Food identity card: the tool to enjoy a meal out without worries

With the COVID-19 had suffered a major setback, but now this habit is back: eating out it is a custom rooted in the Italian population, however need – at noon many people choose to eat out – or for conviviality – we Italians are world famous for our savoir vivre at the table.

Often, especially lately, however, it can happen that you arrive in a new restaurant and have to change it, as the food offer does not meet the customer’s request: the menu may not include vegetarian or vegan dishes, or particular ingredients that instead are would like to try.

To overcome all this, the Food Identity Carda project that is not new, but which has undergone a relaunch in the last few months, since Covid restrictions have loosened, allowing people to go out again for lunch or dinner.

«The project was born 4 years ago, to offer greater protection to those who, while eating away from home, suffer not only from intolerances or food allergy, but he must follow a dietary regime chosen for religious, ethical or other reasons », explains the doctor Nico Donatinutritionist leading the research team behind the project.

«The CIA (Food Identity Card) was created precisely to bring together supply and demand in terms of food. The user accesses the site https://www.cartaidentitalimentare.com/, profiles himself in a fast, free and secure way. These data then serve both restaurateurs and users themselves: the former understand better what they can offer / change in their menus, while the latter can track down the restaurants targeted for them in a very short time “.

And if I am a restaurateur, what data should I enter?

«The software allows you to insert each dish complete with every ingredient, having included thousands of them, precisely to promote accuracy and reliability. Furthermore, in this way the restaurateur can demonstrate that he is as clear and transparent as possible towards customers ».

The profile of the average Italian at the table

“We have now more than 100 thousand people registered, who interact several times a day, almost every day, as needed. Certainly we have been able to observe that in Italy in terms of health, there are more and more celiacs they lactose intolerant, which represent almost 50% of our subscribers, and we can easily assume that this percentage also reflects the national situation. More and more are also those who observe a vegetarian or vegan diet (according to the data emerging from the 33rd Eurispes Italy 2021 Reporttoday 8.2% of Italians are vegan or vegetarian. This is a slight decrease compared to 2020, when they were 8.9% of the total (the highest percentage ever recorded), but still above the average for the period from 2014 to today (7.5%) . More men are vegan than women, while the situation is reversed for vegetarians, ed) ».

Next step: offer it to the scientific community

“There are ideas on how to use the CIA in the medical field, so that it can be a useful tool in the treatment of certain diseases, by accessing our data already registered and filtered by age, sex and geographical origin. This is the next step we will take ».

Other stories of Vanity Fair that might interest you are:

With the food identity card, everyone knows what you can (or want) to eat

Twenty vegetarian restaurants not to be missed in Italy

Source: Vanity Fair

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