Italy’s deep connection with its food is never more evident than in Parma in the country’s north. Here are seven delicious dishes that are specific to this gourmand’s paradise.
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From the Südtirol to Sardinia, from Palermo to Polignano a Mare, Italy’s food map is a patchwork of gastronomic endeavours.
To Italy, geography is food.
Every step you take here brings you to another dish, another local speciality, another unique morsel that owes its existence to the plates of that place. Some have just one food that equates to that region.
And then there’s Parma.
Ninety minutes south of Milan, the town of Parma and its broader region of Emilia-Romagna is the origin story of many of Italy’s keystone foods.
From Parmesan cheese (parmigiano reggiano) and Parma ham (prosciutto di Parma) to balsamic vinegar, mortadella, bolognese and even lasagne, they all come from here.
Check out our Naples food safari, where we find a dozen tasty things native to Napoli
We did this tour of a proscuito and a parmigiano factory in Parma – it was awesome!
Find the best rates for hotels in Parma here
7 Things You Must Eat In Parma, Italy
– Tortelli – (a.k.a tortelli d’erbetta) is a stuffed pasta usually with chard, spinach and ricotta. This is a popular dish in restaurants, but we found this one in a food truck at the markets in Piazza Ghiaia.
You can also find sweet tortelli, filled with crushed grapes and mustard served with butter cheese sauce. This is still considered a savoury dish and is served as an entree or main. It’s also handy to remember that tortelli is vegetarian while ravioli is the same shape pasta, but is usually meat-filled.
– Torta fritta – is often served with entrees of cheese and meats, these delightful crispy crunchy bread squares are fried so they puff up into pillows.
In Bologna these are called crescentina and in Modena they’re gnocco fritto, but they’re the same thing.
– Coppa – refers to ‘single-muscle’ cured meat. In this case, we’re talking about the precious culatello di Zibello. Taken from a particular part of the prosciutto pork leg, this rare and highly-prized cut is known as the ‘king of salumi’.
– Anolini – is a little ‘bellybutton’ filled egg pasta stuffed with beef stew and cooked in a beef or capon broth. This is a hearty, satisfying dish.
– Caval pist – is a controversial dish. It’s tartare — therefore finely chopped or minced raw meat — but made with horse. It’s so finely minced, the consistency is like pesto. This dish is also sometimes called ‘pesto di cavallo’.
I’d never tried horse before and was expecting the meat to have quite a strong gamey flavour, but it was incredibly mild, almost bland. A touch of salt and lemon lifts the flavour, but it’s the fine texture that’s most impressive.
– Culatello tagliolini – uses prosciutto di parma crisped in sage butter and covered in parmesan cheese to sauce and flavour the tagliolini thin ribbon pasta. As you can imagine, this is a superb dish. I could eat this every day and never get bored of it.
– Mostarda di mele – apple mustard is a typical northern Italian condiment, but it commonly comes with prosciutto di parma and parmigiano reggiano as an entree.
The sweet, warming spiciness of the mustard is the perfect accompaniment to Parma’s two greatest creations!
Bonus – Rosa di Parma – the Rose of Parma
This is quite a dish. It consists of a veal fillet rolled up with prosciutto di parma and parmigiano reggiano so that, when it’s sliced, it looks like a rose. The middle must be rare. We never found this one, but you can see a photo of it here.
Aperitivo Hour
Although Parma is in a different region to Milan, aperitivo hour is strong in this town. At around 6pm, so many places around Parma have plates and plates of different types of food – from sandwiches to salumi to pastries.
All you need to do is find a seat, order a drink and pick your plates. Some places have this as a free snack with your drink, others offer it as an inexpensive pre-dinner bite and everyone gets involved!
