Culinary Bologna and Modena

A panzu pina u s’ragiona mej (‘You think best with a full belly) An old Bolognese saying

Many Italians, however, say you eat better here than anywhere else; the locals certainly believe it and show it with their reputation as the nation’s greatest trenchermen and biggest drinkers. In other words, if you love to eat, you’ve come to the right place. The food shops lining the narrow streets of the Quadrilatero and Mercato di Mezzo are works of art.

Salumi

Salumi means cured pork products – cold cuts, if you will – and Emilia-Romagna is the cold-cut capital of Italy, where the most typical antipasto is a selection of salumi. This usually includes thin slices of the world-famous Parma ham (prosciutto di Parma), and, if you’re lucky, culatello di Zibello. Even more revered and expensive than the famous ham of Parma, this is pork loin cured like prosciutto, prepared only in the humid lowlands of the Po Valley. Connoisseurs say the real thing, properly matured, is hard to find but worth looking out for. But that’s only the tip of the salumi iceberg. Bologna has been making mortadella since the Middle Ages (the ‘baloney’ of American kid lunches is a dumbed-down imitation), and lardo stagionato, which sounds like ‘seasoned lard’ but isn’t. Try it with a warm crescentina, similar to focaccia.

Pasta, pasta, pasta