Hot Salami: A Slice of Life

Every once in a while I find out I’m trendy and I didn’t even know it. First it was backyard dandelion leaves as a salad green; now it’s artisan cured meats. The Chicago Tribune Magazine mentions as one of the hottest food trends domestic versions of “those zesty, mouth-watering salumis—such as prosciutto, coppa, speck, pancetta—that were once the province of European artisans.”

Now, the “salumis” of my childhood weren’t the outrageously overpriced versions currently in vogue, but the real thing, some imported from Italy some locally made, and sliced at the deli counter at Roseland’s Pullman Wine & Liquors and Italian Cheese Co. To this day, I enjoy pondering choices like csipos Gyulai kolbasz or a hot copoccola at deli counters large and small springing up in my area to serve the burgeoning ethnic populations looking for a taste of home. Some are imported, others are from small U.S processors—likely by people who would scoff at the word “artisan.” (“Itsa how Papa showed me to make it, eh?”).

The kids can keep their bland national-brand bologna and ubiquitous, indistiguishable sliced roast beef-turkey-ham. The well-heeled can keep their organic, hand-fed ostrich fennel-scented salumi. I’m happy roll my shopping cart to the counter, take a number, point to some unpronounceable product, ask for a little taste of this and one of that, and score a flavorful little slice of back-home heaven in a casing.

   –Lynn A. Kuntz