Parma (Italy): A Capital of European Gastronomy Reviewed by Ruth Paget
Giuliano Bugialli wrote Parma: A Capital of European Gastronomy to firmly establish this small town in the Po River Valley between the Appenine Mountains in Northern Italy as a destination-worthy tour stop for outstanding food in Parma and its surrounding Emilia-Romagana region.
Eight luxury food items assure work and healthy food for its inhabitants in this region:
1-Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese
2-Prosciutto di Parma
3-Butter from Parma
4-Balsamic vinegar from Modena
5-Mostarda di Cremona – fruit mustard
6-handmade, fresh egg ribbon pasta like tagliatelle
7-handmade, fresh egg stuffed pasta like tortellini and anolini
8-ragù sauce made from slow-cooked meat with tomato sauce
Bugialli intersperses the cookbook’s well-written recipes with cultural photo essays about food and the people who have influenced the region’s diet with essays on the following:
-parmagiano-reggiano cheese production
-Parma and Duchess Maria Luigia, who was Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife
-Crosetti di Bedonia – flat pasta discs that are stamped with a family’s crest for events like weddings
-prosciutto di Parma production
-pork and its various cured meats production including a meat map to show where cured meats come from on a pig
Bugialli states that most recipes from this region are simple, but make use of its outstanding food products to create rich flavors.
Some examples of recipes that make great use of Parmesan cheese, for example, include:
-creamy rice soup
-Swiss chard gnocchi
-cardoon casserole (cardoons are related to leeks)
-fennel casserole
Readers interest in using a limited amount of high quality ingredients to produce healthy and delicious food would probably enjoy reading Giuliano Bugialli’s Parma: Capital of European Gastronomy along with restaurant workers.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
