Main.java

import com.lowagie.text.Chunk;
import com.lowagie.text.Document;
import com.lowagie.text.DocumentException;
import com.lowagie.text.Element;
import com.lowagie.text.List;
import com.lowagie.text.ListItem;
import com.lowagie.text.Paragraph;
import com.lowagie.text.html.simpleparser.HTMLWorker;
import com.lowagie.text.html.simpleparser.StyleSheet;
import com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfPCell;
import com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfPTable;
import com.lowagie.text.pdf.PdfWriter;

import java.io.FileOutputStream;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.StringReader;

public class Main {

  public static final String HTML = "<p>Food:</p>\n" +
      "<ul>\n" +
      "<li>Drink</li>\n" +
      "<li>Fruit</li>\n" +
      "<li>Vegetables</li>\n" +
      "</ul>\n" +
      "<p>Furniture:</p>\n" +
      "<ul>\n" +
      "<li>Table</li>\n" +
      "<li>Chair</li>\n" +
      "</ul>\n" +
      "<p>Relatives:</p>\n" +
      "<ul>\n" +
      "<li>Sister</li>\n" +
      "<li>Brother</li>\n" +
      "<li>Nephew</li>\n" +
      "</ul>";

  public static void main(String args[]) throws DocumentException, IOException {
    FileOutputStream out = new FileOutputStream("test.pdf");
    Document document = new Document();
    PdfWriter pdfWriter = PdfWriter.getInstance(document, out);
    document.open();
    PdfPTable table = getPdfPTable();
    document.add(table);
    document.close();
  }

  private static PdfPTable getPdfPTable() throws IOException {
    PdfPTable table = new PdfPTable(1);
    table.addCell(getGoodPdfPCell());
    table.addCell(getBadPdfPCell());
    table.addCell(getBestPdfPCell());
    return table;
  }

  /*
   * Shows a case when an unordered list is parsed and add to a cell.
   * The issue is no space between bullet and a text item.
   */
  private static PdfPCell getGoodPdfPCell() throws IOException {
    PdfPCell cell = new PdfPCell();
    java.util.List<Element> list = HTMLWorker.parseToList(new StringReader(HTML), new StyleSheet());
    list.forEach(cell::addElement);
    return cell;
  }

  /*
   * Everything is fine. There is a space between a list item bullet (hyphen) and a text item.
   */
  private static PdfPCell getBestPdfPCell() throws IOException {
    PdfPCell cell = new PdfPCell();
    java.util.List<Element> list = HTMLWorker.parseToList(new StringReader(HTML), new StyleSheet());
    list.forEach((element) -> {
      if (element instanceof List) {
        List newList = new List();
        ((List) element).getItems().forEach((item) -> newList.add(new ListItem((Chunk) ((ListItem) item).get(0))));
        element = newList;
      }
      cell.addElement(element);
    });
    return cell;
  }

  /*
   * Shows a case when a paragraph containing lists is added to a cell. The issue is no bullets.
   */
  private static PdfPCell getBadPdfPCell() throws IOException {
    PdfPCell cell = new PdfPCell();
    final Paragraph innerParagraph = new Paragraph();
    java.util.List<Element> list = HTMLWorker.parseToList(new StringReader(HTML), new StyleSheet());
    list.forEach(innerParagraph::add);
    cell.addElement(innerParagraph);
    return cell;
  }
}