Tag: market

A recent study foresees the end of the black truffle market – Italian Cuisine


A recently published study foresees the end of the European black truffle industry by 2071. Cause? Climate change

In the last year, fans of black truffle they will certainly have enjoyed theexceptional decline in prices registered in Italy of this fine ingredient. An analysis of Coldiretti has indeed highlighted that in 2018, due to bad weather, the harvest was exceptionally abundant, giving consumers a consequent drop in costs with relative travel to purchases. For truffle lovers, therefore, the results of a research carried out by the Scottish University of Stirling arrive as a bolt from the blue. the production of black truffles in Europe is about to disappear completely by 2100 due to climate change.

Last decades of production of the black truffle

This report, entitled A risk assessment of the European black truffle sector under predicted climate changes, published at the end of 2018 in the journal "Science of the Total Environment", is the result of a study conducted by a team of researchers, based on the observation of 36 years of production of the black truffle in Italy, Spain and France. The team then compared the data collected with those concerning the weather conditions of this period, and with those planned for the next years. What emerged is that climate change in progress, the gradual increase in temperatures and the dry climate will be a significant obstacle to black truffles, causing decrease between 78 and 100% of European truffle production between 2071 and 2100. This process could even be accelerated by any other factors that may arise, such as droughts, heat waves, forest fires, parasites.
In short, really dramatic forecasts that will lead to a price increase of the black truffle; the value of the world market, which is currently hundreds of millions of euros, could in fact grow to 5 billion euros over the next two decades.

Black truffle.

Goodbye to the delicious and precious black truffle

This underground fungus, which needs specific climatic factors, a favorable moist soil and that is cultivated mostly in nature, will become an increasingly rare and precious good, until the inevitable disappearance. Beyond thesocio-economic impact of the expected decline, it is also the world of catering to make the expenses. This delicious ingredient is in fact loved by chefs all over the world and rooted in the history and culinary traditions of different countries. In Italy, if we talk about black truffles, we can not help but think of some traditional recipes Which tagliolini with black truffles, risotto with truffles or fried eggs with truffles.

In short, as the chief researcher Paul Thomas and his team explained, if we want to save this ingredient from our tables, all we have to do is to safeguard the environment, while it is up to the experts to proceed with the necessary conservation and protection initiatives of this species, considering, for example, the expansion of truffle plantations in new territories with a more favorable future climate.

Photo: Tuber_macrosporum_Tartufo nero_Wikipedia_Nicolò Oppicelli.jpg

Fish market in Milan: address, shopping, fish – Italian Cuisine


Why is it said that in Milan there is the freshest fish in Italy, always rightly irritating all those who live on the sea?

The Milan Fish Market was born in the Fascist era, with the need for a specific structure for the sale of fish. The historic site is that of via Sammarini 70, around which over time various restaurants were born, including many still active, such as the namesake, or the Fish Market Restaurant at number 73 of the same street. During the 1990s, given the success and the increase in the consumption of fish, the need to expand the original site grew stronger and so it moved to the current structure of Via Lombroso, with a total of 11,000 m2 of extension. 25 wholesalers, each with its own peculiarities, its fish and its stories.

How the consumption of fish has changed

It is well known that our seas have been undergoing a major crisis for some time now. Until the eighties, however, it was not so: there was a lot of national fish, such as dentex or pagelli, today more and more in extinction. In addition, in the past there were no farms, especially because there was not the great demand for fish that is there today, increased dramatically, certainly not with the availability. Suffice it to say that in the past per capita consumption was about 12.13 kg per person, while today it is at least 23. Also the inclusion of the fish department in large retailers, which may seem normal or discounted, is actually much more recent of what is believed.

National fishing and foreign fishing, from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean

With the crisis of the seas and the increase in the consumption of fish, national fishing can no longer satisfy the demand. Thus, only 35% of the products on the market are national, while 65% come from abroad. There are some wholesalers known to always have local fish; others, on the other hand, have their boats that fish only in the national seas; as well as others have the rarest fish coming from far away. If the Fish Market in Milan could speak, it would have the voice of Renato Malandra. Because he is the historical memory of this place, the vet who has seen fish and wholesalers for 35 years and controls them, every night, starting at 11 in the evening until the first foggy lights of the morning. In this regard, the vet claims that we are too prejudiced against fish from the Atlantic, and we persist in thinking that the Mediterranean is always better: "it is a historical question, because the Mediterranean is our history. In countries like France or Spain they have both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, so they can choose to prefer one or the other, while we have always considered the only one we had, ie the Mediterranean one, better ", continues Renato. "In addition, we live in an era where we are too obsessed with the place, when in reality there are species that are better from the Mediterranean, others from the Atlantic, without necessarily being a matter of better or worse. Rather, the issue of farms is more urgent ".

Breeding and fishing

Of all the fish sold at the market, the About 70% are bred, while 30% are caught. But even on this, our vet invites us to reflect that not all farms are harmful, it always depends on how the fish are bred. In principle, it would always be better to prefer the catch, for various reasons: for example, farmed fish do not have Omega 3, just as they tend to accumulate more fat.

So why in Milan is the freshest fish in Italy?

The famous saying that so much annoys, rightly, who lives on the sea is that in Milan there is the freshest fish in Italy. But how is it possible? Considering that much of the fish comes from abroad, can only come by air from places like the Indian Ocean or the Maldives, or through the fastest way there is, which allows you to keep almost intact the freshness and other characteristics of the fish. Only in rare cases, for example from Northern Europe and the European Atlantic coast, comes by truck. Here, the cause of freshness of the fish in Milan is finally unveiled, also because most of the city is coming from here, from the Fish Market.

Who buys at the Fish Market?

The customers of the Fish Market are mainly fishmongers and street vendors, who every morning from 4 onwards come to buy fish. Only Saturdays is open to the public and to individuals from 8 to 12, but in reality the best fish is the one you find in restaurants, sold during the week. In reality, almost no restaurateur, if not some rare exception dictated more than anything else by curiosity, has ever come directly to buy it; they usually make the order the night before, partly because the strength of the market is precisely to guarantee the freshness of a quality product. But in reality the market is no longer a reference point only for the city of MilanFor some time now they have arrived at the Fish Market from other Lombard provinces as well as from Piedmont, Veneto, Emilia and even Switzerland, as its reputation for quality fish precedes it. But its meaning remains deeply regional, linked to its history and to what it represented for a city like Milan, which the sea has never seen.

The "Milan Fish Market" quality mark

Precisely to protect and enhance the quality of fish coming from the market, Sogemi has launched the "Milano Itto Milan" quality label, under the banner of food safety. "I am convinced of the strong identity that this brand and the new role of the Ittico Mercato Milano will transmit to the operators of the supply chain", declared the President SogeMi Cesare Ferrero. "This brand was created to enhance even more the work and professionalism of the individual operators that populate the market in the morning, and will serve to better communicate to consumers the virtuous model of supply and treatment of raw materials. And among the guarantees offered there are undoubtedly the rigorous veterinary checks carried out on raw materials, as pointed out by the Veterinary Consultant for the self control of the Milan Fish Market, Dott.Valerio Ranghieri. Therefore, the MIM brand was created with the aim of becoming a competitive plus that operators can use on the catering market to further enhance the products and the whole system of what is unanimously recognized as the most important fish market in Italy.

Browse the gallery

Proudly powered by WordPress

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. Click here to read more information about data collection for ads personalisation

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Read more about data collection for ads personalisation our in our Cookies Policy page

Close