November is usually considered a sad, gloomy month, associated with the festivity of the deads and the saints, a month of transition towards the winter that lacks the joy of harvesting and the changing of the colors of the foliage of the months of September and October as well lacks the festive and joyful atmosphere of December, with the Christmas holidays coming.
In Parma and the province, on the other hand, November is a month of celebration and not of any party, but of an event that sees the king of the tables and the Parmesan cuisine, his majesty the pig, and bears the name: November Porc .
Defined as “the most gluttonous relay of Italy” November Porc has become, over the years, a point of reference for all lovers of cooking and local products, an unmissable event for all the greedy ones that meet up in the four villages of the Bassa Parmense for the four weekends of November. Last year the event saw a succession of 22,200 visitors from Italy and abroad between Sissa, Polesine Parmense, Zibello and Roccabianca, eager to taste the excellent products derived from pork such as Prosciutto di Parma PDO, Culatello di Zibello DOP, the Salame Felino, the Spalla Cotta of San Secondo but also some “minor” products, less known but just as worthy of being tried. One of the objectives of the event is indeed to promote the great variety of excellences of the Parma pork butchery tradition, as well as of gastronomy in general.
For this reason each stage of the November Porc gastronomic relay will have a theme and a product as a special guest every Sunday: Sissa opens the event with the weekend (1-4 November) dedicated to “The flavors of the pig” where you can taste the gigantic ” mariolone “(the mariola is a sort of large salami, roundish, tasty and spicy, which can be consumed both cooked and raw) while the following weekend, November 9-11, at Polesine Parmense ” We cook priests and bishops”: do not think of criminal acts because the “prete” (priest) is a rare specialty of Parma, similar to cotechino and zampone but more delicate, prepared with whole muscles and not ground and “triangular” shape. Zibello, from 16 to 18 December, hosts “Delights at the Court of King Culatello”, while on Sundays you can taste a record-breaking strolghino. What is strolghino? A small salami that should be consumed fresh, obtained by trimming the lean parts of Culatello. Finally, Roccabianca, from 23rd to 25th November, hosts “Harmonies of spices and infusions” and the guest of honor will be a gigantic “cicciolata”, one of the poorest cured meats of our tradition, obtained from the pork scraps and ciccioli.
In addition to these specialties prepared on the spot and offered to all visitors, Parma products are protagonists in the stands, in the tensostructures that house food points, but also in restaurants in the area that offer “A tavola con November Porc” menu. There will also be moments of music, entertainment and culture, an event that brings together the many souls of the Bassa Parmense and envelops the visitor just as the fog, a typical element of this territory, envelops the landscape.
Discover the complete program!
