The world's largest producer of panettone is not Italian, nor is it the country with the highest per capita consumption. If you look at the statistics, Italy just keeps the record of having just invented it, the panettone. But he wants to defend it from imitations: are they really?

«Do you know which is the largest panettone producer in the world? A Brazilian, of Italian descent, like 15 percent of the rest of the Brazilian population: his name is Bauducco, he owns six production factories in the USA, seven distribution points for 140 thousand sales points in 80 countries, and produces 200 thousand tons of panettone every year . It is surprising that the market has two giants that are not Italians: Bauducco in Brazil, which paradoxically is the largest panettone producer in the world, and D'Onofrio in Peru, "explains Matteo Cunsolo, baker of La Panetteria and president of the Confcommercio Bakers Association of Milan and the provinces.

The largest producer in the world

Bauducco is a family of bakers who emigrated to San Paolo in 1948 from Turin with an original recipe. They did it artisanal, but today, in addition to butter, other fats are used, such as margarine, and the regulation governing the production of panettone (in Italy) is therefore avoided. Cunsolo continues: "According to Coldiretti, the Italian sounding, only in the agri-food sector, removes 100 billion euros and over 300 thousand jobs from the Italian economy every year and the trend is rapidly increasing, in fact there was an increase of 70% in the last 10 years". Italian cuisine in the world likes it and if there are real copies on the market, fraudulent, of non-Italian products sold as for such, there is also a slice of producers who have been making Italian recipes abroad for decades and certainly do not pass them off as made in Italy. Panettone, panetón, pan dulce or panetone are therefore not exactly the same thing, and in the end we could consider national variations of the classic Christmas cake with fruit, which is not only Italian, but is widespread throughout Europe, from English fruit cakes to German stollen.

Made in Peru

In Peru the emblematic story is that of Antonio D’Onofrio, who left the province of Caserta in the late nineteenth century and ended up in Lima making ice cream with the snow of the Andes. He is the son who, in the sixties, makes an agreement with the Milanese Alemagna and buys the formula for the production and introduction of panettone in Peru, also obtaining the right to use the characteristic packaging of the Milanese company that in A recalled the Milan Cathedral. D’Onofrio instead of the A inserted the D. Today they sold to Nestlè and their communication is based on three pillars: peruvianity, union and gift. Other than Italian sounding, peruvian pride.

California panettone lesson

Roy Shvartzapel is definitely not of Italian origin, but produces one of the most famous panettone in the States in California, at around $ 60 apiece for the classic, $ 130 for the two-kg version with double chocolate. But the tastes are seasonal, ranging from raspberries to Valentine's Day to banana, orange and caramel. It has become a phenomenon between chefs and Hollywood stars. Where did you study? After being at elBulli and Pierre Hermé he went to shop at Iginio Massari. Heresy? If this were the case, any Italian would make a sushi, a tacos, a pokè or a hamburger should be accused of plagiarism. What happens instead, in Italy, is that by dint of eating international cuisine made in Italy, you want to set off on your own for the destinations you mostly appreciate the cuisine. Exactly what happens in Italy, thanks to Italian restaurants (more or less authentic) around the world.
As in luxury, there is the scam of the fake product, and there are the copies, sold to conscious buyers who could never have bought the original version. It is not a lack of collection, rather it is advertising, it raises the notoriety of a product and paradoxically loyalty to the customer a customer even before or without even really buying. But one day maybe he will.