FORGET ABOUT COOKING MANIA ON TV OR THE WEB: 71% OF ITALIANS LEARN TO COOK FROM THEIR MOTHERS AND GRANDMOTHERS. AND 76% SHARE RECIPES BY WORD OF MOUTH OR WRITING THEM DOWN. TRADITION IS THE "NEW" TREND IN THE KITCHEN, REVEALS THE DOXA-AIC SURVEY

Forget about cooking classes on social networks and television programs: today 71% of Italians learn to cook following to the letter the culinary advice of their mothers and grandmothers. And Italians share recipes the same as ever- 8 out of 10 Italians (76%) pass along tips exclusively with written notes or by word of mouth. Only young people use the web, while quality and safety are more and more sought after and there are more and more men in kitchens doing the cooking with traditional well guarded family recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation. (www.accademiaitalianacucina.it).

 The Doxa survey, "Italian cuisine today", commissioned by the Italian Academy of Cuisine (AIC) and presented on the occasion of its sixty year anniversary (www.accademiaitalianacucina.it) revealed that Italians do not learn how to cook from the myriad of cooking shows on TV or the web. The Academy explained that beyond the indisputable success of the medias with about 7 out of 10 Italians who watch food shows, only 18% of the viewers then take tips from these programs to experiment at home. It is certainly an important phenomenon but its impact on domestic habits is very limited.

Focus – Here are the kitchen trends according to the Doxa survey... Cook books: 8 out of 10 Italians have at least one
The family is the stronghold from which to grasp culinary knowledge, while the "old" cookbook is in second place (25%). Cook books are very common in Italian homes: 80% of Italians own at least one, while almost half (46%) has more than five and a good 20% of them more than ten. The top cookbooks, according to the survey are, "The Silver Spoon", the "Talisman of Happiness", "Artusi", and among the more modern ones, "Ready Steady Cook" and "Benedetta Parodi".

- Only one Italian out of 10 learns from the web, and only young people like the web
Only 10% of Italians learn to cook from the internet (blogs, food websites), but the figure almost triples (25%) in the case of the under 30 age group. The new generations, therefore, seem to be driving a small cultural revolution with respect to the dominant trend that sees the family tradition triumph among the sources of learning. Finally, according to the survey, the self-taught are 10% of the population while they are still less than those trained through cooking classes (5%).

- Women are queen of the kitchen, but men are on the rise: 55% say they know how to cook well
Analyzing roles in the kitchen, Italians in general are considered to be good cooks, and 73% claim to know how to cook well (the percentage rises to 89% for women). In haute cuisine, mostly men dominate while at home, the queen of the kitchen is the woman, who in more than 9 out of 10 families is the "home chef". The fair sex is gradually increasing its weight also outside the home as 4% of women take part in food associations, which is twice as many as men (2%). But men are not sitting on the sidelines and are demanding more and more space in the kitchen: today more than half (55%) say they know how to cook well. - Families at the table? On average three people at each meal and at the stove an hour a day The average family meal, according to the survey, is 3 people for each meal. The breakdown is 2.8 for lunch and 3.1 for dinner: being together and sharing thus remain a must for Italian families. It’s interesting how much time is spent preparing meals in the kitchen: on weekdays, the daily average is about an hour (between lunch and dinner), but 35% of Italians go from one to two hours every day, in the kitchen. On Sundays and holidays the time expands up to an average of one hour and 18 minutes, and 3 out of 10 Italians (28%) cook for more than 2 hours. This is in direct contrast, says the Academy, with those who said that in Italy nobody wanted to cook and preferred pre-cooked foods. - Quality, safety, health and well being: these are the values one brings to the table "Once upon a time”, says Paolo Petroni, president of the Center for Studies of the Academy, “people presented with a steaming plate of food would say: "Will it taste good?". Today, first we ask: "Is it healthy?". As a matter of fact, when Italians cook they are particularly inspired by the values of quality, safety, health and well-being, considered "crucial" for almost 70% of our countrymen. Further down, we find "tradition and taste", "convenience and speed" and "innovation and experimentation" ranks in last place, with a positive peak for the under 40 group".

Focus – The Accademia Italiana della Cucina is 60 years old. Happy Birthday! 7600 members, 212 delegations in Italy and 79 foreign delegations.
Celebrating its 60th anniversary, the Italian Academy of Cuisine, Cultural Institution of the Italian Republic was founded in 1953 by journalist Orio Vergani. It is a unique non-profit association and is committed to safeguarding the invaluable heritage represented by food and national gourmet tradition, its symbol of identity, but it is also an important witness to the evolution of new trends in Italian cuisine. To celebrate its sixtieth birthday, it commissioned Doxa to carry out a survey that reveals the culinary habits of Italians in the family. But not only that. Thanks to its Research Center, it has published the volume "Italian cuisine today. Identity, disenchantment and love": the last volume of a series of gastronomic culture that takes stock of the state of the art of Italian cooking today. Finally, on May 25th, in Montecatini Terme, the AIC organized the XXIII International Conference on the civilization of the table on the theme "Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well in the New Millennium."