Giuseppe Viterale only starts making his prosciutto di Parma in the winter, so the cold temperatures can help keep bacteria at bay. Each ham is rubbed with salt and pepper only and allowed to cure in Viterale’s Upstate New York farmhouse for 10 months. It’s made the natural way—the way Viterale learned from his mother. Viterale grew up in Italy, where his father ran a flour mill and farm. At 28, Viterale moved to the U.S. He and his wife, Ornella, now run Ornella Trattoria

East Village innkeeper and farm-to-table festival mogul Jimmy Carbone has been kind enough to host the judging for this year’s Charcuterie Masters at his restaurant Jimmy’s No. 43. The subterranean watering hole, which plays host to a rotating selection of highly curated craft beers and ciders, has quite a history. Some say it was once a Ukrainian speakeasy. One thing is certain, the bricks in the rathskeller-like space’s vaulted ceilings date back to the Civil War. “We’ve ac

It took the power going out for the charcuterie-making lightbulb to go off in Jack Peele’s head. The London-born Peele moved from New York City to Ancramdale, about an hour’s drive southeast of Albany, where his father owns Herondale Farm and raises beef, chicken, pork and lamb. Looking for new ways to preserve the meat from the farm, Peele began making charcuterie as a hobby. But in late October 2012, Hurricane Sandy swept through, causing widespread flooding and power outag

Rather than playing sports, this California native grew up going on food expeditions with his father, trekking the Napa Valley in search of a greasy spoon. Food has always been a large part of Ari Miller’s life, but it wasn’t until he graduated law school that it became a career. He had worked for banks for more than a decade before the Great Recession led Miller to go to law. After graduating law school in 2013, he told his mother, a judge, that he did not want to go into la

After graduating high school, when most of his classmates were looking forward to college, Matthew Levere went to work at a slaughterhouse. A fellow prep cook at the pizzeria where Levere worked also worked at the University of Arizona-run slaughterhouse in Tucson, Arizona. He’d come to work each day and share stories. Eventually, Levere asked if he could come watch. Perfect timing, he was told. Tomorrow was a “kill day.” So, at 7 a.m. the next morning, Levere went to the