Palermo’s Street Food
Today we walked our mouths through Palermo. First we had time to see some monuments and work up an appetite.
Palermo's frenetic markets offer an authentic taste of Sicilian culture. "Streaty" leads a comprehensive Palermo street food tour exploring the local markets of Capo and Vucciria and its secret food gems. Our tour included sampling the arancina (rice ball filled with minced veal, peas, carrot and onion), the sfincione (pizza bread), the panelle (chick pea fritter) and cazzilli (potato croquette with mint), the challenging pani ca' meusa (spleen, throat and lung cartilage in a roll), the famous cannoli with ricotta cream and the huge broscia col gelato (ice cream sandwich) - and the accompanying wine and beer.
The tour is well-planned. Before trying the spleen sandwich, we are taken to a tavern for liquid courage. Then it is the sandwich... "It's a lot like liver," said our guide. "Take half to try - because you know you won't appreciate it. Authentic Palermitanian." It is hard to get past what it is, but tastes good enough that if I didn't know what it was, I would've eaten at least another bite. Greg had a few more bites but between the two of us we didn't finish our half.
For dinner we ventured out to try the locals' Palermo institution - Panificio Graziano. If you are staying near the center of the city and don't speak any Italian, I wouldn't recommend it. For us, it was just another challenge that I enjoy about travel. After walking 30 minutes to the outskirts, we arrived to the establishment with 30 people spilling out of the cramped interior. I happened to catch sight of a man holding a ticket and realized I needed to find the machine. We pulled ticket #11 and they were serving #57 ... we settled down in some empty seats and spent the time wondering if we could pull this off. There's very little reference on the internet (in English) except great reviews, and thankfully one had basic instructions: order then pay. I translated my number into Italian so I could hear when they called it, and then squeezed through the crowd to the front. From there I could see the menu on the wall - completely in Italian. I searched for some words I knew and ordered 3 slices. She gave me an order slip which I squeezed back to the cashier to pay. Ok now what? The advice stopped there. How do I get my food? I watched others take the receipt and hand it to the lady behind the counter. I mimicked them and was handed a neatly wrapped package. Precooked and then reheated, our slices were only lukewarm when we unwrapped them at our sidewalk table. I can imagine they would be amazing fresh out of the oven!
One of my favorite things about Palermo is how easy it is to walk; there are many pedestrian-only streets. But particularly on Friday and Saturday (the nights of our visit), evening traffic is banned on Via Maqueda (and surrounding streets) for the passeggiata. Of all the European cities we have visited, we have never experienced a Passeggiata as massive and popular as this!
We headed back to La Vucciria for a drink. A very happy and very intoxicated man offered to finish Greg's beer. Filling his cup activated his happy dance:
Palermo Cathedral is a stunning religious "quilt" visibly blending many different architectural styles, including Byzantine, Gothic-Catalan and Neoclassical.
Piazza Pretoria is also known as the 'Square of Shame' because of the nude statues surrounding the fountain. The nuns in the convent overlooking the square, as well as conservative Sicilians, did not appreciate the nudity and proceeded to remove offensive body parts.
Palermo's frenetic markets offer an authentic taste of Sicilian culture. "Streaty" leads a comprehensive Palermo street food tour exploring the local markets of Capo and Vucciria and its secret food gems. Our tour included sampling the arancina (rice ball filled with minced veal, peas, carrot and onion), the sfincione (pizza bread), the panelle (chick pea fritter) and cazzilli (potato croquette with mint), the challenging pani ca' meusa (spleen, throat and lung cartilage in a roll), the famous cannoli with ricotta cream and the huge broscia col gelato (ice cream sandwich) - and the accompanying wine and beer.
The panelle, cazzilli, and arancina were my favorites
Sicily is known as the garden patch of Italy
The tour is well-planned. Before trying the spleen sandwich, we are taken to a tavern for liquid courage. Then it is the sandwich... "It's a lot like liver," said our guide. "Take half to try - because you know you won't appreciate it. Authentic Palermitanian." It is hard to get past what it is, but tastes good enough that if I didn't know what it was, I would've eaten at least another bite. Greg had a few more bites but between the two of us we didn't finish our half.
Pani ca' meusa sandwich with suspicious veal body parts
The Sicilian way to eat gelato is in a brioche - "I will stick to cones," decides Greg. I think Japan's version is soooo much tastier.
For dinner we ventured out to try the locals' Palermo institution - Panificio Graziano. If you are staying near the center of the city and don't speak any Italian, I wouldn't recommend it. For us, it was just another challenge that I enjoy about travel. After walking 30 minutes to the outskirts, we arrived to the establishment with 30 people spilling out of the cramped interior. I happened to catch sight of a man holding a ticket and realized I needed to find the machine. We pulled ticket #11 and they were serving #57 ... we settled down in some empty seats and spent the time wondering if we could pull this off. There's very little reference on the internet (in English) except great reviews, and thankfully one had basic instructions: order then pay. I translated my number into Italian so I could hear when they called it, and then squeezed through the crowd to the front. From there I could see the menu on the wall - completely in Italian. I searched for some words I knew and ordered 3 slices. She gave me an order slip which I squeezed back to the cashier to pay. Ok now what? The advice stopped there. How do I get my food? I watched others take the receipt and hand it to the lady behind the counter. I mimicked them and was handed a neatly wrapped package. Precooked and then reheated, our slices were only lukewarm when we unwrapped them at our sidewalk table. I can imagine they would be amazing fresh out of the oven!
Sicilian pizza from Panificio Graziano
One of my favorite things about Palermo is how easy it is to walk; there are many pedestrian-only streets. But particularly on Friday and Saturday (the nights of our visit), evening traffic is banned on Via Maqueda (and surrounding streets) for the passeggiata. Of all the European cities we have visited, we have never experienced a Passeggiata as massive and popular as this!
We headed back to La Vucciria for a drink. A very happy and very intoxicated man offered to finish Greg's beer. Filling his cup activated his happy dance:
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