Maeatball veg, meaning literally meatballs... vegetables. Impossible, you will say. Instead it is yet another oxymoron of the veg narrative which also involves the celebration, on March 9, of Meatball Day, or the day of meatballs invented in the USA and then spread throughout culinary calendars. The dough, which according to some sources has its roots in the Persian kofta, is present today all over the world, in countless varieties and recipes, obviously based on meat. But research also highlights the existence of vegetable meatballs.

In fact, for the occasion HelloFresh.it, a home delivery recipe box service, wanted to explore the wide preference of Italians towards this dish through a survey on Google search trends in this regard. Since 2019 there has been a high increase in searches for meatballs and recipes involving them: a +66.47% in 2022 therefore indicates how much our compatriots not only love eating meatballs, but also prepare them themselves.

For our compatriots, the favorite variant is the one with sauce (+34% of search volume in the period 2019 vs 2022), while vegetarian recipes are finding an increasing following, which use vegetables and legumes as the main ingredient of meatballs, including meatballs of chickpeas (+90%), peas (+81%) and cauliflower (+74%), a growing trend in the period under examination. But at least just call them meatballs.

With regard to cooking methods, tradition once again takes first place: the oven remains stable in first place when it comes to bringing meatballs to the table. Over the years, however, a new method of preparation has been establishing itself, namely the air fryer, which has undergone a positive change of 1348% in the period 2019-2022, thanks to the interest in new fast and low-cost cooking techniques. energy consumption.