The Story
In Parmesan dialect, we call the fog fumära. It has always been an ingredient of our stories, because it is in the Food Valley where the Po River flows , that we bring the best salmon in the world, without ever freezing it, and we process it by hand, by expert craftsmen of taste.
Then there is the fog, which mixes with the aromas of precious beechwood chosen to obtain a unique smoking process. This is how a precious product is born, which we have called “Fumara”: a name that is an ode to our origins. We prepare it at Foodlab, a family-run business in the province of Parma, a Unesco Creative City for Gastronomy.
Our Origins
This is where our 'landlord' Gianpaolo Ghilardotti, after a stint as a chef in the brigade of Michelin-starred chef Georges Blanc, began his first product tests: cosy dinners with friends based on salmon set up in his garden.
Here, a special oven to obtain a smoking process that is different from all the others is built and using dosed wood and timing in order to achieve a rounded, Italian taste. Starry.
The search for excellence then became a business venture together with Gianpaolo's siblings, Francesco and Elisabetta, and nothing has changed since then: every time a Fümara is processed, smoked and served, it is as if it were destined for old friends, in the cordiality of a garden in the Bassa Parmense.
The Journey
In twenty years, we at Foodlab have refined the method to obtain a smoked salmon with an irresistible taste and appearance: we select the best fish from the Northern Seas and process it by hand, searching for the perfect balance that enhances flavour and texture.
In 2020 we presented Fümara, the synthesis of our work: inside there is experience, passion and an intense path of experimentation and every phase of the Foodlab method. Fümara is therefore a precious range of Norwegian, Scottish and Wild Sockeye salmon, smoked, fresh and flavoured and a line of steamed salmon in which we also include Swordfish, Tuna and Cod.