Food & Dining,  Money, Economics, Politics

Peru’s Panettone Is Fake, Says Italy

A tower of Peruvian-made panettone entices shoppers at Wong supermarket, Miraflores (photo c. Barbara Drake 2008)

Peruvians and  Brazilians love their locally-made panettone, an Italian-style Christmas cake that’s grown into a multimillion-dollar business for bakers in South America.

Now the Italian Cake Industry group wants nonItalian manufacturers to conform to strict baking standards or stop calling their cakes “panettone,” reports Reuters:

Keep Christmas cake Italian, panettone makers say

Dec 12, 2007 ROME (Reuters) – Italy already has strict rules governing the origin and quality of its wine, while Parmigiano parmesan cheese can only be made in Parma and regulations on “Italian” olive oil are being tightened.

Now Christmas cake has become the latest product that the government and manufacturers want to protect from foreign imitations.

Italian bakers produce some 117 million panettone and pandoro cakes every Christmas — worth 579 million euros ($849 million). By law they must be made according to strict rules, including using only butter and beer yeast.

But those rules do not apply abroad, meaning exported Italian cakes may not be up to scratch, and foreign-made versions may only bear a vague resemblance to the tall, puffy, golden desserts prized by Italians.

“Just think — seven out of 10 panettoni and pandori exported to the United States do not respect the production norms. Seven out of 10 Americans buying an ‘Italian-style’ panettone are getting a fake,” Alberto Bauli, head of the Italian Cake Industry, told a news conference.

Click here for the full article.

The bru-ha-ha goes all the way up to Italian Agriculture Minister Paolo De Castro, who wants to take action with the World Trade Organisation.

All I can say to Castro and the Italian cake jefe is: Have fun trying to stop the so-called bomba panettones. You’re too late.

Panettone manufacturing has been around for decades in Latin America, and the business is booming.

Todinno, one of Peru’s major manufacturers, reported that sales had risen by mid-November, despite the international financial crisis. Sales of Peruvian panettone alone were expected to exceed $110 million, according to a Nov. 24 news item in Andino:

The Peruvian panettone market is still dynamic and would increase by 7% this year, with sales for about 110 millions dollars, Todinno Company stated today.

“The consumption of panettones in the country [Peru] have been growing in a good pace for the last years and despite the international financial crisis, we have seen this Christmas campaign come ahead of time,” said Carlos Bravo, general manager of Todinno.

“In previous years, sales only reached 40 per cent by this time of year, but now sales have accelerated and we have already achieved 60% in mid-November,” he told Andina news agency.

(Full article here.)

Not only are sales of Todinno and other Peruvian panettone rising in Peru, they’re also up in Venezuela, Chile, Panama, Brazil, United States and Japan, Bravo said.

Sounds like Italy is getting riled up about the authenticity of S.A. panettone because it resents losing out on worldwide sales. If this issuch a serious concern to Italian bakers, why didn’t they raise a fuss decades ago when Italian immigrant Nicolas D’Onofrio first started baking sweet cakes in Peru?

It’s all about the money.

Moreover, the logic doesn’t hold for this product. What’s next? Start suing foreign businesses for making Italian bread? Ciabatta? Pesto? Marinara sauce?

I am an American writer who lived in Lima for seven years (2007-2014), where I covered Andean traditions, melting glaciers and daily life in the capital for Miami Herald, MSNBC and Huffington Post. I now live and work in northern Florida where I champion climate change advocacy and compassionate, affordable eldercare.

21 Comments

  • Marcela

    Hi!

    I’m Peruvian, and I’m with you: ‘good luck to them trying to stop that.’
    I’ve tried sooo many Panettones, but my favorite one still has to be Donofrio. I still haven’t found one that has surpassed that quality, for me at least. So I hope no one tries to stop Donofrio from continuing their Panettone. It’s one of the things I look forward to the most in December 🙂
    Here is a post I wrote about it.
    🙂

  • Barb

    I think a lot of Peruvians would agree with you, Marcela. It’s too late to change the custom of Peruvian panettone, and I don’t think that manufacturers are going to start paying licensing fees to Italy. I mean, this is the land of bamba DVDs and fake Lacoste shirts. Peruvian businesspeople aren’t going to start handing over soles to Italy.

