Lampredotto and Florence's trippai

Lampredotto is the fourth stomach of the cow (the abomasum), simmered for hours in a broth with vegetables and herbs. It belongs to the 'quinto quarto', the 'fifth quarter': the offal and cheaper cuts that working people ate while the prime meat went to wealthier tables.

The name comes from the lamprey (lampreda), an eel-like fish that once lived in the Arno and was a delicacy of the medieval and Renaissance nobility. The lamprey's open mouth has ridged, layered folds that look very like the folds of this cut. So the poor got a dish with a grand-sounding name: as Florentines say, those who couldn't afford lamprey ate lampredotto.

The men and women who sell it are the trippai, one of the city's oldest trades. They work from small carts and kiosks near markets and busy streets. Some families have run the same stand for generations. Trippaio del Porcellino in Piazza del Mercato Nuovo dates its tradition to the late 1800s. The ritual hasn't changed: a round roll, its top dipped in the broth ('bagnato'), filled with lampredotto and finished with green sauce and chilli sauce.

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