Tripe, or Trippa. On first hearing this word, one may think it is a type of fish or exotic vegetable. However, in Italy, were you to stop at one of the food stands stationed at various spots around town and order a Trippa Panino, or Lampredotto, you would not find either of these two in the sandwich. Indeed, the white and pinkish cooked meat you would be staring at between the pieces of bread is instead cow stomach.
At this revelation, the instinct of most people is to be repulsed, unless they've grown up accustomed to this being served in dishes. Being unused to thought of consuming organs that were previously used to consume, this reaction is very reasonable. However, with that being said, it also should be countered with the fact that the stomach is just a muscle, constructed from the same molecules as the more commonly consumed muscles, only it's function is slightly different. To me, the eating of cow stomach didn't seem that gross. A little weird, yes, but I decided not to establish an opinion on something before actually tasting it. And since it was mainly a Florentine thing, I felt as if I couldn't leave without eating some either.
So this past Friday came, the day I had dubbed as the honorary first time trying tripe day. My friend Emily took me to a stand near her apartment where she usually went to get tripe. I ordered a Lampredotto, which is not to be confused with tripe. The difference between them is more than just color and texture for those differences are constituted from it. Trippa includes parts of the whole digestive tract while lampredotto is just the stomach abomasum. I waited till Emily had gotten hers before tasting mine, and together we went and sat on a nearby bench. She dug right into hers, while I took a moment to observe mine. Mine was prepared a bit differently being lampredotto, having the look of pulled pork and even smelling slightly like it as well. After a moment of absorbing it, I took my first bite. To my surprise, it tasted like beef. The only real different was the texture and the sauce it was in, but it actually tasted pretty good.
But how did this intestinal delicacy come to be? Well, up until the 1950's, most of the Italian population couldn't afford to buy meat so for the most part it remained absent from the diet. Tripe however was fairly cheap and could be bought once or maybe twice a week in order to fill this small gap in the dietary needs of the poor. Even more common was the production and buying of tripe broth to put in rice or bread. And since it was popular among the poor due to its affordability, the middle and upper classes didn't associate with it. It was only until Pellegrino Artusi, the man who wrote the first Italian food cook book in all Italian called "The Art of Eating Well", suggested it as a dish ordinary enough for any family meal regardless of class. Gradually this idea was accepted. Eventually it came to where it is now, street food sold in sandwich form at kiosks with four wheels becoming Italy's closest version to fast food, though it can be found in a few restaurants. And due to its retention of being easy on the pocket book it is a popular favorite with the locals.
There it is. A complete documentation of a culinary exploit.
Until Next Time!
Ciao!
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