Food Safari - Open Sicily

Palermo, not necessarily an obvious choice for a food safari, but you would be surprised by the choice of food and love of street food that the Sicilian’s have. So, we headed for the Tyrrhenian coast, staying in the heart of one of the oldest and largest of the food markets in Palermo.

The streets around the market are alive early with all manner of stalls providing pretty much everything you need. Supermarkets are hard to find and surplus to requirement.

Specialist stalls cover butchery, charcuterie, fromagerie, bakery, fish, fruit and vegetables. Vendors each have a specialism with some stalls selling just one ingredient such as flat leaf parsley! Many stalls are ‘when its gone, its gone’ and shut up once the goods are sold. Butchery is definitely as Mr. Henderson would say, 'nose to tail, nothing wasted'.

Blood oranges are abundant and artichokes, as well as lesser-known ingredients like cardoon and dandelion leaves.

Street food is everywhere, some not for the faint-hearted. Florence has its ‘tripe’ sandwich as a snack. Here they up the game with a ‘spleen’ sandwich as the preferred breakfast snack. Queues form early and carry on until lunchtime, with market workers, builders and professionals waiting patiently in line for a roll, stuffed with cooked spleen served with a wedge of lemon (possibly to mask the taste) some sipping beers, a true breakfast of kings. Not sure if they will catch on here, or if our technical teams would ever approve the process, but you never know.

Another bread-based snack is ‘Panelle’ basically, a very thin chickpea fritter, served as a starter on its own, or in bread with a zesty wedge of lemon. Possibly a carb overload, but delicious for something so simple. We are struck by how regional the tastes, flavours and traditions are in Italy. From town to town, the local delicacies and ardent opinions on foods vary vastly.

Sticking with all things bread related, another popular food on the move is ‘Sfincione’ a pizza style, thick based slab of bread and pizza dough covered with a simple tomato sauce. Posh varieties can be found with extra toppings of cheese or anchovies, but on the street, it’s plain and simple.

It's perfectly possible to graze your way round the markets. Stalls sell freshly cooked artichokes, paper plates of sea urchins, oysters, or sliced octopus, all as fresh as a daisy.

Back to bread related products (not that we are obsessed with sandwiches, well maybe a little bit) this time of the sweet variety, a brioche-based roll, filled with your choice of gelato flavour, ours was chocolate and pistachio. Perfect to round off the day.

Although we used some of Rick Stein’s choices of restaurant while in the city, the most memorable meal (we went back twice) was actually at the end of the market, very Italian, no tourists (apart from us taking photos) and we feasted on the following; Naturally, we started with a Spritz or two in the sunshine, followed by Arancini - deep fried risotto balls with swordfish, mozzarella and smoked ham, spinach and ricotta. After that, we dug into some Caponata – an aubergine salad of the region followed by a magnificent Aubergine Parmigiana and then a final aubergine dish: Pasta Norma.

EAT: Aubergine everything! If you're going to eat aubergine, Palermo is the place to do it!

BROWSE: The endless stalls of butchery, charcuterie, fromagerie, bakery, fish, fruit and vegetables.

RISK: Tasting a spleen sandwich first thing in the morning!

SNACK: Panelle, the delicious chickpea snack. Perfect for catching some carbs in the sun!

INDULDGE: Gelato-filled brioche bun, we recommend chocolate and pistachio.

CONCLUSION: Palermo is certainly a city worth visiting from a food perspective, not to mention the culture and attractions, all in easy walking distance of the centre!