Umbria, Campania. The Italian legislation considered the Monti Frumentari to be real Opere Pie, albeit with fluctuating interpretations by the Council of State, and subjected them to the control of the Ministry of the Interior.

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Unequivocal symbol of this principle was the hands that clasped in a tangle of clear reciprocity. More widespread among the working classes of the cities, they did not fail to spread also in the rural world, among peasant families also due to the push of the socialist and egalitarian ideas they advocated. They responded to a “felt need for solidarity, added to the spread of new ideologies, which supported the emancipation of the working class and rejected the charity run by the Church and the noble classes” (Maggi, 2012: 12). From these ideals, the consumer and credit cooperatives, the workers’ unions and the associative forms of social solidarity were later born. There were numerous adhesions to these forms of mutualism between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century. In Italy, in the survey by the Ministry of Agriculture carried out in 1862, 443 mutual aid societies were registered. The subsequent investigation, in 1873, pointed out how these forms of association had more than tripled in the course of eleven years: they had in fact become 1447. Their aims were the assistance to the disabled and the elderly with life pensions, assistance to widows and orphans, training in the evening or festive schools of members and their children, the deposit of funds for the formation of annuities, the administration of food and other basic necessities to members, at cost price, supply raw materials and assist passing members. In the list, it is possible to see how embryonic examples of cooperation for credit and consumption were found in a nutshell, which may well represent forms of transition toward the sharing economy and a more advanced and mature sharing society. The sharing economy, also known as the collaborative economy, is based on partnership and exchange of services, resources, goods, time, knowledge, and skills. It aims to reduce costs and disintermediation. It is a new market modality in which the relationships between the actors take place horizontally and are based on trust and reputation mechanisms. In terms of the market, new technologies and the Internet facilitate transactions that take place on the traditional market, offering consumers advantages in terms of price and access to goods and services. Many examples of food delivery in the sharing economy have the same business model as that of shared economy companies such as Uber, Airbnb, or CanYa. Readily available resources are used for food and shoppers shop at existing grocery stores. The collaborative economy, or shared economy, is also a way of distributing goods and services that differs from the traditional economic market model. In the sharing economy, individuals act in a collaborative collective action and rent or “share” movable and immovable property such as their car, home, and personal time with others in a peer-to-peer manner (Ertz et al., 2019; Hamari et al., 2016). By collaborative collective action, we must also mean the set of formal and informal practices and interactions that take place between individuals, collectives, or associations that share a sense of belonging or common interests, who collaborate

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and are in conflict with others and have the intent to produce or prevent social change through the mobilization of certain social sectors (Tejerina, 2010). The economic models of shared economy entrepreneurship can however be traced back to two types: a) commercial business models in which a company provides a mobile app that suppliers and customers use to buy and sell goods or services; b) non-profit initiatives, generally based on the concept of loans, free collaboration, personal and group availability. The first commercial business model, within the so-called New Food Economy— a phenomenon characterized by the awareness of how and what we eat—actually seems to be more of a marketing strategy. Collaborative consumption, on the other hand, is expressed more concretely in the participatory element and in the horizontal dimension of the exchange (Felson & Spaeth, 1978; Kostakis & Bawens, 2014; UE Commission, 2016). The collaborative aspect represents a constant in the history of human development (Rinne et al., 2013), even if parallel to market relations. In this context, the issue of access to food is absolutely central. “In fact, food represents a crucial issue for the future economic, environmental, social and geo-political development of the world. Therefore, the need to develop alternative economic-social models in a participatory and collaborative manner is proposed here as a ‘sub-political’ instance of civil society: an individual and collective need induced by the growing structural risks of modern globalized societies” affirm Paltrinieri and Spillare (2017), quoting the German sociologist Ulrich Beck (1996, 2005). In a globalized society and of “impossible certainties,” the ability to create trusting relationships between people is becoming increasingly important. Moreover, it is an “active trust” (Beck, 2005) founded on local networks linked by reciprocity and collaboration ties for the management of common goods (Paltrinieri & Spillare, 2017). These are “alternative networks,” known as Solidarity Purchase Groups in Italy, or as Community Supported Agriculture in the United States of America, or even as various forms of farmers’ markets. In these experiences, we can trace an ancient attitude of agriculture, always characterized by a strong identity bond with the family and the rural community, expressed by practices of solidarity and mutual help. The phenomenon of the food-sharing society is portrayed from time to time as one of the last utopias with a food and health characterization (See Goodman, 2003; Winter, 2003). Generally, reference is made to a rather broad semantic universe in which numerous active realities appear from collective mutual and participatory action, to forms of cooperative organizations of a social type (social farms), up to activities related to recycling and food reuse. This also includes political actions aimed at raising public awareness of global phenomena such as land grabbing, land grabbing by multinational companies. These companies actually operate without considering the needs of the inhabitants and their need not to lose control and access

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power over the land ceded and over the natural resources connected to land and soils, such as, for example, water.3 In essence, it is a question of a wide range of situations connected with rural (but also urban) territories and local development. The panorama of these realities is fascinating and complex, uniting the subjective (sometimes even vindictive) demands to the social group dynamics of ideal and practical sharing.

