Lucas's Blog

My Alarm goes off in my double brick, sub-freezing share-house room in Melbourne

It’s 7 AM, the double brick room I’m in keeps me cold in winter and roasts me like a conventional oven during the summer

These mornings, however, you can’t wipe the smile off my face

Today is the day, the one you wait all year for

No, I’m not talking about Christmas, or easter, even my birthday

I’m talking about Salami Day, A family tradition that’s older than me

For the last two years, My brother & I have become part of the sacred family pass-time of making Salami

Like an exclusive club, you need to know someone on the inside to gain admission to this prestigious day

fortunately, being Italian, Family, and a day surrounding food, this invitation proved quite easy

Salami Day, as well as Sauce Day, is a long-standing tradition of our family & many Italian families both in Australia & back in the homeland

Ours started in Mildura, Victoria many decades earlier

My Nonno, & 3 in-laws & cousins would take the 10-hour commute up to Mildura from Melbourne

A four-day affair spanning from Thursday to Sunday

Everything from selecting the right Pig for the job on Thursday to calling in the butcher on Friday

Mixing the secret herbs & spices on Saturday & finally finishing the job on Sunday

All with the singular purpose of making Salami with each other that would last the next year

A marathon of human effort

The stories from these original weekends are folklore in our family

My Nonno would provide the steaks, 4 per person, per day

As well as two liters of red wine to lubricate the manual labor

They would all laugh, cook steaks, drink wine on repeat

Occasionally coming inside to sleep

After the hard work had concluded each day, the cigars would come out as a celebration

Humble beginnings one of our families best traditions

Fortunately,

Thanks to modern advancements in technology

The modernised version of Salami Day in 2024 is less labor-intensive

My brother & I usually make the slightly shortened 30-minute commute to our cousin’s house in Rowville on a Saturday in August

An honest 20-30-strong workforce tasked with creating the family supply for the next 12 months

A multi-generational day with Kids, teenagers, neighbors, Parents, Nonna’s, Nonno’s & in-laws

Thankfully for us, most of the hard work has already been completed by the time we arrive

Everything has been mixed, and put in each respective families tub

We usually get called in to help with the final part, the filling & hanging of the Salami’s

Similar to sauce at my Nonna & Nonno’s house, the day usually starts with a glass of red wine before 9 am

I’m certain there is an origin story behind why this happens

Maybe it makes the workers more productive on the salami production line

Whatever it is, I’ve never seen the formula not work

I usually spend the first two hours doing two things,

Firstly, tying the string on the salami to identify which family it belongs too at the end of the process

Secondly, laughing, catching up & telling stories with all my cousins until my ribs hurt

After the early morning session and a few glasses of red wine

All attendees break for a small morning tea (Enough food to feed 50 people) & after more wine is poured, we go back in for the mid-morning session

Which, in fairness is more of the same

More laughing, singing, salami labor & catching up with family

The final stop in the salami process is hanging them from the roof where they’ll remain for the next 4-5 weeks curing

When lunchtime hits, the BBQ is ignited, the ribs are put on & the Nonna’s summon us for a feast

In quantities that would rival a multinational corporation having a function

To finish the day, the 24-cup Bialetti is put on, coffee & tea are distributed and you spend the rest of the afternoon all enjoying each other’s company

You leave those days with a smile you couldn’t wipe off your face for days & counting down the days until you can do it all again

“La vita ha più senso quando condividiamo tradizioni con chi amiamo.”

Life has more meaning when we share traditions with those we love.

Italians like almost every culture have family traditions engrained in their lives

They come in so many shapes & sizes, but often food plays an integral role in them

Growing up around these traditions showed me how much I enjoyed spending time with the people you most love

& coming together to achieve something together

It has always been such a special part of who I am & a part of the life I want to have in the future

There is something about a shared objective & coming together to achieve that objective that is unbeatable

All the excitement leading up to it, the planning & sometimes the sacrifice people have to make to allow it to happen

For that day, week, or weekend, everyone is enjoying the thing you’ve all planned together

You sit there, no phones, chatting, laughing & enjoying this one thing you’ve all made the effort of attending

Sauce Day & Salami Day are great food examples, because even after the day you get to enjoy the rewards of your hard work

But most activities with a shared purpose are great examples too

If you can make it centered around an activity or some kind of shared objective, the greater the outcomes will be

The thing about traditions though, is if you never start them, they never exist

And for the most part, the early days of these newfound traditions will be humble

It might be just & a friend for the first few installments

But those are the foundations of any great tradition

The original Salami Day in Mildura had only 4 people coming along, now between Salami & Sauce Day,

There are over 30-40 annual attendees

After thinking about this a few months earlier

I decided I wanted to create two new traditions with my friends

The first one i called the Mates AGM (Annual general meeting)

The premise is relatively simple

With a group of my best mates

Once a year for the next 50 or so years, have one annual trip away either internationally or domestically centered around an activity

It can be centered around things like Hiking, cooking, Fishing, Eating, or Surfing.

Anything that gets you up, outside & doing something altogether

It has to be something planned, where you have to travel & put some money aside for

The magic comes when you have to plan for it

As you get older, relationships can fizzle out if you don’t water them

People get busy, move away, get new jobs, families, etc

Having these traditions in place is a great way to keep in touch with these close friends

And to create your own memories that you can pass on to the next generation

This one will first be scheduled for next year when I’m back in Australia

The second one is Sauce Day

One of my favorite traditions growing up

It is a day to all come around, cut tomatoes, drink wine, share stories laughs & food altogether

A labor-intensive process made easier with all the additional hands that come around to assist

Once again, it ticks all the necessary boxes

You have to sacrifice time on your weekend, pay for your share of the tomatoes & do some planning for it

But the time you get to spend with these close friends will be priceless

In what world could sitting around with your friends, drinking wine, eating food & making homemade tomato passata be bad?

Traditions are meant to be unique, to the things you like doing & the people you want to spend the most time with

There’s something special about planning for a day & getting to enjoy it with friends & family

They also require effort from all parties, otherwise, they will fizzle away into non-existence

Italians who were making sauce, sauce & Salami in the early 1800’s would be thrilled their practices are still being passed down

Without this human effort & commitment, traditions don’t exist

Start small, start with you & your best friend, immediate family, or even a pet

Commit to doing something once a year that you both enjoy doing or even simpler gets you out and into the world

Keep completing it each year, trying to make it even better than the year before, invite other people in & watch your humble tradition grow

The best ones start small & compound over decades with more and more people that you love.

LB