SICILIAN FOOD AND DRINK

Sicily is rightly famed for its food and drink, and the island’s cuisine reflects the different cultural influences which have shaped Sicily over the centuries.

You’ll find all the normal Italian Foods like pizza and pasta in every variety. Cheap and tasty hot snacks can be bought from a “tavola calda”, “rosticceria”, or a “bar”, like savoury balls of rice, the

You can usually find an inspiring (and economical) choice of desserts at one of the island many pastry shops (pasticcerie). Sicily’s rich desserts and pastries are famed far and wide. , sweet tubes of ricotta, can be found all over Italy, but those in Sicily are the original and the best. Arab influences show in the popular brightly-coloured sweets made of marzipan, and in the rich “cassata”, which comes in both ice cream and cake varieties, made from ricotta with bits of candid fruit and chocolate.

Sicily’s home grown products are rich and varied, from bright oranges and lemons to tasty cheeses like “pecorino”. Seafood is another part of the diet, particularly around the coastal towns. Pasta with sardines (con le sarde) is local favourite. Couscous, eaten particularly in the west of the island, is another example of Sicily’s mixed food heritage.

On a hot day you can drink a good granite. This refreshing mix of fruit and ice comes served with both a spoon and a straw, and is a delicious way to cool down in sunshine. You can also enjoy fresh local lemons or the Sicilian oranges as a freshly-squeezed juice (a spremuta). Ice cream, gelato is another speciality, to be enjoyed during a leisurely evening passeggiata in Mondello.

Sicily’s most renowned wine is Marsala, a dessert wine, but there are several good reds and whites from different parts pf the island, including Etna, where grapes are grown on the fertile slopes of the volcano. A speciality of the eastern coast is “vino alla mandorla”, made with almonds. 

                                              Settineri Cecilia IV L