The Auzolan Model and Agro-Ecology An example of a sharing society can usefully be represented by the Auzolan method widespread in the Bilbao area and in the Basque Country. “Here in the Basque Country, the sense of community is very strong. Let’s say we do things in the Auzolan way, which in the Basque language stands for neighborhood or neighborhood performance (Auzo—lan). The term does not have an exact translation, but it means that everyone who can help in the community does. We build houses, clear the forest, fix the church ceiling or take care of our elders in the Auzolan way. You volunteer to do what you do best. If you are a good plumber, you will do the plumbing. If you are good with glass, you will take care of the windows. The children will bring water to the workers and our grandmothers will cook for everyone. I think this sense of community is linked to the fact that historically men spent many months away from home, as shepherds or fishermen. Women were left in charge of everything for at least six months a year. They would take care of the house, the grandparents, the children, the few animals left on the farm, practically everything. There was too much to do, so the women in the villages developed the Auzolan way to help each other” (Glaria, 2021). It is a model that some do not hesitate to define as feminist or that expresses paradigms of political, social, and economic thought or action such as the feminist economy, the common good or the good life, even overcoming the barriers of gender equality. “In the early spring of 2020, when COVID was at its peak in Spain” writes Fran Glaria, “my wife, my children and I moved to the village of origin, (Beintza Labaien, near San Sebastian, in Basque Country) to overcome the block. One morning my mother called and said that Mrs. Carmen is sick and that her children cannot go to the village. Something triggered inside me. I knew what I had to do. When I went to

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The phenomenon of land grabbing is not negative in itself, since it can bring both good opportunities for the recipient countries of the phenomenon and risks: on the one hand, acquisitions can guarantee an injection of precious resources for investments, actually economic where the latter are necessary but in short supply; on the other hand, there is a real risk that local populations may lose control and access power over the land ceded and over the natural resources connected to land and soils, such as, water. It is therefore crucial to ensure that acquisitions are made in a way that minimizes risks and maximizes opportunities for economic growth and development (Von Braun & Meinzen-Dick, 2009).

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Señora Carmen’s house, four women were already there to organize everything. One woman said: I will stay for the night. Another offered: my son will take care of the flock. The other promised: I will organize the morning with my daughters, so we will take care of the hygiene and of his house. The fourth assured: I will take care of the food” (Ibidem).4 In Bilbao, the Auzolan model, understood as the availability of the participating and supportive community, was also formalized in the form of an association that since 1982 has provided social and health assistance to the residents of Bilbao, in collaboration with the Public Administrations. The psycho-social assistance module is active in some neighborhoods, promoted by associations and groups of women, with the aim of improving health and living conditions in areas not covered by the public health network. In 1995, the center moved to a more central location on loan from the City of Bilbao, where it still continues its activity today (hiips:// moduloauzolan.org/ accessed July 5, 2021). Those who engage in Auzolan recognize that adding a dimension of care to their practices brings improvements in terms of quality of life, but also in the development and advancement of projects. So much so that some, in evaluating the processes that have failed, find among their causes the lack of care with respect to the priority of economic sustainability. The intention to cooperate or build a common project is in any case the result of sharing and becoming aware that individual needs are also those of others and that contributing to meet the needs of others will help to strengthen and promote one’s own particular projects, but also the common project. With these premises, spaces for reconciliation and mutual listening are opened, concerns and needs are made explicit, and networks of exchange in terms of organization and collaboration begin to be woven. Common objectives are identified such as improving the working conditions of producers, their daily and vital needs, the socialization of knowledge, concern for food sovereignty and agroecology. These theories are put into practice, through what we call “triple care,” which takes the form of the care or protection of the territory, of the community, understood as a city or region, and of the group, understood as a collective or common process (Artegui, 2019). These communities start from a good basis for collaborative work, as they share (to a greater or lesser extent) the vision around the ways of producing and marketing (cooperatives, consumer groups, fair trade markets), their ideological positions on production, food, their position on care. Although sometimes they do not use identical strategies on their farms, they all converge toward the common goal (Zubero, 2012).

Fran Glaria concludes “Suddenly, the four ladies fell silent and looked at me with an intriguing smile. Since I am a city boy, I was not even considered responsible for the animals. These ladies know that I am a tour guide and that I am good at talking, so they decided it was my job to talk to her. Since she was too tired to read, I was reading her favorite book of hers, a collection of real love letters written by historical figures.”

