There are few things more Italian than the sight of a freshly-baked pizza emerging from a wood-fired oven, but Italy is now facing an acute shortage of pizza makers.
Despite a long recession and high unemployment, Italians are shunning the job because of the long hours and modest pay.
But with a slice of pizza an increasingly popular lunch time option in times of economic hardship, the pizza sector is booming – and an estimated 6,000 new “pizzaioili” are needed, according to FIPE, an Italian business federation.
“Notwithstanding the economic crisis and unemployment, it is proving difficult to find them,” the association said in a report released this week.
Italians may be reluctant to get their hands dirty by stoking ovens and kneading dough, but foreign immigrants have no such qualms and are now filling the gap, producing an increasing share of the three billion pizzas that Italians eat each year.
Egyptians have shown themselves to be particularly adept at mastering the art of the perfect pizza and now run many of the pizza restaurants and hole-in-the-wall takeaways in big cities like Rome, Milan and Turin.
Not that we should be all that surprised. There is not enough time to both toss pizza for pasty Brits and ride around on your scooter saying “caio”.
“Egyptians have shown themselves to be particularly adept at mastering the art of the perfect pizza and now run many of the pizza restaurants and hole-in-the-wall takeaways in big cities like Rome, Milan and Turin.”
There’s a joke waiting to be made here.