Prosciutto: From the Symbol of Italy to the Sign of Regional Development

Abstract

Taking the cases of the most famous brands, I trace the trajectory of development of prosciutto – the Italian cured ham which appeared on the Italian market in the second half of the twentieth century and became famous outside Italy. Having been born in northern regions of Italy and having grown into a full-fledged food symbol of the country, prosciutto nowadays is undergoing an image change due to the emergence of new nostrani types that sprang up along with the revival of local alimentary tradition in some Italian regions. Special attention is paid to the process and specifics of promoting prosciutto in Italy against a backdrop of current social and political developments in the country, as well as to the peculiarities of its perception as a cultural and gastronomic phenomenon by representatives of various social strata in the past and present.