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Artegui (2019) points out that Auzolan “works with different intensity and continuity. In its perhaps most intense form, it generates networks of baserris (hamlets) and organizes monthly and rotating jobs to respond to those moments of great workloads that occur on farms (harvesting, agricultural reform, land adaptation, etc.). This intense form requires a dynamism, a continuity and an effort that can become the sacrifice of the very vital conditions of the producers. (. . .) As regards the autonomous and collective management of common goods, such as mountain pastures of public utility or forests, re-appropriation actions are initiated.” The goal is to recover that collective resource in order to protect the economy, environment, health, and culture of a community, also understanding that it is those who make up that community (and not public institutions) who must make decisions about those lands and manage them. Basically, it is about the management, maintenance, promotion, and defense of common goods. The origin of these processes is in the recovery of the bonds of participation and sharing. They are in fact processes that, for their advancement, require the activation of the recognition of the other, leading to an alteration of the “self” that becomes an “us.” This affects the ways of producing and living of these people, who pass from collaborative action to acting in common. A further step is related to the relationships of interdependence that arise from the transformation of the self. Through the forms of production in common and according to the logic of producing according to a shared objective, the limits between what belongs to and is the responsibility of one and what concerns the other himself blur to form a substantial continuum. Another aspect on which to reflect and which strongly characterizes the sharing society in terms of food sharing is the specific area of food sovereignty and agroecology, which was mentioned previously. Food sovereignty is the right of people to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced with sustainable methods as well as the right of communities to define their own food and agricultural systems. It develops in a model of small communities that benefit from sustainable scale production and their environment. At the heart of food systems and policies are the needs, aspirations, and livelihoods of those who produce, distribute, and consume food rather than the needs of markets and societies. By agroecology, on the other hand, we mean the science that studies agricultural ecosystems and the relationships that exist between the different agents that make up that ecosystem (Sevilla Guzmán, 2011; López, 2015). Both concepts come together in the practice of millions of farmers around the world (Via Campesina5), who seek to achieve the goal of food sovereignty through the tool of agroecology. 5

Via Campesina is the international movement that brings together millions of peasants, small and medium-sized farmers, landless people, peasant women, indigenous people, migrants, and agricultural workers from all over the world. It defends small sustainable agriculture as a way to promote social justice and dignity. He is firmly opposed to the agricultural corporatism led by multinationals that are destroying people and nature. He launched the idea of “food sovereignty” at the 1996 World Food Summit. Via Campesina includes around 150 local and national organizations in 70 countries

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Food sovereignty has local food production and consumption as a priority. It gives a country the right to protect local producers from cheap imports and allows for production control. It ensures that the rights of use and management of territories, water, seeds, livestock, and biodiversity are in the hands of those who produce the food and not the companies. Food sovereignty appears as one of the most powerful responses to the current food supply, against poverty and the climate crisis (hiips:// viacampesina.org/en/ and hiips://www.assorurale.it/enforcement/la_via_campesina. Websites accessed on 7 July 2021).

The Paradox of Abundance The Via Campesina and the phenomenon of the food sharing society are periodically portrayed as the last utopias with a food and health characterization. Generally, reference is made to a rather broad semantic universe in which numerous active realities appear from collective mutual and participatory action, to forms of social cooperative organizations (social farms), up to activities related to recycling and food reuse and actions policies aimed at raising public awareness on global phenomena such as land grabbing, land grabbing by multinational companies that operate without taking into account the needs of the inhabitants and their need not to lose control and access to land ceded and on natural resources related to land and soils, such as, for example, water. In essence, it is a question of a wide range of situations connected with rural (but also urban) territories and local development. The panorama of these realities is fascinating and complex, combining the subjective (sometimes even vindictive) demands to the social group dynamics of ideal and practical sharing in the availability of food. Farmers and indigenous peoples feed over 70% of the world and are key agents in the conservation of bio-cultural diversity in food systems. The importance of seeds, traditional knowledge, and innovations has increasingly been recognized as crucial factors in efforts to halt rapid biodiversity loss, including in the context of developing a new global biodiversity framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD—Convention on Biological Diversity of 1992). The right to seeds of farmers and indigenous peoples is enshrined in international agreements such as the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) or the International Treaty on Seeds, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of 2017 (UNDRIP) and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas of 2018 (UNDROP) (hiip://www.fao.org/plant-treaty/en/ accessed July 5, 2021). in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Overall, it represents around 200 million peasants. It is an autonomous, pluralist and multicultural movement, independent of any political, economic or other type of affiliation (online at hiips://www.assorurale.it/Archive/la_via_campesina.html)

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“Around the world, farmers and indigenous peoples take care of their seeds to produce food and care for ecosystems. The COVID-19 pandemic has once again demonstrated that our seed systems are strong and resilient,” says David Cidi Otieno, of the Kenyan Farmers’ League (hiips://viacampesina.org/en/a-new-guideto-advance-peasants-and-indigenous-peoples-right-to-seeds / accessed July 5, 2021). In our society, however, we find what has been called “Paradox of abundance: there is food for everyone, but not everyone can eat, while waste, discarding, excessive consumption and the use of food for other purposes are before our eyes” (thus Pope Francis on 7 February 2015 in the video message sent to The ideas of Expo 2015 toward the Milan Charter, the event dedicated to the elaboration of a real protocol on food on the occasion of the Universal Exposition. In a world where one part of the population has difficulty accessing food, the other part is throwing away more and more. A recent study by FAO, the United Nations food and agriculture organization, estimates that around one-third of the food produced for human consumption, or 1 billion and 300 million tons, is wasted every year in the world. For a value that is around 750 billion dollars (more or less the GDP of Switzerland). A figure that does not take into account the environmental impact: to produce those tons of food then wasted, 250 cubic kilometers of water and 1.4 billion hectares of land are needed, with an input of 3.3 billion tons of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. (hiip://www.fao.org/docrep/014/mb060e/mb060e.pdf) The Barilla center for food and nutrition distinguishes between food losses and food waste, that is, between food losses that occur upstream of the agri-food chain and those that occur during processing, distribution, and final consumption. Thirty-two percent of all food produced in the world is wasted in the agricultural production phase, 22% in the post-harvest and storage phases, 13% in the distribution phase, and another 22% in domestic consumption. In the European Union, the bulk of waste is made up of table scraps (42%) or industrial production (39%). (hiips://www.borsaitaliana.it/notizie/italian-factory/food/012sprechi-alimentari. htm, accessed on 3 July 2021). According to the European Commission, food waste means “the set of products discarded from the agri-food chain, which for economic, aesthetic reasons or due to the proximity of the expiry date, although still edible and therefore potentially destined for human consumption, in the absence of a possible alternative use, are destined to be eliminated or disposed of, producing negative effects from an environmental point of view, economic costs and lost earnings for businesses” (Segré & Falasconi, 2011:18). The “waste” is therefore that product that has lost its commercial value and therefore ceases to be considered a “commodity,” but not its own qualities and function as food. It is a good that can still be used according to its final destination (human food), but it can no longer be sold. It therefore becomes “unsold,” but not “unsaleable” (Conversano, 2015).

