Pesto di cavallo is a signature dish of Italy; we have verified places to eat it in Parma. Raw minced horse meat seasoned with oil, salt and lemon, eaten cold with bread or torta fritta. Start with where to eat Pesto di cavallo in Parma.
Pesto di cavallo · Parma
Raw minced horse meat seasoned with oil, salt and lemon, eaten cold with bread or torta fritta. Parma's frankest dish, still a lunchtime staple the city refuses to give up.
Horse butchery took root in Parma's Oltretorrente in the 19th century as cheap protein for the working quarter, and pesto di cavallo, hand-minced and simply dressed, became its signature. The dialect name caval pisst means pressed horse. Where much of Italy dropped the tradition, Parma kept dedicated butchers and put the dish on modern menus, from sandwich counters to bistrot reinterpretations.
Where to eat in Parma:
- Osteria Virgilio
- Borgo 20
- Pepen
Where to eat Pesto di cavallo in Parma: the editor picks