[hairytrog]

The ham itself will protect it, wrapped in Aluminum foil or even a hemp bag for shipping. The packaging is simply an artifact of people not wanting to buy a whole ham and wanting it presliced, which is perhaps an artifact of the fact that most people in the US will heat the majority of their meals by themselves and do not like to prepare meals. Sad.

[crazygringo]

Maybe you don't know what prosciutto is...? It's not just ham.

Buying an entire prosciutto costs hundreds of dollars, obviously people don't want to buy a whole one.

It's also usually not heated, by the way. This has zero to do with not liking to prepare meals... most people who buy sliced prosciutto are doing it as part of the meal they're preparing. We're not talking about hot pockets or frozen lasagna here.

[aaronblohowiak]

Maybe they know what prosciutto is but don’t know that in USA we use that term to only refer to prosciutto crudo?

[Broken_Hippo]

Even when I ate meat, I wouldn't buy a whole ham. What the heck am I going to do with a whole ham?? I literally do not have the freezer space for this. I've never had children, and have only been in a house with one other human.

That's a lot of food waste. Heck, I sometimes lament that I can't buy smaller amounts of spinach because I hate seeing half the bag go to waste.And I'll add that this has nothing to do with cooking or not cooking: I like to cook, and do so most days.

That packaging keeps food waste down because it breaks things into smaller portions - not to mention that many food places seal them in ways to make them last longer (example being adding a mix of gasses to help it not oxidize).

[powersnail]

It's not sad; it's practical. A whole ham is giant, expensive, hard to store, and might take months to get through, unless you eat it every meal.

I prepare my own meal, and I don't need meat to be pre-sliced, but I do need it to be in a small enough portion that can be put into my fridge.