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In 2014, in order to counter the economic crisis, supermarkets in Greece were granted the possibility of selling “expired” foodstuffs at reduced prices and within a limited period; in this way, non-perishable products could be sold to be placed, by indicating them, on special shelves. This permit followed the logic of satisfying the first radical need, hunger, in a period of strong economic criticality, thus combating food waste. The problem is increasingly felt all over the world, also due to a more mature awareness of natural resources. In the USA, and also in Europe (France and Italy), laws have been made to combat the culture of food waste by allocating the so-called “waste” to satisfy the food needs of those who do not have access to resources. The possibility was therefore given to change the waste into “solidarity food” also with the involvement of private social organizations (hiips://wisesociety.it/alimento/tiavanza-del-cibo-condividilo/ accessed on 2 July 2021). The need for a joint use of food resources is shared above all by the young population. An example of all is Strath food sharing, an association that in the Glasgow Student Union has a space for a refrigerator and tables where food waste is shared for free with students. All the food in the refrigerator is free as we want to promote altruistic behaviors and sustainable consumption choices (hiips://www. strathunion.com/clubs-socs/societies/soc/strathfood-sharing/ accessed July 2, 2021). The Strath Union network refers to food waste as food in excess of what is needed, expired, or damaged but still edible. The union works with various partners around Glasgow, but first partners are students who help collect food and share it with everyone else. The student space also houses a book exchange shelf and spaces where students can exchange clothes, accessories, and other items. Fundamental are the sustainability objectives and the social aims of the student community, summarized in four rules: reduce food waste in Glasgow, change the mentality around waste, bring students together, and participate in local communities. The experience seems emblematic of a situation that fits well into the sharing society landscape and is concretely activated in solidarity against food waste. According to the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella, waste “is an insult to society, to the common good, to the economy of our country as well as of every country. Some solidarity projects are giving positive results. It is necessary to extend them, evaluating how to intervene with legislative instruments of support. Reducing waste is a great public commitment, in which organized civil society, voluntary work, non-profit organizations, cooperation and private companies can participate as protagonists” (video message sent to The ideas of Expo 2015 toward the Milan Charter on 5 June 2015). In Italy in the Official Gazette of Republic n. 202 of 30.8.2016, the Law of 19 August 2016, n. 166 or “Gadda Law—Provisions concerning the donation and distribution of food and pharmaceutical products for the purpose of social solidarity and for the limitation of waste”). “The Gadda law against food waste (. . .) reorganizes the reference regulatory framework that regulates the donations of unsold food with simplification,

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harmonization and incentive measures, but above all establishes the priority of food recovery,” said Marco Lucchini—Secretary-General of the Banco Alimentare Onlus Foundation (on website hiips://www.bancoalimentare.it/it, and hiip://www.vita.it/it/ article/2017/09/14/a-un-anno-dalla-legge-litalia-e-un-modello-for-the-fight-againstwaste-to/144498/ accessed on August 3, 2021). If the culture of waste makes us insensitive and ready to be discarded as a commodity, the culture of food recovery can only be based on the community’s awareness of the fundamental value of food products. The reduction of waste, their recovery and their reuse can only be based on forms of sharing society that place solidarity as their foundation to fight poverty and ensure a better quality of life.

