“I use lots of mango, passion fruit in my pastry, so I like to combine exotic fruits into my more traditional creations,” says Norihiko Terai a leading pastry chef from Japan, who points out that his philosophy, for example, is based on the use of “not too much sugar or oil.”

Using “green” products is, of course, all about promoting sustainability, in Italy as elsewhere. “This is the only weapon we will have to safeguard biodiversity, and our ability to operate on a high level in the sector. Just imagine, for example, what will happen if mankind messes up its relationship with bees. How would we achieve a high standard of quality if we couldn’t use honey,” says Gino Fabbri, from Bologna, who has always been on the front line of an idea of pastry-making that combines innovation with the big classics. And if the precept coming from the Far East is non-negotiable, “then we need get back to basics, keep what we’ve got and simplify as far as possible,” says Terai. The role tradition plays especially in a country like ours is fundamental. “I am convinced that pastry-making will have to take its cue from tradition, going forward. That doesn’t mean making old-fashioned kinds of pastry, it means reinventing it technologically and aesthetically. And then you also have to have the very best ingredients, all Italian if possible,” Fabbri goes on.

So what exactly will the trends in pastry-making be? How will the sector change? “I don’t think there’ll be any major changes once things get back to normal. Even delivery services, which everyone’s talking about right now, is a thing limited to the big cities. It has disappeared in small towns,” says Fabrizio Galla, a pupil of Iginio Massari and owner of a patisserie in San Sebastiano Po, just outside Turin. What will not change, though, is the need to keep innovating: “that’s fundamental in terms of both the ingredients and the equipment we use, and we must innovate consistently.” The only weapon there is to prevent places closing down or from scaling back their activities.