Cured meats have been one of my favorite things to order at restaurants since I was a kid. I have loved their savory taste and salty flavor. In this article, I take a deeper look at the history of this food and where it came from. Before we discuss the history of cured meat, we must learn the main three groups of this amazing snack. The first group is prosciutto which is the whole hind leg of a pig or the ham. It’s a salty taste makes it a favorite of Italians. The second group is salami which is highly seasoned sausage. It has more of a tart taste than prosciutto and can sometimes be spicy. The last main group is pepperoni which is either beef or pork sausage seasoned with pepper. It is well known for being a classic pizza topping and can be used well in salads. Although these foods are quite similar in taste, they were invented in very different eras. Prosciutto in 1963, salami in the year 19, and pepperoni in 1919. Prosciutto originated in Italy in high-class restaurants where it was only for the rich. It continues to be so expensive because it takes much effort and time to age this European delicacy. Usually, prosciutto is thinly sliced but sometimes can be cut into slightly larger chunks. It is more commonly sliced into thin pieces, though, because the cut makes it taste a little more tart. Next is salami which is from Genoa, Italy and started out as a fermented meat dish that was brought to America by Italian natives. It was one of the first fermented meats and could stay in a pantry for several weeks on end. This made it a favorite of peasants at the time because they could buy mass quantities and store them until they were needed. It is not surprising that salami has a robust, salty taste because the Italian word Salame originates from the word sale meaning salt. Third and finally, Pepperoni was first made in Milan, Italy and is close to salami in shape and taste. Pepperoni is usually spicier than salami, although salami can be hot as well. Another more prominent difference between the two is that pepperoni is produced with an artificial casing whereas salami has no casing. It is so similar, in fact, that in Italy they call pepperoni salame piccante. Although pepperoni was an entirely Italian concept that was meant to be eaten by itself, Americans enjoyed the taste of it on pizza. Pepperoni is known for being an amazing, spicy, and greasy food that is enjoyed all around the world. After this article, I hope you have learned a great deal about cured meats. And most of all I hope that because of this article you are inclined to try this magnificent food!
A Brief History of Pasta
Pasta is one of my favorite foods. For years it has been an easy, convenient meal for me and my family. Recently, I was boiling some pasta and I was wondering, what was exactly the history of this tremendously tasty food. I did some research and discovered the long, complicated past of noodles. Pasta is traditionally made from wheat, water, eggs, and salt. The first pasta dish was made in Sicily and dates back to 1154. Historians have noted that this first recipe was closer to a lasagna than to what we know today as our traditional noodles because it had a meat stuffing. Another difference of this dish from modern day pasta is that it is not cooked like either fresh or dry pasta. With that said, there is no concrete evidence of pasta up until the 13th or 14th century. The first pastas were made by boiling a big sheet of dough, but as time progressed people decided that was not efficient enough. According to Greek mythology, the first mention of a pasta maker was when the god Hephaestus make long strands of dough and compressed them through two rotating tubes. In the 14th and 15th centuries, pasta became extremely popular for its easy storage. This allowed people to easily transport pasta with them on their journey to the New World. Once voyagers made landfall, pasta was spread across the world. Pasta manufacturing machines have been made since the 1600s on the coast of Italy in a city named Sanremo. This over time made the Sanremo area one of the world’s most famous food destinations for tourists and locals alike. If pasta was good before, things were just getting started with the introduction of sauces. You could have pasta with tomato sauce, or with three-cheese sauce. You could have it with alfredo sauce or barbecue sauce if you are into that. A fun fact about pasta is that an average Italian person consumes about three times more pasta than an average American a year. Another fun fact is that pasta is so beloved in Italy that individual consumption exceeds the average production of wheat in the country; thus Italy frequently imports more wheat from other countries to make pasta. Pasta was originally only part of Italian and European cuisine, but immigration caused the food to spread to the U.S., Canada, and many more countries. The food was also taken so far away that it was an essential part of South African cooking. Thank you for reading this article and I hope after reading it you can know and remember the history of pasta every time you have it for dinner.
