The traditional meal of Emilia-Romagna is not divided into starter/main/dessert in the French style but unfolds in courses: the antipasto (cured meats and cheese to whet the appetite), the primo (the pasta or soup course, heart of the meal), the secondo (meat with a side), then dolce and coffee. In Parma, Toscanini's hometown, this ritual revolves around two treasures: Parmigiano-Reggiano and Parma ham.

The "king of cheeses," aged in the Po plain around Parma since the Middle Ages. Grated, in shards, or melted, it marks almost every dish on the Parmesan table. Toscanini, a son of this land, kept a gourmet loyalty to it all his life, even in his New York exile.