The weekend of January 19thth was fast approaching, which meant that someone would need to make the long drive to Milan to turn in our leased Peugeot station wagon (Long story as to why we needed to drive so far away, its an Italian thing :>). When we came to Italia in August, I had created a lengthy list of places that I wanted to visit, ranking them with one, two or three stars in importance (I know, how freaking type “A” of me!). One of the cities that received three stars (The highest rating) of places to visit was Bologna. One might ask why I would rate Bologna so high with all the other wonderful destinations at our fingertips and the answer is real simply “Gastronomy”. This may be a word that the average American is unfamiliar with, however it is used frequently in Europe and especially in Italia. Gastronomy is the study of the relationship between culture and food and is often referred to as “The art of Cooking”. Maybe we don’t have this word in the US because there are so few artists in this area :>)
Anyway, Bologna is often thought of as the “Gastronomic” capital of Italy (This is saying a whole hell of a lot with all the great food cities that this country possesses. To give you an idea, the following were invented in Bologna: Lasagna, Tortellini, Bolognese (Meat sauce) and finally the mother of all Mortadella (Those unfamiliar with mortadella, it is the lunch meat that the Americans tried to adopt some fifty years ago when they came out with the cold cut Bologna in supermarkets. What we ate as kids with French’s Mustard on wonder bread is a pitiful attempt to replicate what many (Including my daughter Olivia) consider to be the “Lunch Meat of the Gods”. Livy will eat it every day if we let her. Those that have not tried a thinly sliced cut of good Mortadella on a piece of rustic bread, are simply missing out on a memorial experience.
To regress for a moment, I left on a Friday morning to make the long trek to Milano to return our car. The highway between Florence and Milan is mostly barren flat farm land where much of the Italian wheat is grown to produce the country’s much needed semolina flower for pasta. I have made this drive a few times before, but only in summer months and had felt as if I was making the infamous drive to Vegas with nothing of esthetic value to look at. This time it was much more pleasant as the numerous rain storms that we have had this winter, had turned the landscape into an endless panorama of emerald pastures. About two thirds of my way to Milan, hunger set in and it was time for lunch. I pondered making it a quick one by pulling over to the side of the highway for a “to go” sandwich at the “Autogrill” (This may sound mediocre, but those that have been to Italia will tell you that even Italy’s version of an AM PM serves up good food!) but then I came to my senses and realized that I was only twenty kilometers from Parma! For those that are not aware, Parma is the home of two of God’s greatest gastronomic gifts to mankind, Parmesan Cheese and Prosciutto Di Parma. All of you have had parmesan cheese (Perhaps not from Parma however). Before we go further, the crap in the green can is not what I’m talking about here! When I refer to parmesan cheese, I’m talking about a nice wedge cut straight from a large wheel that you grate or thinly slice on your own, simply heaven. For those that have not had prosciutto, it is perhaps Italy’s most famous cold cut (Salami is right up there too). Prosciutto is a long time staple of my family (We had it every year for Christmas and Easter when I was a child) and perhaps no one enjoys it more than me besides my dad, who is a prosciutto freak! The word “Proscuitto” in Italian means “Ham”, but this slice of the pig (Its leg) is not cooked, rather it is cured meaning that it is covered in course salt and hung outside for up to six months where it cooks slowly under its salt crust in the warm Italian sunshine. Thinly sliced proscuitto is a delicacy in America where a pound can set you back nearly 30.00 for Parma’s well known ham.
I found a nice looking little trattoria on the side of the highway and asked my waiter to suggest the specialties of the house. First he brought me a plate of thinly sliced proscuitto with fresh shaved parmesan cheese on top, along with a glass of crisp white wine and some rustic bread. It could have ended there for me with great satisfaction, but this was followed by a plate of fresh made ravioli stuffed with ricotta and parmesan cheese in butter with fried sage leaves. Bury me NOW I thought, I’m ready to meet God at the gates! With a drive of nearly one hour still in front of me, the meal was not complete without a café’ doppio (Double espresso).
Following my dropping off of the car, I boarded my 90 minute train to Bologna where Anna and the kids met me at the train station (They took the train after school from Florence). Our mission was simply, to experience the gastronomic pleasures of Bologna Il Grasso as it is known in Italy “Bologna the Fat One”! The next two days were all about one thing eating and we didn’t get cheated. There is a great book that has been a New York Times Best Seller titled “The 1000 Places To See Before You Die”. In this book there are nearly 50 places alone within Italy and the one place in Bologna is a place called The Quadrilatero, known as Bologna’s gastronomic epicenter. The Quadrilatero is a neighborhood of narrow cobblestone streets filled with shop after shop of freshly made food, produce, meat and fish. If you’re hungry, you’ve arrived at heaven on earth. The “Hot Spot” of the Quadrilatero is Tamburini (Italy’s finest food emporium) which boasts numerous artistically packaged foods, fresh hand made pastas, salads and meats. Our two days in this medieval city resulted in two great meals that included meat tortellini in a clear soup broth, lasagna with meat sauce, sautéed veal with proscuitto, pasta Bolognese (Meat sauce) and of course Mortadella sliced thin with rustic bread.
If you like food, you must make a pilgrimage to Bologna one day, if not…well then no need to make the trip :>)
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