October 24 marks an unusual coincidence on both sides of the Atlantic: in the United States it’s National Bologna Day, while in Italy it’s the birthday of the original Mortadella Bologna – the one and only “pink queen” of Italian charcuterie. Though Americans know its distant cousin as “baloney,” the resemblance stops at the name.
The date has a deep historical meaning: on October 24, 1661, Cardinal Girolamo Farnese issued a decree setting strict rules on how true mortadella had to be made. That ancient document can be seen as an early version of what today we call a product specification – a way to protect quality and authenticity long before such terms existed.
