Thanks again to Google trends: Italian Pizza Popularity
Google Trends and Italian Pizza Popularity (Colors Shapes and Words)
In my previous articles published on Linkedin and in this blog I have already emphasized the importance of the aesthetic in the food.
The color of food influence the choice of food and it is the first sensation that precedes the flavor. A food “ugly” is not eaten. This phenomenon in reality is much more complex as it is very difficult to define the precise aesthetic that can qualify a food as beautiful or ugly, good or bad.
These visual rules are largely related to the culture of origin of the food itself. The plates are tied to places and are color-appreciated to the people who live and eat in that place.
In my articles on French Macarons I also wonder about the difference between aesthetic beauty and flavor. To meet a standard flavor after charming aesthetic, this generates a disappointment. The disappointment involves a loss of popularity, as evidenced by Google Trends about the French Macarons.
Green, White and Red: the colors of the Italian Flag
If so we want to understand what are the colors appreciated in a country we can analyze the colors of the typical dishes of the place. The pizza is one of the dishes that best represents all of Italy and its colors are of course welcome, and are compatible with the tastes of Italian.
In fact, the pizza is highly appreciated all over the world, obviously most of his colors are widely recognized as attractive and edible.
The basic colors of pizza are definitely white, red and green. These colors are closely connected to the Italian flag. But in reality we all know that tomatoes have found spread in Italy only by the end of the sixteenth century, imported from America.
We therefore believe that in reality the colors, being related to culture change as well as change the culture.
The most famous Italian pizza (Pizza Margherita) has uncertain origins, but it certainly linked to the Italian Risorgimento of the late nineteenth century. Whereas in Italian culture Focaccia have more ancient origins of which it is difficult to find the roots and references. The colors and shapes of Focaccia are different and diverse.
Looking at Google Trends, we can understand what has changed the culture of the pizza. We also understand that many other things will change. The pizza has become tricolor during the birth of the Italian nation in the past while in Italy they ate pizza (buns) in a different color. We can imagine that the pizza and its reference colors will change in the future.
Looking at Google Trends you can see immediately that the popularity of pizza is not only Italian, to look good you see that North America, Europe and all Anglophone countries are very close to the word Pizza.
Pizza is a growing Worldwide Phenomenon
The trend of growing popularity of the word “Pizza” are remarkable and surprising. There are no reductions and downs over the past 10 years. Always new countries are added to the list of countries “blue” where the pizza is highly popular.
In the case of pizza does not seem to exist the “French Macarons” phenomenon (High-View VS Standard-Taste). The reason for this growth in popularity is certainly difficult to detect and the causes are many.
I assume, however, a first hypothesis. The word “French” in front of the word “Macarons” implies and established a precise idea of what are the Macarons. When prefacing the word “French” we hiddenly established regulations to follow.
Pizza is Italian, so Italian that you do not even need to write “Italian Pizza”. When you promote the Pizza you also promote Italy but without forcing people to read and pronounce the word “Italian” before “Pizza”.
Pizza is nice and suits different cultures (as evidenced by Google Trends). The pizza brings with it the colors of Italy (green white and red) and there is no need to explain that the pizza is Italian. To tell you the truth, we can say that the pizza has Italian origins, it still captures the signals, but Italy has given the world this recipe and all the culture that brings with it. The term “Italian” in front of the word Pizza would have a negative effect.
All this Pizza flexibility, however, is generating an expansion towards industrialization on the one hand (frozen pizzas at the supermarket) and towards Quality production and Pizza Gourmet (rediscovery of traditional Italian Pizzas and thousand different Focaccias).
How will evolve this Pizza Flexibility? I think I have the answer and I will talk about in a future article about the many names and many types of Pizza.
