Parmesan cheese and luscious meats make for spectacular cuisine in Emilia-Romagna.
PARMA, ITALY—At his Osteria Francescana in Modena, Massimo Botura, Italy’s most famous chef, watches me feast on a plate of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.
Nibbling chunks of this aged, artisan cheese isn’t unusual in the central Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. After all, this rich, pungent cheese has been crafted here for nearly a thousand years. Following traditions first laid out by Benedictine months, the cheesemaking has been passed from generation to generation.
A protected food product, Parmigiano-Reggiano can be made legally only amid this hilly landscape, abundant with vineyards, rich farmlands and cud-chewing cows.
And, like other gourmet gems from the area — salty prosciutto di Parma, pistachio-speckled mortadella, and thick-as-syrup traditonal balsamic vinegar — Parmigiano Reggiano evokes history, terroir and the life-embracing soulfulness of the people.
If I were to guess, most Modenese, and other Emilia-Romagnians, eat a few ounces of the cheese every day.
“It’s full of vitamins and easy to digest,” says a grandmother shopping in a salumeria (meat and cheese store) in Parma with her cheese-gnawing grandchild in tow.
The protein-loaded cheese requires 145 gallons of frech milk to make an 85-pound wheel of cheese and ages for at least 24 months and sometimes for as many as 50. Wheels of it can sell for 500 euros or more.
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