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The Taste of Parma
浏览次数:1873次 更新时间:2018-04-13

The Taste of Parma

By Yu Ding on March 22th, 2018


Most people think about Roma, Milan or Venice when they think about Italy. Because my sister married into Parma ten years ago, my Italy is all about this little town located on the North of Italy.

Love and hate a city because of someone. Parma was the last love and hate in Napoleon’s heart because this was the last territory of Queen Maria Luise who was the beloved wife of Napoleon. After Napoleon was abdicated under compulsion in 1814 and exiled to Elba, Queen Marie returned to Parma, but to resume her relationship with her lover.

As a member of French royals, Queen Marry was both romantic and elegant. Her ruling left many French culture and architecture. When you walk down the street of Parma, you will find a feeling different from other Italian cities. This romantic elegance can be found in the long novel The Charterhouse of Parma written by Stendhal(the author of The Red and the Black).

Introducing history with fancy words is the specialty of literati, the Parma in my heart is the same with Queen Marry, so I have to bring it up. There are other things may let you remember, if you ask your friend who is a fan of Serie A, you will find Buffon and Cannavaro had worn the team jersey of Parma.

We have to talk about food to taste Parmar. I guess Queen Mary must be a complete foodie and she probably loved and enjoyed life. After she started to rule, Parma became the pre-modern food base of Europe. A few years ago, the European Food Safety Authority located at Parma. This city has many premium brands such as Barilla which is a hundred years old pasta brand; the famous uncooked ham, Prosciutto di Parma; the king of Italian cheese, Parmigiano-Reggiano and the more and more famous sparkling red Lambrusco.

Ham and cheese represent the top and heritage of Parma’s food. They also show the character and the spirit of ingenuity. The recipe has been used for over seven hundred years at least, and the procedure and waiting time are controlled strictly. The producing process is still under strict supervise nowadays. There is a cheese supervision department known as Parmigiano-Reggiano. Every Parma cheese needs to be examined at its early mature period while it's still soft. Those past the examination will be heat branded on the rind with the logo. Those do no past the examination will be fed to pigs. Allegedly, the legs of pigs which growing up eating cheese become Parma ham.

That is probably why there is saying that there are only two kinds of ham, one is Parma ham, and one is other kinds of ham. There is wind, and the wind is fresh due to airflow in the valley at Parma region. This particular geographic condition created the perfect condition to create Parma ham. The local ham manor still uses the traditional way of making ham. The specialty is that the hams are dried entirely naturally without any smoke or fire. The ham will be hanged in the cellar where air flows after added the seasoning. A qualified ham will be branded with a crown shape symbol which has PARMA inside the crown shape. The pig’s leg is touched by the wind of Mediterranean every day and grow into a delicious ham. If you get lucky and find yourself in the cellar of a ham manor, you will understand the evil word Meat Forest immediately.

My Italian brother-in-law brought us to a ham manor in the suburb to explain the word Meat Forest to me. This ham manor was built in 1320, and it gives you the finest Parma ham. You can taste, buy, or choose a fine leg and let them hang it in the cellar for 36 months to dry slowly here. Every leg is tagged with the information of the buyer. Your ham may be just beside Prince Charles’s. Even the British royals have no privilege when it comes to waiting for good food. A qualified Parma ham can be kept for 10 to 12 years, and the longer, the stronger the smell is.

Mr. Lan Cai once listed the things needed to be eaten before death, and it said that the Italian Parma ham is the best. When the Italian suburb people invite somebody for dinner, they will sit around a table under a fruit tree. When the ham is served, they would reach up for the fruit and eat it with ham, and that is delicious.

The other thing that needs time to storage is cheese which is the yellow drum shape thing in the picture. Only the cheese made within the region of Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna and Parma can be called Parmigiano-Reggiano according to the law of EU. The same cheese that is made in other places cannot use this name. Parmigiano means Parma’s. Wikipedia calls it the king of cheese. This representative product can be used as a currency, the banks recognize it as a guarantee. It can be used in the mortgage.

The real Parma cheese is dry and hard. It is yellow and needs 12 months of production. The high-quality ones need at least 24 months. 16 liters milk become concentrates into one-kilogram cheese. You can see how quintessence it is! Because it needs more time concentrate, it is easier to be absorbed by the human body than other cheese. Parma cheese has a strong fruit taste and milk odor with a little bit salty flavor. The authentic way to eat pasta is to spread Parma cheese powder on the top. Italians love to slice the cheese and eat with aromatic vinegar called Aceto Balsamico di Modena. Some Italians like to chop the cheese and eat with red wine. There is another way of eating which is to cut the cheese into strips and baked in the oven with a low temperature, then eat with the special sparkling red Lambrusco. My brother-in-law taught me this way, and it became my favorite. My Parma’s taste is wine and cheese on the grassland of the manor at a nice afternoon.

Parma is more than food, and this town has a long history and rich culture. It was the city of the manner in the middle age. The Roman architectures Parma Cathedral and the Gothic campanile at downtown are over five hundred years old. The San Giovanni Evangelista is famous because of the fresco Vision of St. John the Evangelist which is worth the trip. But compared to the previous two, the octagonal Baptistery built with pink marble seems more unique. The paintings on the dome inside are breathtaking. This 820 years old architecture is listed as one of the most important middle age ancient site. This Baptistery is still doing its holy job till today.

The small plaza beside the cathedral downtown has many special small shops. The old shopping window and the rusty mirror that reflects the view of the old town made me felt like time traveled back. Speaking of the shops, I have to mention the hundred years old Italian treasure fragrance brand Acqua di Parma which means the water of Parma. It is the perfect representative of Italian royal lifestyle. It is also the proudest part of Parma. Although LVMH which is a luxury corporation has purchased Acqua di Parma, the insistence on handmade and high quality is nearly illiberal. This perfume formula did not change for a hundred years, and it still uses the ancient handmade distillation. Its charm and fragrance won the title Water of the Time. The fragrance of Acqua di Parma draws the immortal Goddess Audrey Hepburn, Beckham, Kate Moss and many other celebrities. The media calls it as the top secret of upper-class. In the end, it becomes the small plaza of Parma and people of Parma who would not leave the house without perfume.

On the other corner of this plaza is a luxury brand MaxMara. It has shops all over the world, and its headquarter is in Parma. A big brand which infiltrated the globe is very cheap here. As if it is telling the world that Parma is noble and easy-going.“After working in the government for three generations finally knows how to dress and eat.”Parma as the private plot of the royals has been prosperous for hundreds of years away from the world. And this creates a unique heritage of fashion and food attitude which can wait.


I walked through the buildings which all could apply world heritage relics again and again as if I was traveling through the long time of middle ages.

To experience and taste Parma is to experience and taste the cultural connotation which doesn’t have fault, the vitality which is both classic and fashion, the lively details and people living in this environment. Women waiting their loved ones under the porch of the theaters, handsome boys talking in groups in Duke's Garden. Everywhere is full of the freshness, spirituality and leisure of life. It makes people calm and happy.


Introduction of the author


Yu Ding

She is a literary young woman who travels around the world to eat around the world. She created a retail brand of luxury brands, ANKH. She represents Italian luxury brands in China. She often goes to Italy due to work.


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