Summer festivities. Jamón ibérico. What’s in a name? Out and about.

Today is August 15th. That’s half way through August already! This strange summer of coronavirus on and off lockdown is really jogging along. It’s also Ferragosto. Well, it is in Italy anyway, and presumably for Italians living in this country as well. For the religious it’s the Feast of the Assumption, when Mary is supposed to have been taken up to heaven. So even if Ferragosto isn’t an actual public holiday it becomes one because of the religious connection. Here’s a bit of Wikipedia info about it:-

“Ferragosto is a public holiday celebrated on 15 August in all of Italy. It originates from Feriae Augusti, the festival of emperor Augustus, who made the 1st of August a day of rest after the weeks of hard work of the agricultural sector. It became a custom for the workers to wish their employers "buon ferragosto" and they would get a monetary bonus. This became law during the Renaissance throughout the papal states. As the festivity was created for political reasons, the Catholic Church decided to move the festivity to the 15th of August which is the Assumption of Mary allowing them to include this in the festivity. This festivity was also used by Mussolini to give the lower classes the possibility to visit cultural cities or go to the seaside for one to three days, from the 14th of August to the 16th, by creating "holiday trains" with extremely low cost tickets, for this holiday period. Food and board was not included, this is why even today Italians associate packed lunches and barbecues with this day.”

There you go.

Personally I am not a great fan of jamón ibérico. I have to be in the mood. When I am in the mood, yes, I can appreciate a nice bit of jamón ibérico but I wouldn’t go out of my way to seek it out. I am always amused to see shops that sell nothing but cured ham, great legs of cured ham hanging up for all to admire. Now it seems that the Americans, well, some Americans, are planning on producing their own jamón ibérico.

Some farmers in Texas and Georgia have imported the blackfoot pigs and are rearing them with a view to becoming producers and sellers of Iberian ham. Certain Spanish producers are a bit miffed by this and blame the stupidity of their government in not making it a kind of patent name, like Champagne. Mind you, that might not have protected anything as some American sparkling wines still call themselves champagne!

Further Spanish indignation comes from the fact that the Texans plan to feed the pigs peanuts rather than acorns. The consumption of acorns gives the jamón ibérico its distinctive flavour apparently. So maybe Iberian-style American ham might be quite different.

Cornish pasties suffer the same competition problem - not, I hasten to add, from America but from the rest of the UK. Understandably, I suppose, people get a little possessive about their names. There was a move to say that only pasties made in Cornwall could rightly be called Cornish. I am not sure how the law stands on that but I do know that it is possible to go to one of our local bakers and buy a Cornish pasty, definitely not made in Cornwall, and very tasty their pasties are too!

A smallholding not far from our house has started to have pigs in their field, so far only three. I wonder if they plan to make Iberian ham or if this is another aspect of getting into the “spirit of the blitz” - households fattening a pig up for consumption later in the year.



Out and about, we have admired some people’s gardens with sunflowers abounding.

And we have been astounded at the exotic blooms that grow in some places around here.


Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!