First of all, veal parmigiana, or veal parmesan, is among the best comfort foods ever. Second, it was not created in Italy. Well, it kind of was. Eggplant parmigiana, lightly breaded with a smattering of cheese in a light tomato sauce, is a staple in southern Italy and is the ancestor of the veal and chicken parms Americans know and love today.

When Italians migrated to the United States in large enough numbers, about four million between 1880 and 1924, they created “Little Italy” neighborhoods in several cities. Half of the migration took place between 1900 and 1910 and most of those immigrants were escaping grinding rural poverty in Southern Italy and Sicily.