The soul of Sicily is best experienced through its exeptional
food and wine.
The distinct palette of the island
reflects its multi-layered culinary history and is
nothing less than transcendent.
The Sicilian method takes the staples of Italian cuisine;
Pasta, ham, salami, cheese, olive oil, wine, liqueurs, sweets and bring them to a new
level of epicurean expression.
The originality of the dishes and unexpected tastes of traditional specialties such
as Caponata, Arancini, Pasta con sarde, and the superlative desserts as Cannoli, Cassata,
and Frutta Martorana (almond pastries shaped to resemble real fruit) create a sensational
variety of complex flavors and imaginative combinations found nowhere else in the world.
Highlights of Sicilian food
Today, Sicilian pecorino (cheese made from ewe’s milk),
the first cheese to be produced on the island, is still made using traditional techniques
and equipment.
Dressed meet, sausages and salami are often very spicy and flavored with garlic,
oregano and wild fennel.
The best of the Sicilian art of pastry-making: cassata, cannoli and ice-creams.
Thanks to the soil type and warm climate with gentle breeze, Sicily produces excellent
high-quality wines.
Sicilian food through history
Sicily is an island with many souls and many regions.
Since underwent foreign rule for many centuries,
the influence of the different cultures is still clearly visible in the Sicilian cuisine:
on one hand seafood (mainly tuna and swordfish),
on the other one, typical products from inland Sicily with unexpected tastes from
mountainous areas.
Popular Sicilian food by region and top chefs
Over the years,
Master Chefs and enologist have come from abroad to take charge of the of the
“haute cuisine” for the Sicilian elite,
thus introducing new recipes, which has put restaurants in Sicily at the forefront
of experimental cooking.
At the bottom of such experimental tradition is the rediscovery of old,
traditional recipes that Master chefs enhance.
More and more restaurants now serve dishes prepared to old recipes.
Nonetheless,
the true symbol of popular cooking in Sicily is all those small shops that open
right onto the streets,
and where you can go in at any time of the day,
buy something and eat it while strolling along;
the polipari(men selling octopus) on the seashore in Palermo,
the panellari, fried-food shops, the focaccerie(selling a flat salty bread called focaccia) in Messina,
and all those shops selling scacciate in Catania,
scacce in both Ragusa and Syracuse,
not to mention all those kiosks in any square in Catania selling drinks and soda.