References Artegui, A. I. (2019). La agroecologìa y la soberanía alimentaria come bastiones para la acción coletiva colaborativa. In B. Tejerina, C. M. de Almeida, & I. Perugorría (Eds.), Sharing society. The impact of collaborative collective actions in the transformation of contemporary societies. Universitad del Pa’s Vasco. Baraldi, F. (2002). Dimmi ciò che mangi e ti dirò chi sei, il contributo della sociologia all’analisi del cibo e del consumo alimentare. In C. Cipolla (Ed.), La spendibilità del sapere sociologico (pp. 290–315). Franco Angeli. Bauman, Z. (2000). Missing community. Polity Press. Beck, U. (1996). The reinvention of politics: Rethinking modernity in the global social order. Polity Press. Beck, U. (2005). Power in the global age. Polity Press. Benevolo, L. (1966). Storia dell’architettura moderna. Bari. Benevolo, L. (1974). Le origini dell’urbanistica moderna. Laterza. Brillat-Savarin, J.-A. (1825). Physiologie du goût, ou Méditations de gastronomie transcendante. Sautelet. Conversano A. (2015). Spreco alimentare, esiste una definizione univoca?, on website hiip://www. ecodallecitta.it/notizie/382626/spreco-alimentare-esiste-una-definizione-univoca/. Di Francesco, G. (2015). Stili alimentari e qualità della vita. In P. Corvo & G. Fassino (Eds.), Quando il cibo si fa benessere. Alimentazione e qualità della vita. Franco Angeli. Di Francesco, G. (2019). Cohousing experiences in some Italian urban contexts. In B. Tejerina, C. M. de Almeida, & I. Perugorría (Eds.), Sharing society. The impact of collaborative collective actions in the transformation of contemporary societies. Universitad del Pa’s Vasco. Di Zio T. (2005). Retrieved August 10, 2021, from hiips://siusa.archivi.beniculturali.it/cgi-bin/ pagina.pl?TipoPag¼profist&Chiave¼122. Ertz, M., Durif, F., & Arcand, M. (2019). A conceptual perspective on collaborative consumption. AMS Review, 9(1), 27–41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13162-018-0121-3. accessed Apr 2 2021. Esposito, M. (2013). Il Grocery Gap. Riflessioni su gradiente sociale, divario alimentare e salute. In C. Cipolla, G. Di Francesco, & a cura di (Eds.), La ragion gastronomica (pp. 229–240). Franco Angeli, Milano. Felson M., & Spaeth J. L. (1978). Community Structure and Collaborative Consumption: A Routine Activity Approach, in «American Behavioral Scientist». Retrieved July 3, 2021, from hiip://abs. sagepub.com/content/21/4/614.

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Fourier, C. (1848). Le nouveau monde industriel et sociétaire, ou Invention du procédé d’industrie attrayante et naturelle distribuées en séries passionnées, tr. It. (2005) Il nuovo mondo industriale e societario. Rizzoli. Garrani G., Gli antichi istituti di credito agrario. I monti frumentari, estratto da “Economia e credito”, 1966, a. VI (XVII), 3, 38. Ghinato, A. (1959). I primitivi Monti frumentari di fra Andrea da Faenza in Antonianum. Periodicum philosophico-theologicum 33(1958), 423-442(34), 32–72. Glaria, F. (2021). Auzolan: The Basque Way of Community Work. Retrieved July 9, 2021, from hiips://www.guide-collective.com/gc-magazine/auzolan-the-basque-way-of-community-work. Goodman, D. (2003). The quality turn and alternative food practices: reflections and agenda, in «Editorial Journal of Rural Studies», 19. Guzmán, S. (2011). De la sociologia rural a la agroecologia. Icaria. Hamari, J., Sjöklint, M., & Ukkonen, A. (2016). The sharing economy: Why people participate in collaborative consumption. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 67(9), 2047–2059. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.23552 Hertzman, E. (1995). Cohousing: A new type of housing for the way we live. In Communities directory: A guide to cooperative living 1995. Fellowship for Intentional Community. Kostakis, V., & Bawens, M. (2014). Network society and a future scenarios for a collaborative Economy. Palgrave Macmillan. López, G. D. (2015). Producir alimentos. Reproducir comunidad. Redes alimentarias alternativas como formas económicas para la transformación social y ecológica. Editorial Libros en Acción. Maggi, S., Mutuo soccorso “Cesare Pozzo”, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2012:12. Mumford, L. (2002). La città nella storia. Bompiani. Paltrinieri, R., & Spillare, S. (2017). Consumo collaborativo e percorsi di costruzione della fiducia nella new food economy: dai civic food networks alle food sharing platforms, Convegno SISEC 2017—Università La Sapienza di Roma, 26–28 gennaio 2017. Pope Francis, video message broadcast on 7 February 2015 to Le idee di Expo 2015 verso la Carta di Milano online. Retrieved April 5, 2021, from hiip://www.expo2015.org/magazine/it/ sostenibilita/expo-delle-idee-verso-la-carta-di-milano%2D%2Dda-qui-inizia-l-impegno-perun-cibo-sano%2D%2Dsicuro-e-per-tutti.html. Rinne et al. (2013). Young Global Leaders Sharing Economy Working Group. World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders Taskforce: Circular Economy Innovation & New Business Models Initiative, in «slide-share», @slideshare.net, June2013. Segré, A., & Falasconi, L. (2011). Il libro nero dello spreco: il cibo. Edizioni Ambiente. Sensi, M. (1972). Fra Andrea da Faenza istitutore dei Monti frumentari in Picenum seraphicum, 9/1972, pp. 162–257. SIUSA, Monte frumentario, sec. XV—sec. XX. Retrieved October 27, 2020, from hiips://siusa. archivi.beniculturali.it Tejerina, B. (2010). La sociedad imaginada. Movimientos sociales y cambio cultural en España. Madrid, Editorial Trotta. Tundo, F. L. (2005). Il progetto di un nuovo mondo, introduzione a. In C. Fourier (Ed.), Il nuovo mondo industriale e societario. Rizzoli. UE Commission. (2016). A European Agenda for Collaborative Economy, Bruxelles. Retrieved July 3, 2021, from hiip://ec.europa.eu/growth/single-market/strategy/collaborativeeconomy_it.

