Journey to the Land of Ham and Cheese

Over the next few weeks, I hope to serve a generous portion of stories and pictures from my recent visit to Parma, Italy. I’ll try not to ham it up or say anything too cheesy while sharing the best bits from my trip, but as far as foodie destinations go, Parma and the surrounding countryside of Emilia Romagna were a slice above most places I’ve had the pleasure to eat my way through (have my puns started to grate on your nerves yet?).

I’m not a bucket list kind of guy. Some of the most exciting and meaningful experiences in my life were completely unexpected and unfolded in ways that never could have been compressed to be mere line items on some grocery list of wishful thinking. I believe the best moments in life are often coupled with a strong element spontaneity and that a flexible approach towards living yields more fun and opportunity than keeping such intense focus on future goals that you loose sight of the good things around you now.

Still, if I’d have had a bucket list, Parma would have been on it. It’s one destination I’ve wanted to see for a very long time … since I was a little kid actually. The city’s got a cheese named after it for Pete’s sake – a cheese of such value that locals put wheels of it in bank vaults. I remember spaghetti nights around the family table as a child pondering the grated cheese and why it was so different – and so much better than – the other cheeses I’d tried.

Of course, the local ham ain’t half bad either. Do you remember the first time you tried Parma ham? I do actually. Proscuitto wasn’t all that accessible in the small north Georgia town when I grew up, but moving to New York as a young man, it became a staple of my diet after my first bite at a neighbourhood deli. Thin slices of melt-in-your-mouth savouriness? Per favore! Years later living in London with roughly a dozen or so visits to Italy behind me, Parma ham seems a little more commonplace. Nevertheless, to this day it rocks my palate each and every time I’m fortunate enough to eat some.

My recent (as in last week) journey to Parma was an effort to continue to “discover the origin” of some of Europe’s most delicious foods. Discover the Origin is an Italo-Franco-Portuguese alliance united to raise awareness about five of Europe’s 1,873 Protected Designation of Origin products: Port and Douro wines, Burgundy wines (more on Burgundy here), Parma ham and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

The fact that two of these iconic treats come from the same small region says a lot about how wonderful it. To be sure, the ham and cheese are exquisite in Parma. The shops, bars and restaurants offer them proudly, along with all sorts of other tasty delights as well. And there’s great – if under appreciated – wines from the area too. Parma’s as scrumptious a spot as any I’ve come across.

Keep an eye out for more posts about why Parma and its food and drink are so special. Until my next post, feel free to take a look all the photos I took during my trip:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tikichris/sets/72157631465346562/