Parma ham is one of the most appreciated Italian food specialties. The results of the pre-sliced product in 2013 are very positive: more than 20,000 sliced hams for the production of over 560,000 trays with a total increase of about 24%. This an interesting fact that gives us pause for thought if we consider that the dietary habits of this country are very different to those of Italy. The Consortium has tried to close this cultural gap by continuing a variegated programme of activities aimed at educating and raising the awareness of the various types of consumers about the characteristics of the product. In practical terms, training seminars have been organized at the cookery schools of Tokyo and Osaka as have numerous collaborations with important Italian restaurant chains present on the territory that have offered special Parma Ham based dishes on their menus.
To deal with the complex theme of training the experts, video tutorials have also been made. These are specially designed to provide the main technical information about the product – how to recognise, store, slice and present Parma Ham – and are all downloadable from the web site www.prosciuttodiparma.com now also available in Japanese version.
But that’s not all. Thanks to the involvement of some Japanese food stylists, Parma ham has been combined with typical Japanese ingredients according to local tastes, which is a sign of the great versatility of the product.