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Von Braun J., & Meinzen-Dick R., “Land grabbing” by foreign investors in developing countries. Risks and opportunities (PDF), in IFPRI Policy Brief, April 13, 2009, p. 1. Retrieved August 10, 2021, from hiips://www.ifpri.org/publication/land-grabbing-foreign-investors-developingcountries. Weber, M. (1922). Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, Mohr, Tubingen, tr. It. Economia e Società, vol. II, Economia e tipi di comunità, Edizioni di Comunità, Milano. Winter, M. (2003). Embeddedness, the new food economy and defensive localism. Journal of Rural Studies, 19, 23–32. Zubero, I. (2012). De los comunales a los commons: la peripecia teorica de una pratica ancestral cargada de future. Documentacion Social, 165, 15–48.

Web Sites Retrieved July 2, 2021, from hiip://cdm15738.contentdm.oclc.org/utils/getfile/collection/p1573 8coll2/id/14853/filename/14854.pdf. Retrieved July 2, 2021, from hiip://www.fao.org/docrep/014/mb060e/mb060e.pdf Retrieved July 5, 2021, from hiip://www.fao.org/plant-treaty/en/. Retrieved August 3, 2021, from hiip://www.vita.it/it/article/2017/09/14/a-un-anno-dalla-leggelitalia-e-un-modello-per-la-lotta-allo-spreco-al/144498/. Retrieved July 2, 2021, from hiips://moduloauzolan.org/. Retrieved July 5, 2021, from hiips://viacampesina.org/en/. Retrieved July 7, 2021, from hiips://viacampesina.org/en/a-new-guide-to-advance-peasants-andindigenous-peoples-right-to-seeds/. Retrieved July 2, 2021, from hiips://wisesociety.it/alimentazione/ti-avanza-del-cibo-condividilo/. Retrieved July 7, 2021, from hiips://www.assorurale.it/archivio/la_via_campesina.html. Retrieved August 3, 2021, from hiips://www.bancoalimentare.it/it. Retrieved July 2, 2021, from hiips://www.bellunesinelmondo.it/beato-bernardino-da-feltrefondatore-del-monte-di-pieta/. Retrieved July 3, 2021, from hiips://www.borsaitaliana.it/notizie/italian-factory/food/012sprechialimentari.htm. Retrieved July 3, 2021, from hiips://www.strathunion.com/clubs-socs/societies/soc/strathfoodsharing/. Retrieved April 5, 2021, from hiip://www.expo2015.org/magazine/it/sostenibilita/expo-delle-ideeverso-la-carta-di-milano%2D%2Dda-qui-inizia-l-impegno-per-un-cibo-sano%2D%2Dsicuroe-per-tutti.html. Gabriele Di Francesco is a Professor of General Sociology at the “Gabriele d’Annunzio” University of Chieti-Pescara. He directs the journals Ratio Sociologica, Journal of Social Housing, and Medieval and Modern Studies. He is a member of AIQUAV. His research interests include historical and anthropological aspects related to the topic of food.

Chapter 9

Epilogue—Food Memories and Quality of Life Carolina Facioni and Alex C. Michalos

Abstract In the intentions of the authors, the epilogue should not stop at theoretical considerations. It had to communicate to readers the personal experience and foodrelated sensations of all who contributed to the book. Thus, all the contributors sent their personal “memory” related to food. The contents were analysed under a content analysis approach. It was a sort of little survey on food and quality-of-life in the making of the book. Keywords Memories related to food · Content analysis approach · Quality of life The contents of this book have undoubtedly highlighted how food is a theme to be analyzed from the point of view of complexity. Of course, the survival of any living species depends on food—and this also applies to human beings. However, in human societies, food is much more than this, albeit a fundamental, aspect. For this reason, before the pandemic had such a negative impact on the quality of life all over the world, we proposed to a group of Italian researchers to write a book on food. The invitation was received with enthusiasm. The final text can be considered a point of reference for those who want to understand how the topic of food, in relation to the quality of life, can be addressed in many different ways. Indeed, the contents emphasize how well-being (both individual and collective) is inextricably linked to food in many and very different aspects: i.e., lifestyles, history, health, the research on food quality—and the problems related to safe food—the traditional habits and the emerging behaviors, etc. Furthermore, thinking of how families and larger communities use joint meals as part of ceremonies, festivals, parties, and celebrations, it can certainly be said that culture, every culture (in the broadest sense of the term) translates into the food that is consumed, in the rituals linked to it, in the choices (individual and collective) linked to it. C. Facioni (*) Italian National Institute of Statistics, Rome, Italy e-mail: [email protected] A. C. Michalos University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, Canada © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 C. Facioni et al. (eds.), Italian Studies on Food and Quality of Life, Social Indicators Research Series 85, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97806-8_9