  • Stuart

    I don’t see any problem with this, in fact, Italy should arrange for South American countries like Peru to abandon all Panetón production.

    How?

    Well, firstly every Peruvian of Italian ancestry needs to be compensated with several million euros for surrendering rights to their cultural heritage, then every Peruvian of non-Italian ancestry needs to be compensated for the loss of the benefits enjoyed by having Italian-descended countrymen. Once these fees are paid, Peru would then cease production of Panetón and start importing Panettone.

    Sounds fair to me, but, it’s probably cheaper for Italy to STFU.

    While we’re at it, how much could we sell the rights to Chifa to China for? We could always cash in and start eating Taiwanese fusion food.

  • Ward

    Next up… no one can sell a round cheesy thinghie named pizza unless at least one family member belongs to the mob ;(

  • Erika

    I lived in Italy for 2 years and let me tell you , I like Donofrio’s panettone the best !!..

  • M.Isabel

    Har har 😀 well, let them try… I will laugh my ass off!!

    BTW dear Barbara, it’s not bomba, it’s “bamba” (fake).

  • Kate

    Yes, Italy should shut up about this, just as soon as Peruvians stop whining about Chilean Pisco.

  • Marcos

    Panetons of Pannetones are Peruvian. In Italy, they are only a tradition of norther Italy, a regional thing, while in Peru panetons are pretty much consumed nationwide.

  • Keith Berry

    It’s a friggin cake with fruits.
    Whether it’s made in Italy, Peru or Timbukto.
    I can’t see what all the fuss is about.
    Donofrio is a great Panettone and so are most of the Italian versions.
    So what is all the fuss about.
    Bottom line. If the cake is available and tastes good people will pay for it.
    If it tastes like crap then people will look elsewhere. Chow, or should I say Ciao!

  • Mary

    Well, and by now Panetón might not be Pannetone as Chifa is not Chinese food strictly speaking! Haven’t these guys heard about fusion food? Just let them have the Peruvian pesto that isn’t even called that but “tallarines verdes” – I happen to like this more than the original pesto sauce (in fact, tallarines verdes is my favorite dish!).

  • Jan Briggs

    I was never fond of paneton since I don’t like the sugared fruit. I would eat the ones made with chocolate chips. However, this year I found a paneton (sorry, can’t remember the brand) made in Cusco by hand. The fruits and the dough were wonderful. We gave some to friends and relatives and the younger generation didn’t care for them. My Peruvian father-in-law, who is 88 and a baker when young, loved them. For me, Donofrio and others make them too sweet.

  • Angelo

    No, we don’t have Fiasconaro Panettone. I ate it in Italy but I never saw that brand in Peru. We Peruvians eat Peruvian Panettones such as DONOFRIO, MOTTA, ROVEGNO or TODDINO. Those brands were created for Italian inmigrants in Peru, more than 60 years ago.

    It does not make sense to me that Italian Bakery Industry try to stop the productivity of these Peruvian companies .

  • Oscar

    Hello, I’m Peruvian and all my life I’ve eaten panettone…specially in Christmass!
    In my humble opinion the best Peruvian Panettone is Donofrio and the best Italian panettone is Tre Marie.
    Peruvians never denied that panettone is of Italian origin, on the other hand Chileans want people to believe that Pisco is originally theirs…that is the difference.

  • Michael Dunn

    How do the Peruvians feel about Chileans using the name Pisco? Double standards?

  • Sara Spock

    Oh yum! I love Donofrio’s (and their ice cream if it’s the same company?) I miss it with a nice cup of sweet and spicy chocolate.

    Great blog, Barbara!

  • walt

    Peruvians don’t really care if Chile makes a sub standard Pisco – they mostly care that Chileans (whom are destined to never come up with anything original ) try and receive co-credit for its origins /creation. Even the town Pisco is in Peru