The History Of Prosciutto
Ladies and gentlemen it’s Voices From The Fog! Welcome to the history of Prosciutto brought to you by Volpi Foods. While some myths can be traced to humbler origins, and even connected with other cultures’ myths, the story of Prosciutto is so simple and so ridiculous that it bears a quick review.
A Roman Pig Story
Word has it that thousands of years ago the Romans had, amongst its many residents of the livestock persuasion, a happy pig named Franco. Now there’s our first problem right there, no way that pig had a name. Anyway, little Franco was wandering out in Rome one day… Hold up! A pig, which is a food animal usually confined to a pen and probably worth a pretty penny back then, is out in the streets of Rome like a tourist in heels, dangling hat, bags and garment bags from the hottest local clothiers?
Resuming… Franco is getting a little long in the tooth. Dang it! What pig has ever had a chance to get old? I suppose as Socrates famously said “Don’t let facts screw up a good story” also the guy who brought us “What’s that over there?” So our little curly-tailed friend Franco is wearing his Italian glasses from a Fellini movie and walking through the forum contemplating his small pig existence amongst the great universal expanse. He knows it is time for him to meet his maker and he climbs all seven of the Seven Hills and hits the beach.
He wanders in to dip his hooves, feeling the coolness of the ocean for the first time and smelling the freshness and salinity all around. As he dips into the watery blue fathoms of the sea, Franco draws his final breath and expires. After spending over a year as a dead pig and eventually washing up on the beach, some industrious peasants eventually stumble upon Franco’s petrified carcass and have a bite. Prosciutto was born! Isn’t myth so much better than a neglectful farmer who lost his pig, let it drown and some hobo is resorted to eating the bloated carcass, shrugged, and said “Yeah not bad”?
