Cheese and Salumi

On Wednesday, Victoria, Shawn, Megan and I had to teach the Mediterranean Food Culture Class. Our topic was Salumi and Formaggio. In order to prepare for the class we met as a group to discuss the topic. Victoria and I created questions based on the readings and Shawn and Megan organized the field work. By 3:00 p.m. we were teaching the class. We started the class with an introduction on salami, asked questions about the reading and then divided into groups to find and taste cheese and salumi. Erica, Nick and I walked by Piazza Erbe until we found a Gastronomia store were we saw different kinds of cheese and salumi. They looked very tasty and I will be going back to get some of those delicious treats.

While doing the reading, I discovered what salumi is. Salumi means fat and meat (usually pork), cured, seasoned and dried or smoked. It is basically deli meat. Apparently, Italy is very famous for its salumi. In addition, I learned some interesting facts about Parmesan cheese. I was really surprise to see how parmesan can change the taste of a meal the way it does. It is really good for athletes because it helps to spur the muscles into a dazzling form. It really surprised me to find out that it has more protein than any other meat and it has less fat than most cheeses. Only 10-15 grams of parmesan are needed to give flavor to a dish. This amount has more protein than a serving of chicken. Parmesan cheese is one of my favorite cheeses; I cannot have pasta without it. Now I understand why.