We've been carrying La Quercia's sliced speck, proscuitto & pancetta at our shops for years now, and even on occasion have their lardo. Sure, we've heard a few skeptics ask "Proscuitto from IOWA?"...then they try it and are almost always back for more. It doesn't hurt that you can find La Quercia on some of the best menus across the country, either!
Tell us about your product/company/service.
We make artisan cured meats or salumi – prosciutto, pancetta, guanciale, coppa, lardo, speck, bacon, and lonza – in Iowa. We buy our meat from family farmer groups like Niman Ranch, Heritage Acres, Coleman Meats, and Eden Farms. We use only non-confinement, humanely raised animals. We use sea salt and spices (and time and effort!) to make our meats – we never use nitrates, nitrites, or vegetable substitutes.
What do you hope to accomplish through providing quality products? We believe that the food we eat can delight us each day. We strive to offer a memorable eating experience – one that causes you to stop and savor the moment. Great food is more than great taste. It is part of a responsible food system that sustains you, the producers, and the craftspeople, restaurants, and stores who support their communities and respect the environment.
Do you personally know the farmers that produce your products?
We try to get out and meet as many of the farmers who raise the pigs as possible. It is important to understand the “on the ground” meaning of the animal husbandry standards. And it really helps us appreciate the hard work of the farmers and the respect that is owed the animals as well.
What is involved with working with the farmers to get a product to market? We work with farmers on breeding and feeding, animal husbandry, finding suitable slaughterhouses, timing of “harvest,” finding a mutually agreeable and sustainable “fair trade” pricing system, verification of breed and animal husbandry to support label claims, specific criteria for the cuts we buy, etc.
Is there anyone else on your “team”?
We have to work with the farmers, the slaughterhouse, and the trucking companies that bring us the fresh meat to dry cure and make into our aged meats. “Breeding, Feeding, Killing, and Chilling” all happen before we get the meat. When what you make is 96 percent meat, those elements are critical and must be done well.
How often do you come out with new products? Are you working on anything new?
We don’t come out with new products very often, but we are working on expanding our “pork varietals” line. This year, we introduced our Tamworth Country Cured Bacon (made from Tamworth pigs, nicknamed “the bacon pig,” and raised on hillsides in Missouri) and will soon have some Tamworth Prosciutto in limited quantities. We also started making lardo from Iberico de Bellota back fat from Spain.
How did you get into this “line of business”?
We lived in Parma, Italy, for 3 ½ years and really wanted to do something special in Iowa when we moved back here.
What did you do before this?
Kathy worked as a ranch hand and then as a researcher in Agricultural Economics at the University of California at Berkeley before she made home-making and mothering her primary occupation. A long time foodie (Berkeley born and raised) who lived in Europe for several years as a child and adolescent, Kathy is the person all of her friends describe as the best cook they know. She adds intuition and a fine food sense developed through years of making bread and pasta, inventing recipes, and reading cookbooks. For Herb, this is his fifth career. He spent over thirty years in agriculture, from raising seed potatoes to working cattle to developing and marketing commodity crop and vegetable seeds. Before he and Kathy designed and built their prosciuttificio, he spent 5 years researching, experimenting, learning and making prosciutto at home.
Are your products sold anywhere besides Chicago?
Our meats are sold across the United States and in Canada.
What did you want to do as a kid, "when you grew up"?
It was so long ago that we don’t remember!
What was the spark that led you to working with food?
Well, we love to eat and we’ve been involved in eating and growing food for decades. It’s a great way to be connected with people and with the world.
Where do you find the inspiration for the products/flavors you select? The first question is, “What will taste good?” The most important inspiration is the meat itself. We use really special meat and we always want to honor the animal, so when we use spices or smoke, we want them to be complementary, not overwhelming. We have a very strict policy of only making things we like to eat!
How do you plan to grow your offerings, and why?
We are not planning to get bigger, but we do want to work more on what we call “pork varietals” – distinctive breed characteristics and animal husbandry practices that have a profound impact on the quality of the meat. We are working with farmers who are raising heritage breeds and have special ways of raising their pigs.
What do you see as the biggest benefit (s) you offer to your retailers and consumers?
First, our meats need to be delicious, so we hope that’s a big benefit to everyone who eats them. And then we are really proud of how the pigs are raised and how we make our meats. It’s a sustainable and natural model, food that is well sourced, well made, and great to eat. We would love to know what you and your customers think!
Other than financial, what risks did you take to get your product(s) to market?
We took the risk that we could totally fail, which would have been personally humiliating as well as financially devastating.
Of all the millions of food products you could have specialized in, why these? We live in Iowa, the nation’s largest pork producer and home to many more pigs than people. We had spent 3 ½ years in Parma, Italy, and learned to love salumi in general and prosciutto in particular, so making prosciutto seemed like a good idea.
What is your favorite story/anecdote that occurred along the way in creating your product?
I got a phone call from a nice young man who wanted to give his former girlfriend a special gift to woo her back. We pondered the choices together and selected an assortment of La Quercia dry-cured meats. Fast forward a year and they are ordering prosciutto for their wedding. Another two years, and it’s prosciutto for their child’s christening. It just doesn’t get better than that – being part of celebrating life and community!
Describe your a-ha moment that made you say, "I'm going to do this!" H
erb was enjoying a second platter of prosciutto with a good friend in Italy who said to him, “If you can make something as delicious as this, you are going to make a lot of people happy.” That sounded like a great idea!
If you could have supper with 3 people (living or deceased), who would they be and why?
Herb and I would choose to have supper with our three children. I don’t think I need to explain why!
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