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HISTORY
Y
ou won’t find a muffuletta sandwich
in Sicily. Or a muffaltatta, muffu-
letto or muffulettu. The muffuletta
sandwich is strictly a New Orleans con-
struct, named for the bread it’s served on.
Local lore has it that the muffuletta was
invented at Central Grocery. But while
Central Grocery was certainly one of the very
first places to sell a muffuletta, they probably
didn’t invent it. Hungry and hurried Sicilian
customers who were used to two hour Italian
siestas
, or a grand lunch at home with a little
rest, had to adapt to the 15 minute American
fast paced lunch break.
Turn-of-the-century groceries and deli-
catessens catered to the Italian farmers’
and dockworkers’ request for sliced Italian
meats, cheeses and muffuletta loaves, each
Sicilian having their own version of pick-
led vegetables and olives in hand. Eventu-
ally the Sicilian customer, being in a rush,
requested the meats, cheeses and olive salad
be put on the sliced Italian muffuletta loaf
for an easier portable lunch.
The Italian deli owners took notice. Central
Grocery and Progress Grocery began
offering prepared versions of the Italian
sandwichwith layers of Genoa salami,boiled
ham, mortadella (Italian
bologna), provolone cheese
and olive salad — olives,
garlic, celery, carrots, capers,
cauliflower,
pepperoncini
and seasonings marinated
in olive oil. Montalbano’s
Delicatessen began making
them to order. Customers
who asked for a Roma or
Roman sandwich chose the
meat, cheese and antipasto to
go on the bread. Montalbano
measured the sandwich
on a scale and charged the
customer by weight.
Progress Grocery
Progress Grocery and Central Grocery
share more than just sandwich history.They
were once partners.
Bartholomew Perrone of Palermo, Sicily
arrived in New Orleans on March 10,
1907. After working at a variety of grocery
stores he decided to open his own. In 1918
he partnered with the De Maio family of
Central Grocery to form Progress Grocery
on Decatur Street in the French Quarter.The
families split in 1924 but remained friendly.
Most people didn’t leave their neighborhood
to buy groceries. But that changed after
World War II. John Perrone Jr., grandson of
the grocery’s founder, says Italian groceries
became a must-visit.“People wanted gallons
of olive oil,not small bottles.Mozzarella and
Parmigiano Reggiano, not Kraft Deluxe.
When they couldn’t find those things at
their usual grocery or supermarket, they
came to us. We had customers drive from
two states over to get our olive salad, which
we sold two ways, regular (whole olives
pitted to order, whole cauliflower, large cuts
of fresh celery and carrots) and chopped.
Eventually we started to pit the olives ahead
of time to streamline the process.”
In 1970, Louis Augustin Cannizzaro, or
Big Lou as everyone called him, opened
Cannizzaro’s
Distributing
Company,
providing Italian specialties to groceries
all over Louisiana, including Rouses. “Lou
introduced a whole new world to shoppers,”
says Perrone. Cannizzaro’s quickly became
one of Louisiana’s largest family-owned
specialty food distribution companies. Big
Lou passed away in 1996.
With shopping patterns changing and
Italian
Grocers
Bartholomew Perrone