salame di patate

As Italian specialities go, this one, from the Canavese region of Piedmont, is fairly recent: during the hungry days of the Second World War, the locals, unable to find their usual salame ingredients, started adding boiled potatoes. Today the mix includes nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon. A day later it's boiled, and either spread on bread or served up in a frittata.

In January, Settimo Rottaro near Lake Varese celebrates all aspects of the pig and the rural tradition of letting nothing go to waste at the three day Sagra del Salam ‘d patata.