Italy’s Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty, and Forestry, Francesco Lollobrigida, has sparked a furor with his assertion that impoverished individuals in the nation “eat better” due to their direct purchases from local farmers and producers.
During an attempt to illustrate the contrast between eating habits in Italy and the United States, Minister Lollobrigida inadvertently ignited controversy by stating, “In Italy, poor people eat better than the rich.”
As a representative of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, Lollobrigida sought to highlight the marked disparity in food quality consumed by affluent and underprivileged populations in the US, while in Italy, he contended, an “inter-classist” food distribution system prevailed. He elaborated that economically disadvantaged individuals in Italy have the opportunity to procure “high-quality food at low cost directly from the producers.”
Following this contentious assertion, the minister faced swift criticism from various opposition politicians.
Elly Schlein, leader of the left-centre Partito Democratico (PD) party, remarked, “When we have a government that appears to inhabit a different reality, satire becomes superfluous.”
Recent available data indicates that the proportion of Italian households facing food instability was 1.3% in 2022, demonstrating a decrease from the previous year’s 1.7%. This rate escalates to 2.7% in the southern regions, while in central and northern parts of the country, it stands at 0.6% and 0.7% respectively.