Mortadella Is Having a Moment
Mortadella Is Having a Moment
What took everybody so long?
The New York Times recently published an opinion piece about Bologna that linked mortadella to the Italian city’s overtourism. The piece resonated with us for a few reasons. For starters, we felt the author’s pain since we live in Lisbon, another European city with an overtourism problem. But, mostly, it resonated because we’re hardcore mortadella fans.
This isn’t a new infatuation.
We’ve been mortadella fans since we first visited Bologna in 2010. Considering that we’ve since returned to Italy’s La Grassa (i.e. The Fat One) more than a half dozen times, for both work and pleasure, you could say that we experienced ‘love at first bite’.
Food is central to many memories of that initial trip. We ate dishes like tagliatelle al ragu, gramigna with sausage, lasagne verdi al forno and tortellini in brodo that week and ended each night with creamy, dreamy gelato. We also discovered the concept of aperitivo, the daily ritual that occurs in Bologna's Quadrilatero when late afternoon turns to dusk.
Aperitivo is the time when locals and tourists sip wine and nibble on local products like Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, culatello and, of course, mortadella. We say of course because people have been eating mortadella in Italy’s Food Valley for centuries.
Back then, in 2010, we were pleasantly surprised to see mortadella prominently displayed in Bologna’s shops and proudly placed on salumi platters. We had previously thought of domestic bologna sausage, mortadella’s close cousin, to be a guilty, low-brow pleasure. As American kids, we called the meat baloney and ate it for lunch with mayonnaise or mustard on supermarket white bread.
That baloney we ate as kids wasn’t mortadella - authentic mortadella couldn’t be imported to the US from 1967 to 2000. The stuff we ate back then had a first name and a theme song that sticks in our heads to this day. Plus, we suspect that America’s baloney may actually have German roots.
German immigrants, who eventually became known as the Pennsylvania Dutch, brought their love of Italian cured meat to the States centuries ago. There’s even a cured meat product called ‘Lebanon Bologna’ that they introduced in Lebanon, PA, a small city just north of Lancaster, that’s similar to salami.
Anyway, back to Italy.
In 2016, we spent a month living in Naples.
As if pizza and pastries weren’t enough, we discovered a sandwich shop called I Love Murtadell right near our apartment. When we later heard that the shop had closed, we briefly wondered if mortadella was falling out of favor. Clearly, in retrospect, that speculation was far from the case.
We’re now seeing mortadella everywhere whether we’re in Salerno, Philadelphia or Lisbon. The porky meat is in sandwiches and on top of pizzas. We recently saw an American chef’s Instagram post featuring a potato stuffed with mortadella which sounds kind of weird but probably tasted great.
Lately, we’ve been buying packs of mortadella and adding the cured Italian meat to pastas and salads. Sometimes we add ricotta and other times we add pesto. Then there are times when we simply pop pieces of mortadella directly into our mouths.
Perhaps we’ll eventually tire of mortadella but that hasn’t happened yet. Instead, we keep thinking of new ways to eat it. We suspect that you, our readers, appreciate mortadella too which is why we published a recipe for one of Daryl’s tasty mortadella salads. More will follow because, despite that Naples sandwich shop’s demise, we’re loud and proud when it comes to our mortadella love.
Dish of the Week - Tomato Salad with Mortadella and Ricotta
Combining seasonal, ripe tomatoes with porky mortadella and creamy ricotta creates a quick and satisfying weeknight meal that tastes great.
It may seem a bit antithetical to add meat and cheese to a fresh tomato salad; however, there's something special about the way that salty mortadella and creamy ricotta mixes with the sweet, acidic umami of an heirloom tomato.
We love this recipe and we hope you love it too.
Drink of the Week - Espresso Tonic
Summer is inching to its end and yet it’s still warm outside. Students and teachers are returning to school. As for us, we’re currently planning a Christmas trip that’s just a few months away. It’s enough to make our heads spin.
Enter the espresso tonic - a non-alcoholic drink that packs a caffeine kick that’s both refreshing and timely. Sipping this versatile coffee house standby will cool you down and pump you up at the same time. Plus, crafting an espresso tonic at home costs a fraction of the price of ordering one at a cafe.
Links We’re Liking
It’s no secret that we’re obsessed with burgers. We’re not alone. The New York Times recently published a beautiful article that speaks to our burger-loving hearts. Perhaps it will speak to yours too. | New York Times (gifted)
Don’t feel bad if you’re not on team burger. You’re also not alone. In fact, plant-based cooking is becoming more popular each and every day. | Washington Post (gifted)
We’re excited for the new season (or we should say seasons) of Chef’s Table debuting soon on Netflix. One of the episodes will feature Nok Suntaranon from Kalaya Thai in Philly. | Eater
Finally, here’s the link for the opinion piece that partially inspired us to share our mortadella love. | New York Times (gifted)
Until next week,
Daryl & Mindi