Who doesn’t love meatballs? Fried, in tomato sauce, on top of pasta, or on their own, they are the ultimate comfort food. Used to the deliciousness of my own grandmother’s polpette al sugo, a staple of my childhood — which I attempt to make often, even though they quite never hit the spot as much as those nonna made — I was surprised to learn, while leafing through the pages of La Cucina Italiana, that Milan has its own version of polpette.

They are called mondeghili, and they are a true living expression of the city’s past — shaped by foreign influence, economic necessity, and the ever-evolving culinary habits you’d expect in a place as cosmopolitan as Milan has always been.