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Finally, they judge the taste, where “sweet should prevail over salty, and the aromatic bouquet should reflect the olfactory profile and possibly expand it.” Dressed in their red robes and black caps, the members of the brotherhood make detailed notes on each outstanding candidate. “It’s easier to find the holy grail than the supreme culatello,” one judge remarked in a television segment on the event.
For the Knights of the Raviolo and Gavi, President Clementina Dellacasa is pushing for a “rejuvenation” of the order to ensure its relevancy in the modern age. Her objective is to diversify events, introducing adjacent themes like archaeology, music and cinema to place gastronomic heritage within a continuing cultural and territorial context. Her dream is to welcome a younger cohort of knights, as well as foreign members. “I’d love to have different tables, one speaking English, one French, maybe one in dialect,” she says.
Alberto SpisniThe judging is a tense, tightly choreographed affair, conducted in near silence by members of the Archbrotherhood (Credit: Alberto Spisni)’A great excuse for a party’
Perhaps the greatest weapon of the confraternities against the demise of their precious foods is that their task is undertaken with pleasure and a certain wry amusement. There are moments of self-deprecating humour – the confraternity of salted cod knights its new members with an actual preserved fish. And the grandiose language is not accidental: the phrase “supreme culatello” is undeniably funny in Italian, given that the name of the cured meat refers to the rear end of the pig.
Dining and Cooking