Supermarket tiramisu sales have increased by 11.4% after the dessert was featured on Love Island this year, The Grocer can reveal.
According to NielsenIQ data, value sales of the dessert reached £542.5k in the week ending 30 July 2022 – after it helped cement the relationship status of winning couple Davide Sanclimenti and Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu in the episode, which aired on 24 July.
During the episode, ‘Italian stallion’ Sanclimenti served his “Turkish delight” Cülcüloğlu the dessert in a bid to win her over. ITV2 aired footage of a shirtless Sanclimenti making dessert, which he then served to Cülcüloğlu on a chopping board decorated with the words ‘Sei mia?’ or ‘Are you mine?’, written in chocolate sauce.
A happy Cülcüloğlu agreed to be “exclusive”, and fans took to Twitter to congratulate Sanclimenti for the “cute” gesture.
imagine if an italian man made you homemade tiramisu #loveisland
— corinne (@crinschultz) July 27, 2022
According to Google Trends data, searches for the Italian dessert peaked on 24 July – the same day the episode aired.
Searches for another Italian dish – carbonara – peaked just days later on 28 July, after Sanclimenti was shown cooking the pasta dish to impress his fellow contestants in the Love Island Talent Show, which aired on 27 July.
After Sanclimenti and Cülcüloğlu won by a landslide victory on 1 August – with 64% of the public vote – ‘Ekinde’ fans took to social media again, tweeting that they had eaten carbonara and tiramisu to celebrate the win.
Baileys even jumped on the bandwagon, tweeting tiramisu was “obvs the secret ingredient to a winning love life”.
Tiramisu is obvs the secret ingredient to a winning love life #LoveIsland
— Baileys (@BaileysOfficial) August 1, 2022
Elwyn Gladstone, founder of Biggar & Leith – which recently launched a Stambecco Tiramisu liqueur – said the dessert was “perfect for Love Island”.
“For starters, in Italy, it has been associated with being an aphrodisiac… Secondly, the translation of the word tiramisu is ‘pick me up’ or ’cheer me up’,” he said.
Tiramisu was “perfectly” placed to be the next big flavour trend, tapping the demand for “interesting Italian” foods and “indulgence”, Gladstone added.
A spokesman for upmarket Italian brand Crosta & Mollica said the team were “thrilled to see Italy’s most beloved dessert – the tiramisu – getting the recognition it truly deserves in the UK”.
“Davide has impressed the nation with his Italian culinary skills, putting a spotlight on authentic Italian cooking.”
As the majority of Love Island viewers were under-30s, Crosta & Mollica – which launched its own Mascarpone Cream & Marsala Tiramisu into Waitrose and Ocado earlier this year – hoped “to see recognition of the traditional Italian dessert amongst the millennial generation, reaching new and wider audiences”, he added.
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