Get out the crackers and cheese, and uncork a nice bottle of red wine, because ‘Soupy Fest’ is returning to Westerly. What’s soupy, you might be asking? Westerly soupy maker Joe Lombardo has your answer:  “In simplest terms, it’s cured pork with spices,” Lombardo said in a recent interview. 

You could think of soupy as Westerly’s way of saying soppressata – the Italian sausage. And it’s something you can make at home, if you know the process and what you need to work with. “The key ingredient to any curing process is salt, and it has to be cured in the absence of air,” Lombardo said. “So thus, you’re mixing the other spices in, which varies, but it’s typically red pepper, hot pepper, and some paprika.