THE PIG, A TRUE ANTI-WASTE PRODUCT
On the origins of the age-old popular saying ‘you can’t throw anything away from a pig’, we interviewed Luca Govoni, food historian, who talked to us about the historical and cultural importance of the origins of deli meats.
The saying probably originated in the late Middle Ages, among peasant families, who, if they had a pig, used every part of it. Today the saying takes on a new meaning in the collective reflection on sustainability issues, electing the pig as a true anti-waste product.
Of the pig, not only the meat is used, to prepare the most varied dishes, but also the rind, to be eaten with beans; the bristles, used to make brushes. And of the blood, what to do with it? And so blood sausage was born, a kind of salami widespread in many areas of the peninsula. The use of this huge animal in the kitchen is then very varied. From guanciale, great traditional dishes are created such as pasta all’amatriciana, alla carbonara and alla gricia. From the loin, the famous braciole, the symbol of grilled meats. Not to mention the hundreds of types of cold cuts, part of an identity that is not only gastronomic but also historical and cultural.