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As a proof of how much food is a stimulating subject for those who study social indicators, during the writing of this book a sort of very small investigation was born. During many exchanges of messages, Carolina and Alex found themselves talking about their memories related to food. Alex had a Sicilian mother and a Greek father and his best memories about extended family get-togethers always had food as a central feature. His mother showed her love in simple things like the biscotti they made together and then ate. He recalled routinely serving as the official tomato-masher for pasta sauce and on special days like Christmas, together they made rice balls. On Sundays his family often had chicken soup with lemon, a Greek tradition still maintained. Because his father spent many years delivering bread and pastries, the family always had unsold, leftover, and somewhat dry bakery products. After his father left the delivery job, his parents opened a small restaurant. Alex and his brother learned to wash dishes and fry hamburgers when they were very young. These memories and others like them drove Alex’s desire for a food and quality-oflife volume. Fortunately, after some years searching for an author or editor to introduce this subject to social indicators researchers, Carolina made the dream a reality. The sharing of the respective memories related to food brought with it the curiosity to know what the memories of all the other authors were, to better understand what food meant for each of them. So, a sort of minimal survey was born. Although it was almost a game, the results were nevertheless interesting. Carolina examined the submitted text in a sort of content analysis approach. The short, but intense narrations brought out interesting semantic dimensions. First of all, the link between family affections, holidays, and food: many authors recall “special” recipes, which some members of the family (especially mothers) used to prepare on important occasions: “Last summer, I was in Val Formazza, in Piedmont, on the border with Switzerland. I walked for some hours between lakes and woods, the day was wonderful. On the way back I stopped for lunch at a restaurant that I thought was interesting. When I read the menu, I had no doubts: I chose polenta and mushrooms. It is a typical dish of Bergamo, where I was born, a long time ago. But above all it reminds me of my mother, when on Sundays I used to prepare tasty dishes with her help, always with polenta as the protagonist, accompanied by meat or vegetables. It was the only moment of my life so far when I cooked something important. That polenta and mushrooms were full of memories and emotions. It was a real pleasure to eat it”. “Food is strictly related with the best memories in my life: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, when the whole family got together and everyone prepared his/her masterworks, the recipes they were famous for in the family. While on Christmas Eve the recipes are all traditionally based on fish and vegetables, on Christmas Day my uncle Bruno’s cappelletti in broth could not be missing at the table, as well as the cannelloni that my mother made: the filling recipe was her own secret, while we children were involved in the preparation of the béchamel. Another very good food my mother prepared during the Holydays was the stracciatella in broth. It is a seemingly simple recipe, but it requires all the ingredients to be of the highest quality: the broth must be delicious. . .” “Food has been important through all my life. When I was a child, the most important moments in life (Christmas, birthdays, celebration of any kind) were celebrated with a feast with plenty of food! I still remember the gattò di patate (a potato pie) that my mother

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prepared for my graduation party! Then food became a tool to express love, while I was breastfeeding my children. One of my sweetest memories is the hand of my child gently caressing my side while eating. . .” “The smell of the flour, the fragrant steam of boiled potatoes crushed by the fork, the hands sinking into the dough mixture perceiving when it crumbles, trying to reassemble it rough, then silky. Rape it, caress it, and then divide it: in equal parts, just identical, smaller, and smaller. Then earthworms, big little ones, also all the same. The cuts, sharp, violent, the passage on the fork tines and then the chaos, the beauty of the divergence takes over, and only then the work is complete. Grandma taught me how to make gnocchi with my hands, with my own hands. I didn’t want to eat the packaged gnocchi anymore, I couldn’t!”

In other collected narratives, however, food experience is not linked to the memory of one or more key family figures, but to a more individual kind of experience. It is interesting to note how this individual dimension can be placed on two opposing poles: on the one hand, there is the concrete testimony of the food experience in daily life—but also of a reflection on food developed over the course of life; on the other hand, the food memory is linked to—and sublimated into—a vivid dream experience: “I find it difficult to talk about my relationship with food. The topic has to do not only with tastes at the table, or with cooking as a hobby, but also many psychological implications, such as personal memories, life experiences, the relationship with one’s body and health, the openness to others: gastronomic curiosity as availability to the others (. . .). I do not like, e.g., many classic combinations of Italian cuisine and many times because in my opinion ingredients don’t fit well with each other. Basically, I like something simple, I like dishes where the ingredients are clear and identifiable. Perhaps because I didn’t trust what I used to eat at the school canteen as a child, and this is the reason why I like sweets, cakes, chocolate, and ice-cream: few and sure ingredients. Another important component of meals are drinks, especially wine. Also in this case, I am selective: full-bodied red wines, dry white wines, not the fruity ones. Enjoy your meal and cheers!” “My memory about food is indeed. . .a dream! Yes, it is so. Some years ago, I was younger, and I had just started to live alone. I mean, I had just started my adult life out of my parent’s house, I was experiencing responsibilities, freedom, independence, even economic independence. . . It was a good period. One night I dreamed I was at a party, with friends of my secondary school, and many other people. . . But my only interest was on a tray of big and fresh cream puffs, completely full of the best crème patissière I had never tasted: I passed my time eating slowly those fantastic cream puffs! When I woke up, I was really rested, and felt very good.”

