Tuesday, March 29, 2011

what is the Best Food in Italy

what is the Best Food in Italy
Driving into Parma from the south on the Autoroute, you pass the Padillo Pasta Plant. It’s only the first indication that you are entering a town that has a long and proud culinary history. The city’s reputation, even among gourmands from other great Italian culinary towns is unassailable: Parma has some of the best food in Italy (by which they mean: the world). A culinary tour of Parma and the surrounding area may settle the question for the visitor.


The secret to the food here is not just an appreciation for fine cuisine. Special regional foods are sustainably and organically made according to methods handed down through generations. Visitors interested not only in what they eat, but in what makes it special, can tour some of the production facilities, which supports local businesses and sustainable farming and food production practices.

Parma is Part of the Bread-Basket of Italy

The entire region of Emilia Romagna is a sort of foodie heaven. Known as the “bread basket of Italy” it is bucolic and pastoral, with ancient castle-fortresses looming over quiet farms. You won’t see any stockyards here: Cattle munch contentedly on green grass, and the farmers take pride in using traditional methods. A visitor can arrange to stay in small inns that are hundreds of years old, where traditional meals are served. Castles hidden in the Apennines contain fine restaurants, and maybe a dungeon or two

Parma is renowned for two of its traditional products, both holding a “Protected Designation of Origin” certification: Prosciutto di Parma (also known as Parma ham) and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Both are made according to exacting traditional specification that regulate ingredients, manufacturing processes, and aging conditions and time. Visitors can arrange to visit the small-scale factories where these products are made the traditional way, using processes handed down through many generations.

Parmigiao-Reggiano Cheese

For a quick history of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, the Parmigiano-Reggiano Museum in nearby Seragna contains exhibits on how Parmesan cheese is made, and how it was made in pre-industrial days. (The production of cheese here goes back at least as far as the year 1200).
The museum also confronts the visitor with a collection of packages of “hijacked” cheeses: so-called Parmesan Cheeses in gaudy (often bright shiny green) packaging in various languages, from various countries. The disgust in a guide’s voice is almost palpable as he gestures contemptuously at these imposters

Interested visitors can tour some of the Parma cheese factories. At the C.P.L Factory at 15 Via Puppiola, Baganzolino, outside Parma, visitors can not only watch the cheese being made, but also buy cheese, Modena vinegar, Parma ham, and other local specialties. And if they come in on the right day, they may find themselves listening to a musical concert in one of the cheese aging rooms; the room has been found to have excellent acoustics, and for the Italians, combining food and music is only natural.)

Prosciutto di Parma: Not Just a Slice of Ham

Parma ham, also known as prosciutto di Parma, is another P.D.O. product, made to exacting specifications. After being brought to the factory, the hams are salted and stored for varying amounts of time in a series of aging chambers, where their density, mold, salt content, and temperatures are closely monitored. Only ham made in this way can be called prosciutto.
In addition to prosciutto di Parma, another regional P.D.O specialty is the culatello (“little buttocks”) a smoked ham that is painstakingly made by small producers from the meat of special black Parma pigs. If you have a chance, definitely try it, because it’s much rarer than Prosciutto, and even if you could find it imported to your home couutry, you might not be able to afford it there!.
Cheese and hams are made not only in formal manufacturing facilities, but also in the cellars of private homes.Some of these homes like the Antica Corte Palavicina Relais along the Po River in Polesine Parmense, are in historic buildings that have been renovated as inns. Many ofer tastings of their local products.

More information about agritourism visits to manufacturers and farms can be made at the tourist office in Parma.,45 Strada della Republica, Parma. The Association of the Parma Province Food Museums has brochures about related food museum exhibits in the area, for visitors curious to learn more about why Emelia-Romagna is said to have the best food in Italy

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