European inflation rates may finally be slowing, but the price of ingredients to make traditional dishes in France and Italy highlights how the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation is still weighing on households.
Bloomberg’s Coq au Vin custom index, which calculates how much French families need to spend on the ingredients needed to cook the poultry dish, was up 7.1% in August from a year earlier. On the plus side, the pace has been easing for five consecutive months.
The monthly gauge, based on data from the National Statistics Institute and the Ministry of Agriculture and Nutrition, showed the total cost of the dish fell moderately to €19.3 ($20.58). The price of chicken, which is the main ingredient of the recipe, has helped contain the cost.
At 11.2% total food inflation was even stronger, and headline inflation in France accelerated in August to its highest rate since May, at 5.7%.
By contrast, Bloomberg’s special food gauge for Italy — the Pizza Margherita index based on Istat and Ministry of Economy data — has seen a more pronounced slowdown. The basket price rise was 10.8% from a year earlier in August, compared with a peak gain of more than 30% late last year.
Yet with consumer prices for prepared pizza increasing 6.5%, it is more convenient to buy pizza at the store instead of preparing it at home, even if the gap has narrowed.
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