Another polarity that emerges from the contents, beyond the reality-dream just mentioned, is that of the “totally new” food experience, with respect to the “ancestral” food experience. In this sense, the following two texts can be read: “Every time I travel, I like to enrich my experience with the discovery of local foods I never tasted before. Nowadays, thanks to a virtually unlimited offer of world cuisine, we can take a gastronomic journey without moving. What does it matter if the journey is only an internal one? I happened to make the choice to experiment with the vegan diet a few years ago, and since then approaching any new ingredient or recipe has been an exploration of an unknown territory. Uncommon shapes, colors, and flavors, which recall a culture and a way of growing food, allow me to savor a pleasant sense of movement and set the attraction of traveling to those places . . . So, I’m for the fifth time in the Canaries, to enjoy how sweet a

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ripe papaya is, tasty a flared pitaya and crisp a locally grown sycamore tree and I feel as if I am in the Garden of Eden.” “The pig was killed according to tradition, repeating the ancestral rite of the Abruzzo peasants, from which women have always been excluded. No one was moved or cursed while the sharp slaughtering knife violated the jugular and pushed to flee life at right angles to the heart. The gush of blood was copious, rich, collected in a large clean basin. As a blessing sign, on the foam that thickens, coagulating, the cross has been traced with the tip of the same very sharp stylus. Everyone intoned aloud a prayer to Saint Anthony the Abbot, so that, defeating the devil, he would guarantee eternal afterlife to the pig’s soul and make its species prosperous. The blood was thickened on bay leaves, boiled in waters spiced with rosemary, pepper and coarse sea salt. The banquet in memory of the killed pig followed. When the canteens were set up, scraps of meat, bacon, grasselli (traditional lard) were the first dish, while the ‘sartania’ (an iron pan) sizzled the fat on the flame of the fireplace. The pork blood, reduced to brownish strips, was quickly browned with onion, rosemary, and thin orange peels. It was a quick triumph on the palate, between salacious jokes and red faces, from the cold outdoor and the smoky heat of the kitchen. The taste of the pork blood just melted in the mouth, ambivalent like the tip of the steel blade that made it gush; it was burning, enveloping, full-bodied, and full of unusual, sweetish aromas. Wine was inflamed in the glasses: red, aromatic, savory and glowing on the palate. The voices rose and widened almost in prayer.”

Food can, however, also be linked to aspects of personal and/or social suffering: from this perspective, these last two fragments can be read from the memories of two authors: “In my experience, I can remember both very beautiful memories, and a very bad memory (. . .). The bad memory is linked to my adolescence, when, for a short period, I had a mild form of anorexia, for which, slowly, I practically stopped eating: a coffee with milk and without sugar in the morning, and some plain vegetables for lunch. Nothing more. In two months, I lost eight kilos (and I was normal weight before). At the same time, I did five hours of gymnastics a day and no one could persuade me to eat anything more. Food was an obsession, however: I always thought about it, I was always hungry, and at the same time I felt proud of myself because I did not eat. One day I fainted in my mother’s arms, who took me to the doctor. He saved me by not giving me any sermons: he looked at me and only said to me: ‘At least, start eating meat again’. I started eating meat again, and slowly everything else. Although, the bad physical consequences of those two foolish months haunted me at least until the following years.” “(. . .) Then, later in life, food became my research interest. Still in our days, almost one billion people are food insecure. I also found out—with great astonishment—that there were food insecure people (even literally dying of hunger) in our rich and ‘developed’ countries: mothers in UK, even university students in US! Really, food is a basic need, and it is at the basis of any possibility of conducting a whole and healthy life.”

In conclusion, very different worlds of meaning and significance have emerged in a very small number of texts. Although, what emerged from this sort of toy-survey could, maybe, stimulate social indicator analysts to broaden the boundaries of an analysis of this kind, transforming it into a real survey. It would be interesting to ask people, in some different parts of the world, in some different societies of the world, for their food memories. What elements of similarity, and what kind of differences could we discover all over the world?

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This book has further emphasized how food is essential for everyone’s wellbeing—and that through food each one of us can create well-being for everyone. Food involves history and culture. Food involves memories of our dearest loved ones. Food involves science and health. In short, food is a powerful indicator of wellbeing from diverse perspectives all over the world. Let us love and care for food— and we will show love for quality-of-life in the world. Carolina Facioni is a sociologist and Ph.D. in Methodology of Social Sciences. She is a member of AIQUAV. Her research interests are futures studies, demographic issues, and quality-of-life indicators. She works at ISTAT as a research assistant. She is part of the scientific committee of the journals “Futuri” and “Ratio Sociologica”, and a member of CED (Center for Economic Development & Social Change). Alex C. Michalos is a Canadian political scientist and philosopher known for his work in qualityof-life research. He is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and a former chancellor at the University of Northern British Columbia, where he served as the founding director of the Institute for Social Research and Evaluation. Before joining the University of Northern British Columbia, he taught at the University of Guelph from 1966 to 1994. He served as a senior research advisor to the Canadian Index of Well-being and continues to serve as a member of their Canadian Research Advisory Group. He served as a President of the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS) from 1999 to 2000. He is the founder or co-founder of seven peer-reviewed academic journals, and as of 2010, still served as an editor-in-chief of one of them: the Journal of Business Ethics. He was named a member of the Order of Canada in 2010.