Sandwich Challenge: The Calabresi

If you grew up in the Tri-State area (the real tri-state NJ-NY-CT don't let anyone tell you otherwise), you probably know or knew a few people with the last name of Calabresi or Calabrese.  Almost all of these people's families had come through Ellis Island from the area of Italy known as Calabria.  Of course, many of them came as children or had names too hard for the mostly Anglo-American workers of Ellis Island to pronounce so they're given surnames were changed to where they came from.  Like most of Southern Italy, Calabria is a mostly rural region found at the "toe of the boot" and is the second-highest region for olive oil production and the largest producer of Porcini Mushrooms.  Unfortunately, they also have one of the highest Unemployment Rates in all of Europe which spurred their migration to the United States, where all of their names got changed.  The region has seen a ton of history and despite what the Romans might want you to believe they did not originate from Romulus and Remus.  Calabria has one of the oldest records of human presence in Italy dating back to around 700,000 BC (holy shit) when Homo erectus left behind traces around coastal areas.  The first tribe to settle the area were the Oenotri who were Greek wine-makers and began a several century period of Greek colonists flocking to the area which became known as "Magna Grecia." It wasn't until the reign of Augustus (27 BC-14 AD) that the Greek colonists were completely driven out of the region in favor of Romans.  Anyway, that's ancient history, let's see what's going on with this sandwich.  

The Calabresi: Ham, Bruschetta, Mozzarella, Basil Pesto, Balsamic Vinegar

The first thing that came to mind when eating this sandwich was "fresh." As you all know, I LOVE mozzarella, but with basil pesto on top and bruschetta below, I'm going to lose my mind.  I wouldn't say I'm the biggest fan of ham but it totally worked on this sandwich.  Makes sense that ham would be on it as pork is one of the main proteins of Calabria.  But let's get back to the bruschetta,  it really made the sandwich.  I'm sure most people have had a ham and mozzarella sandwich with balsamic but once they put on the bruschetta I knew I was dealing with something different.  I really loved this sandwich.  

Overall: 8.4/10