Sicilian Food Today
Typical Sicilian Dishes
Sicilian Food II; History - Tom Musco
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Timeline of Sicily
The Greek colony of Siracusa, on the southeast coast of Sicily,
was founded in 734 B.C. by a group of Corinthians. To these rich
but largely uncultivated lands, the colonists introduced grapes,
figs, pomegranates, wheat, walnuts, and hazelnuts. They planted
olive trees and vineyards, building a considerable reputation for
Sicilian wines. Native bees were making honey that the Greeks used
as offerings to their goddess Aphrodite. The rich pastures supported
sheep and goats whose milk was made into the cheese we know today
Writings from this period document sweets called dulcis in fundo,
made of honey, nuts, milk, and flour, served with baskets of fresh
fruit and sweet wine at the end of a meal. The Greeks made a very
sweet wine called Malvasia using dried and fresh grapes crushed
together. The Greeks in Sicily also made custard of ricotta; honey
and eggs called tyropatinum, a sweet version of the modern Greek
cheese pie known as tyropita.
The colonies continued to grow and prosper, particularly Siracusa,
which eventually extended its domain over the whole southeastern
corner of Sicily. Throughout the island, the settlers constructed
horti: vegetable gardens fenced in with stone walls that were the
predecessor of the present day kitchen gardens called orti.
Under the control of the Roman Republic Sicily lost much of the
prosperity it had enjoyed. Then, under the Roman Empire, Sicily
settled into a period of peaceful prosperity. The Romans planted
hard durham wheat, turning the island into the Empires granary.
Hard durham wheat is the secret of superior pastas. They also planted
fava beans, and grapes to make Mamertino wine. Pliny the Elder wrote
that Ceres taught milling and breadmaking in Sicily, and that is
why she was considered a goddess.
Augustus and Hadrian encouraged the development of agriculture.
The Roman general Lucullus imported cherries, plums, and citrons
from Asia Minor to accompany the cardamon, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg
and allspice in use by the Romans.
In 827 A.D. ten thousand Saracen troops landed in Sicilys
west coast and established a foothold on the island. By 878 they
had conquered Palermo, Messina, Enna and Siracusa. They moved the
capital from Siracusa to Palermo, where it remains today. Even now,
the western part of Sicily is casually referred to as "the
Arab side," while the east is thought of as "the Greek
The Arabs introduced new cash crops, including cotton, linen, rice,
and sugarcane. Land was divided into small plots, and new irrigation
channels aided intensive farming.
Lush gardens of lemons, bitter orange, bananas, date palms, pistachios,
mulberries, watermelon, apricots, and tangerines flourished in the
horti left by the Greeks. Flowering jasmine, roses, and bergamot
provided the flavoring for the exotic beverages the Arabs enjoyed,
which they discovered could be mixed with the snow of Mount Etna
to create ices, or sharbat (known as sherbet today). The two most
famous desserts of Sicily, cannoli and cassata, trace their roots
back to the period of the Saracen occupation. Saffron, cinnamon,
cloves, sesame and other exotic spices brought new tastes into the
islands kitchens. The Arabs started the tuna hunts, introduced
couscous and marzapane (marzipan), and may have brought coffee to
Sicily at this time. Arabic became the official language, and today
many famous Sicilian dishes have Arabic names: the ricotta cake
Cassata takes its name from the quasta, a big round pan in
which it is made, and Cubbaita, the torrone made with honey, sesame
seeds and almonds, comes from the Arabic qubbayt. The Arab geographer
Idrisi noted that vermicelli were being made here as early as A.D.
1154 a century before the birth of Marco Polo.
Although many traditional Sicilian dishes are termed Arab legacies,
it is more accurate to say that they were born in Sicily and incorporate
both Sicilian and Arab traditions. The Pasticcio di Pollo of the
Emir of Catania is a good example, since it contains olives, capers,
and other ingredients introduced prior to the Arab conquest but
reflects the Arabic penchant for stuffed foods as well as the use
of pistachio nuts.
The Arabs also influenced meal structure. Although most Italians
insist on a first course of pasta or rice followed by a meat or
fish dish, under the Arabs, Sicilians acquired a repertory of one-dish
meals such as Riso al Forno or baked rice casserole.
The Norman Conquest began in 1060, led by brothers Roger and Robert
Hauteville. These meat-and-potato men left the austerity of the
north for a southern land bathed in sunshine and all the virtues
and vices of the east. The many remnants of Arab culture in Sicily
owe much to the Normans, who embraced their adopted culture while
making few additions of their own.
His son Roger II succeeded Roger in 1112. His court was multilingual,
speaking French, Greek and Arabic. He hired Arab chefs to prepare
Arab food and retained Arab artisans to work alongside Norman architects
and Byzantine mosaicists to create the dazzling Royal Palace in
Palermo. In one hundred years the Normans were responsible for establishing
a singular culture of immense splendor.
In the twelfth century the court of Frederick II became a bastion
of high culture (the scuola siciliana of poetry greatly influenced
Dante), and this was a time when class distinctions became entrenched.
Even today two separate traditions of high and low cuisine persist.
During the thirteenth century, Sicily and Naples were joined by
arrangement of the pope under the French house of Anjou, and high
cuisine took on some decidedly Gallic touches. Farsumagru, stuffed
beef rolls, Sicilys undisputed premier meat dish was first
called rollo, derived from the French roule.
In the Middle Ages, strict secrecy was employed by cooks, physicians,
and alchemists regarding potentially lucrative formulas. Few, if
any, recorded recipes survive from that time.
Sugar fortunes were made during the 1400s by the Jews, who managed
its cultivation and exportation through the spice route from Damascus
to Venice, through the Straits of Messina. The Spanish Inquisition
of 1493 ended the sugar industry when the Jews were expelled from
The influx of Spanish nobility under the House of Aragon expanded
the ranks of Sicilian aristocracy. They developed a taste for the
showy and ostentatious embellishments of the Baroque period and,
to a large extent with the Sicily of modern times.
By the early 1500s, cucina baronale had taken hold in the kitchens
of the aristocracy. This is when the tomato and chocolate found
their way into the Sicilian pantry. The town of Modica in the southeast
corner of Sicily became the center of chocolate production because
it was populated by aristocrats who could afford the ancient and
very expensive chocolate-making methods, which have remained unchanged
to this day.
Ships from the New World brought squash and cactus. Cactus fruit,
called prickly pear in America, is known as fichi dIndia,
or Indian figs, in Sicily, and is a favorite for eating raw after
Maria Carolina, the wife of Ferdinand I and the sister of Marie
Antoinette imported French chefs to the royal court in Palermo in
1805. These chefs became known as monzu, a corruption of the word
monsieur. Gradually the Sicilians and Neapolitans who had apprenticed
under the French monzu took over the kitchens and continued to bear
the prestigious title.
Probably more than anywhere else, the wealthy convents and monasteries
of Palermo and Catania have been responsible for preserving the
traditions of Sicilian pastry making.
Spanish rule ended in 1860 when Garibaldis "thousand
Redshirts" entered Sicily to lead a populist overthrow of the
corrupt Bourbon government. Naples fell five months later, and the
unification of Italy was achieved.
Part III: Sicilian Food Today.