Albanians Reduce Meat Consumption out of Necessity, Not Choice

TIRANA, August 18

Food stereotypes are widespread in the world. While Italian are identified as the greatest lovers of pizza and spaghetti, one of the most common stereotypes on Albanians is that they are big consumers of meat and bread. But recently it seems that Albanians are cutting back on meat, yet not on bread.
Official data show that people in the country are eating less meat. However, this is not related to the fact that they are embracing a vegetarian culture. This is related to the economic situation of Albanian households. The data provided by Index Mundi confirms this observation. Based on them, meat consumption in1996 was 34,000 metric tons. Further on, it continued to increase until 2007 when it reached a level of 55,000 metric tons. Afterwards, a significant decrease was marked until 2014. The data about the last two years has not been refreshed yet.
Albanians began to cut meat in 2008, which coincides with the beginning of the global financial crisis. Meat consumption in 2014 reached the level of 37,000 metric tons. The financial crisis had a direct effect on the consumption of several products that are still considered luxury foods among poor families. This is what the data of Index Mundi show about Albania.

News Source: Scan TV