Mortadella

[5] Traditionally, the pork filling was ground to a paste using a large mortar (mortaio, Italian: [morˈtaːjo]) and pestle.

Anna Del Conte (The Gastronomy of Italy 2001) found a sausage mentioned in a document of the official body of meat preservers in Bologna dated 1376 that may be mortadella.

Mortadella is also popular in Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay and Venezuela, due to the Italian immigrants who settled in these countries in the early 20th century.

In Greece, where there is a smaller version in addition to the regular one, that variety is called parizaki or mortadelaki, and in Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and North Macedonia, the product known as mortadela is widely eaten.

In Poland, mortadela slices are sometimes dipped in batter, fried and served with potatoes and salads as a quicker (and cheaper) alternative to traditional pork cutlets.

[8] In several countries, such as Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Israel, halal or kosher mortadella is sold, which is made from chicken, beef or turkey.

It is also popular in Iran, albeit usually made with beef or lamb, and called commonly kaalbas, from Russian kolbasa.

A similar commercial sausage product that omits the cubes of pork fat, called "Bologna", is popular in Canada and the United States.

The ban in the United States was lifted due to a veterinary equivalency agreement that allowed countries to export products that had been shown to be disease-free as part of an overall agreement that would allow products deemed safe in the United States to be exported to the European Union.

[12] In Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet states, a very similar product is called doktorskaya kolbasa (Russian: Докторская колбаса, lit.