The serious economic crisis that Italy is undergoing is making itself felt this Christmas, and it seems that people are beginning to think more carefully about how they spend their money. But perhaps that’s not a bad thing. Let’s face it, Christmas has become a confusing and, in my opinion, obscene mish mash of religious piety and consumer over indulgence …. well, don’t let me get started ……….
Anyway, I liked the following little news article because it seems to show that in hard times a bit of common sense can prevail, or perhaps I’m just a romantic idealist ……………….

Natale, boom di regali enogastronomici: spumanti e dolci i più donati
Christmas, enogastronomic (big fancy word for food and wine) presents are booming: spumanti and cakes are the most frequently given

Count down per il Natale 2014. Cosa regaleranno quest’anno gli italiani? Beh, in tempo di crisi si pensa soprattutto ai prodotti enogastronomici.
Count down to Christmas 2014. What presents are the Italians giving each other this year? Well, in times of crisis one thinks mostly of food and wine products (hang on, how is that different from any other time in Italy?)

In base a una recente indagine condotta da Coldiretti, 4 italiani su 10 doneranno a parenti ed amici cesti natalizi pieni di cibi e bevande. Insomma, la crisi fa tornare alle vecchie abitudini. Coldiretti sottolinea che i prodotti che verranno regalati maggiormente saranno dolci, spumante, frutta secca e fresca, olio extra vergine, zampone, lenticchie e salumi.
Based on a recent survey carried out by Coldiretti (Confederazione Nazionale Coltivatori Diretti = National Federation of Direct Cultivators), 4 out of 10 Italians will be giving Christmas hampers full of food and drinks to family and friends. In short, the crisis is making people go back to the old ways. Coldiretti points out that the most common products to be given as presents will be cakes, spumante, dried and fresh fruit, extra virgin olive oil, stuffed pigs trotters (yuk!), lentils and cold meats.

Molti italiani, inoltre, doneranno anche dolci fatti in casa. “Per la prima volta dall’inizio della crisi la spesa agroalimentare ha superato i regali”, ha evidenziato Coldiretti. Gli italiani, a quanto pare, sborseranno più di 4 milioni di euro in regali enogastronomici tra Natale e Capodanno. Per una volta le vecchie tradizioni prevalgono sulla ‘fame’ di tecnologia.
What’s more, many Italians will be giving home made cakes (yes please!). “For the first time since the beginning of the crisis money spent on agribusiness (another big fancy word for food products) has exceeded (other) presents. It seems that the Italians will be paying out more than 4 million euros for food and drink related presents during Christmas and New Year. For once, old traditions will prevail over the ‘hunger’ for technology. (I think that was meant to be a pun).

If you’d like to read more about the potentially positive effects of the economic crisis here’s another interesting article (in Italian, but not too difficult): Natale – Coldiretti

Now, if only things would continue in this direction perhaps I’d actually begin to like Christmas again.