31 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:
He is illustrating the antiquity of Parma ham.
I see. Still doesn't mean he isn't merely quoting a legend rather than getting his facts wrong.
Some types of prosciutto were produced in Roman times and probably before, predecessors of what we today know as Parma ham, even.
I still see no reason to take his mention of the legend as demonstrating any lack of education. If indeed Hannibal did come to what is now Italy looking for a good deli, he was 1000 years before the legend's timing, making the Parma even older.
Sorry, maybe I'm missing your point.