The history of the world’s biggest cheese: Parmesan (Parmigiano-Reggiano)

Parmesan is one of the biggest cheeses in the world and it has a long and well documented history going back to the 13th century. There are even claims it was being made in Roman times. In this video, let’s dive into the fascinating history of Parmesan cheese (also known as Parmigiano-Reggiano) Links: Letter from Benjamin Franklin to John Bartram, 9 July 1769: https://founders.archives.gov/documen... Thomas Jefferson, Notes of a Tour into the Southern Parts of France, &c., 3 March–10 June 1787 https://founders.archives.gov/documen... (The description of Parmesan is about half way down the page) Support me on Patreon:   / cheesehistory   Follow me on Instagram:   / cheese.history   Sources Boccaccio, Giovanni. The Decameron. Translated by Guido Waldman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. Brodie, R. H., ed. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic of the Reign of Henry VIII. Vol. 1 part 1. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1920. Columella, Lucius Junius Moderatus. On Agriculture (Res Rustica V-IX). Translated by E. S. Forster and Edward H. Heffner. Vol. II. London: William Heinemann, 1954. Dalby, Andrew. Cheese: A Global History. The Edible Series. London: Reaktion Books, 2009. de Baldach, Ellbochasm. The Four Seasons of the House of Cerruti. Translated by Judith Spencer. New York: Facts on File Publications, 1983. de Rossi, Martino. Libro De Arte Coquinaria. c. 1465. Donnelly, Catherine, ed. The Oxford Companion to Cheese. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. Googe, Barnaby. The Whole Art and Trade of Husbandry, Contained in Foure Bookes. London: Richard More, 1614. Gough, J. W. "The Witham Carthusians on Mendip." SANHS 74, no. 2 (1928): 87-101. Harbutt, Juliet, ed. World Cheese Book. London: Dorling Kindersley, 2015. Jefferson, Thomas. Thomas Jefferson Travels: Selected Writings 1784-1789. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, 2006. Kindstedt, Paul. Cheese and Culture: A History of Cheese and Its Place in Western Civilisation. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2012. Kurlansky, Mark. Milk: A 10,000-Year History. London: Bloomsbury, 2018. Looney, J. Jefferson, ed. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Retirement Series: 1 September 1819 to 31 May 1820. Vol. 15. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018. Morshead, O. F., ed. The Diary of Samuel Pepys: Selections. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1926. Oberg, Barbara B., ed. The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: 1 February 1799 – 31 May 1800. Vol. 31. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004. Olmsted, Larry. Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating & What You Can Do About It. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2016. Palmer, Ned. A Cheesemonger's History of the British Isles. London: Profile Books, 2019. Platina, Bartolomeo Sacchi. De Honesta Voluptate Et Valitudine. ca. 1466-1467. Pliny the Elder. Natural History: Books Viii-Xi. Translated by H. Rackham. Vol. 3. The Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann, 1940. Scully, Terence. The Art of Cookery in the Middle Ages. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1995. Valenze, Deborah. Milk: A Local and Global History. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2011. Willcox, William B., ed. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin: January 1 through December 31, 1769. Vol. 16. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1972. ———, ed. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin: January 1 through December 31, 1773. Vol. 20. New Haven and London: Yale University Pres, 1976. Images Map of 1st century Roman provinces (Tomisti, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...) Portrait of Samuel Pepys by Kohn Hayls (1666) (public domain) Tacuinum sanitatis (1380-1399) page 124 - Mature cheese (The Austrian National Library https://digital.onb.ac.at/RepViewer/v... page 124) Parmigiano-Reggiano (https://pixabay.com/photos/parmigiano... and https://pixabay.com/photos/parmigiano...) Columella portrait (Public domain) Pliny the Elder (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... CC BY-SA 3.0) Portrait of Giovanni Boccaccio by Raffaello Morghen, c. 1822 (Public domain) The Great Fire of London painting, 1675 (Public domain) Benjamin Franklin, painting by Joseph-Siffred Duplessis (Public domain) Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale (1801) (Public domain) 00:00 Introduction 01:25 What is Parmesan cheese? 02:39 Does Parmesan have Roman origins? 05:13 The Monasteries of the Middle Ages 08:57 Records of Parmesan cheese 19:55 Protected Parmesan cheese 25:18 Thanks for watching #parmesan #parmesancheese #cheese #history #cheesehistory