Italian salami is not enough as a title for this page. I was looking for the right word, but there isn't a word in english that summarize all these wonderful products.
In Italian language there are some words that gather all these typical products as salami, raw ham, bologna, speck...
They are usually sold in slices (better if sliced at the moment, even if there are packages that mantain the right atmosphere), and it relates with the english word used for them: cold cuts!
The Italian most used words to call them are: "affettati" (= sliced) or insaccati (=inside a bag).
Italians use to eat them inside the bread, as a snack, as antipasto or even to a take away lunch. Even if we are talking about kinds of sausage (I admit, it's not the right word!), I want to underline the fact that as they are typical Italian products, they are consumed in great quantities and so they seem to be always "fresh".
If it happens to go to a supermarket, you'll see the one who works on this counter opening always new packs of raw ham, mortadella and salami, as they are part of Italians everyday diet.
Most known ones
Mortadella
(bologna) is the most common one. It's considered the poorest, but nobody refuses a fresh bread with mortadella.
Ham
(cooked) is the one most used for children, and you can find a lot of choices, with no preservatives, smoked and so on.
is maybe one of the most known outside Italy. It is produced in many regions of Italy, including Parma, that gives the name to a very known brand of raw ham.
Italian salami includes such a variety that only a connoisseur can deal with. Usually outside Italy we can find a few qualities, but if you come to visit Italy, try different ones, it worths the try!
Speck is a smoked raw ham produced in northeast Italy. It has a strong tasty and as I said somewhere else before, matches perfectly with
gorgonzola cheese.
