faux prosciutto and pancetta

I fell in love with prosciutto and pancetta back in the late 80's and the 90's. That is, the prosciutto and pancetta from italy, the parma and regio emilia region in particular. Easily available at italian markets here.
I went to Parma and sampled some of the best in the spring of !999.
I guess that all died with the advent of the Euro and market rules related to that, or at least it died re exporting to us in the US.

No more caves and all that. We are so protected... from deliciousness.

Gads, the stuff they purvey now is absolute crap in place of the originals.

I bought some prosciutto at the international market here recently, with the notation of danielefoods.com; stuff is made in the US, it turns out, ridiculous as a replacement. Spit it out time. Daniele used to be a respected name.

I understand there are artisan types endeavoring to do nifty cured meats here in the US for a lot of money. Specifically, some people in Seattle (sorry, don't have link.) I don't have the wherewithal to sample, re pricing. I'm doubtful they'll match Culatello di zibello, or whatever the name was.

This is gross stupidity. How can chefs even mention pancetta when using this so-called-pancetta stuff? Nothing near the same.
See flames running sideways from Osso's ears.