The Prosciutto Story

1991

A True Story

Written 5/2015* 474 Words*

#147 By Howard Yasgar

I have a neighbor, who in 2015 was a detective in the Florida Keys.

When he told us this story he was working for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department.

One evening we were having supper, and he told us what had happened to him while he was working on a drug smuggling case and we all couldn’t stop laughing.

I still laugh when I think about it, although what had happened wasn’t funny for my detective friend.

It was in October of 1991 when he was working on a drug smuggling case that required him to fly to San Jose Costa Rica. He had gone there to look at an airplane.

It was a former drug smuggling plane that had just been recently auctioned off, and the Sheriff’s Department felt it might have something to do with another pending case they were working on.

Now when a government employee travels, they are allowed a “Per Diem”, that is a fixed allowance for their meals.

Usually, it’s a modest amount for breakfast, lunch and supper.

If the person receiving the “per Diem” wishes to order more food, they can do so at their own expense.

In this case, my neighbor had been put up in a first-class San Jose hotel, and his per diem covered all his food expenses.

However, he knew that whatever he did for entertainment, he would have to pay for it out of his own pocket.

He felt that other than going to his room and watching television in Spanish, there was little for him to do,

so he went into the hotel’s bar and restaurant and he took a seat at the end of the bar, and ordered a local beer.

After an hour or so he noticed several of the kitchen staff, who were all dressed in white uniforms, clearing an area near him at the bar.

Then someone who looked to be a head chef came out carrying what appeared to be a very big prosciutto, and he heard someone say it was from Espania. (Spain).

Then the kitchen staff mounted it in a special bracket, it was specially made to hold a prosciutto in place for slicing.

Someone else brought out a stack of small dishes and the chef started slicing paper thin slices off the prosciutto.

One by one people sitting at the restaurant tables started coming up and taking a plate, and several people sitting at the bar did the same thing.

My friend thought it was an excellent promotional gesture for the hotel to do this, so he stood in line with the others and got a few slices of prosciutto.

He said the prosciutto was so good he did it several more times that evening.

After his second beer he was ready to hit the sack, so he paid the bartender $8.50 for his two beers, and he also left the waiter a $3.00 tip.

As he got up to leave, a waiter tapped him on the shoulder and handed him another bill.

Prosciutto de Espania $225.00.