Pecorino

The emotions roused by food are not exclusively connected to what happens on the taste buds; they are sometimes fed by sources deeper than consciousness. Pecorino provides an example. It is sheep’s milk cheese whose name is derived from pecora, the Italian word for sheep. Its power to satisfy those who respond to it indubitably depends on its flavor, but it is rooted also in its origins, which have a significant place in the story of Western man. It isn’t necessary to be a historian to realize that, in the civilizations of the Mediterranean, the raising of sheep meant more than just the production of wool and food; it is sufficient to recall the uses that the sacred texts of the Jews and Christians made of the words flock, shepherd, lamb.