Fried crickets for a TV snack, fish stomach soup, century eggs (green and with a strong smell of sulphur and ammonia), dried lily flowers, instant duck noodles and Durian (the Southeast Asian fruit with the smelly-sock odour). Italians are not just eating spaghetti and lasagne, now they “eat weird”.
And there’s not even any need to go to a restaurant or an ethnic food shop, because, more and more often, these ‘delicacies’ can be delivered to our table over the internet. The explosion in the number of Italy-based websites selling food from all around the world proves this. And they are benefiting from turnover increases of between 80% and 110%. But surprisingly, the buyers are not immigrants nostalgic for tastes of home, but in 70-80% of cases, they are Italians.
And there really is something to satisfy every taste. Scrolling through the online catalogues, the majority are oriental products from Thailand, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, India, China and Malaysia. However, products from Brazil, Peru and Mexico also feature. And sometimes the sites also suggest recipes for using their ingredients. SHOPTHAI (www.shopthai.eu), based in Pieve di Cento, Emilia-Romagna, and ASIANMINIMART (www.asiaminimart.it), headquartered in Ivrea, Piedmont, were the first sites to open in Italy and have hundreds of items to order, with just a ‘click’. You can pay by credit card, debit card, bank transfer or cash on delivery, and the food, suitably packaged, is delivered to your home within 24 to 48 hours.
"The idea of creating a site to sell products online came to us in 2007, because many people had read my recipes published on the Internet, and they used to ask me where to buy the ingredients, which are hard to find, especially in provincial towns” explains Jui Seeharat Conforto, a Thai married to an Italian and resident in Italy for 20 years (Adnkronos). “So together with my husband, who works as webmaster, we thought that there could be a market for online sales. Our customer base has grown quickly, with an increase in sales of 110% in 3 years.” And, surprisingly, their customers are" 70% Italians, 20% restaurants and ethnic food shops, and 10% immigrants, mostly Thais”.
And how much is spent online on ethnic food? "Orders vary from a minimum of € 10 to a maximum of € 300, with an average of about € 30 per customer. It’s mostly private individuals who buy online, while for shops and restaurants our site is, above all, a window through which to browse our catalogues, and to find out about the latest novelties from the other half of the world."
