Tortellini

If the first father of the human race was lost for an apple, what would he not have done for a plate of tortellini? an old saying in Bologna

The Bolognese are not an excitable race, but they go as gaga as Neapolitans on the subject of tortellini. For many, even the University pales before plump rings of pasta as Bologna’s culminating cultural achievement. Men have fought for the honour of tortellini; in the 1920s, when a visiting Venetian dared to insult them, a postman beat him up so badly that one ended up in the hospital and the other in jail (sentenced to six months without tortellini).

They may even be as old as the University; the first reference to turtlein, as they are known in Bolognese dialect, goes back to the 12th century when they were given to priests at Christmastide, and to this day no Christmas table in Emilia is complete without a bowl of tortellini in capon broth. A recipe discovered in a 14th-century manuscript prescribes a stuffing similar to the one used today, although with the addition of medicinal herbs.