Migrants are making their mark in Italy's restaurant kitchens

Migrants are making their mark in Italy's restaurant kitchens

By Alberto Chiumento

Tourists dining out in Italy are increasingly likely to find that their pizza Margherita or spaghetti alla carbonara have been prepared by a foreign worker, reflecting the growing role of outsiders in the country's famed cuisine.

Eateries and bars in Italy, where the authenticity of dishes is a matter of national pride jealously guarded by the authorities, are turning to immigrants to do the cooking in ever greater numbers, official data shows.

Non-EU workers made up 34% of new hires of cooks and pizza makers in 2023, up from 23% in 2014, according to statistics from the Labour Ministry analysed by Francesco Armillei, an economics researcher at Milan's Bocconi University.

The share of newly hired non-EU kitchen assistants such as cleaners and dishwashers is even higher at 58%, and the data probably underestimates the true picture as they omit undeclared workers who are particularly common in the restaurant business.

"The industry heavily relies on foreign workers, especially in mid-range and lower-end restaurants," Colombian chef Roy Caceres, who started out as a dishwasher and now runs the Michelin-starred restaurant Orma in Rome, told Reuters.

The ranks of foreign kitchen staff are swelling just as Giorgia Meloni's rightist government is striving to protect national culinary traditions, renaming the agriculture ministry as the "ministry for agriculture and food sovereignty".

Immigrants are often more willing than Italians to accept the long shifts and stagnant wages on offer in many restaurants kitchens, Caceres said.

"It's both stunning and paradoxical to see that (they) prepare delicious carbonara and Amatriciana pasta dishes without ever tasting them, as the ingredients include pork and most of them are Muslim," he added.

SHRINKING POPULATION

The trend of employing more immigrants coincides with a drop in enrolments in Italian schools that prepare students for a career in hospitality and also the flight abroad of young Italian chefs frustrated by low wages, hard working conditions and poor career prospects.

With an ageing and shrinking population, Italy's dependence on immigrants is not limited to the food and catering industry. Construction, agriculture and caregiving are among other sectors where the role of non-EU citizens is steadily growing.

Just under 9% of Italy's roughly 59 million residents are foreigners, with just around 6% from outside the EU, according to 2023 data from national statistics agency ISTAT.