153. Street Food of Palermo

For my money, the best food in Italy (and therefore the world) is in Sicily. While Americans are most familiar with the wonderful food of Naples, particularly pizza and pasta with red sauce, Sicily’s blend of cultures, having been conquered at some point over the past three millennia by all the countries surrounding the Mediterranean, plus its plentiful local ingredients from the farm and sea, combine to make it the most interesting and delicious.

So with this in mind, we engaged a Street Food and Market tour of Palermo, famous for its outdoor markets and its street food tradition.

We were led by Salvo, a delightful young man with a background in art history and theater, whose Sicilian ancestry goes back forever. As such, he knew and shared the vulgar words — and there are many — that Sicilian use for food. For example, their slang word for strawberry is the word for a woman’s “modesty,” as Salvo delicately out it.

It would be hard to pick a favorite. Ben would choose the panelle, a chickpea fritter with roots in the Middle East, often served with a potato croquette called cazzilli, whose diminutive nickname means “little willy,” as the British would say.

I would choose the sfincione, their version of focaccia, which takes a day to make, three hours just to gently cook the onions on top.

What we would not choose was the milza, a sandwich combining boiled veal lung and spleen. After all, poor people can’t afford to waste, and use every part of the animal. So you’ve gotta just man up and try it. When in Palermo, after all.