The arancino was the size of a cricket ball, golden and crisp, and when I bit into it, the rice inside was stained yellow with saffron and wrapped around a core of ragù, peas, and melted caciocavallo cheese. I was standing in the Piazza San Domenico in Palermo, outside a shop called Ke Palle, and the arancino had cost two euros. It was ten in the morning, which is when Sicilians eat their first arancino of the day, and the shop was full of students, office workers, and grandmothers buying lunch for their families. Sicily's street food is not a snack. It is a cuisine, developed over centuries by people who did not have kitchens of their own and who needed food that was cheap, filling, and portable.
Arancini: The Pride of Sicily
Arancini are fried rice balls, and they are the most iconic street food in Sicily. The name means 'little oranges,' which is what they resemble. In eastern Sicily, they are round. In western Sicily, they are conical. The shape is a matter of regional identity, and Sicilians will argue about it with the intensity of a religious debate. The filling varies: ragù with peas, ham and cheese, spinach, or squid ink. I tried all four versions at Ke Palle and preferred the ragù, which had been simmered for six hours with beef, pork, tomato, and red wine. The rice was al dente, the crust was shatteringly crisp, and the cheese inside was still molten. It was the best three euros I spent in Sicily.
Cannoli: The Crunch and the Cream
A proper cannolo is filled to order. The shell, a tube of fried dough, is filled with ricotta that has been sweetened and mixed with chocolate chips, pistachios, or candied fruit. If the shell is filled in advance, it becomes soggy, and the texture is ruined. I found the best cannoli at Pasticceria Cappello in Palermo, a shop that has been run by the same family since 1940. The ricotta comes from sheep milked that morning in the mountains above the city. The shells are fried in lard, which gives them a flavor that vegetable oil cannot replicate. I watched the owner, a man named Salvatore, fill a cannolo in ten seconds, dust it with powdered sugar, and hand it to me across the counter. It was still warm.
Panelle and Other Specialties
Panelle are chickpea flour fritters, thin and crisp, served in a sesame roll called a mafalda. They are a legacy of Sicily's Arab period, when chickpeas were introduced to the island. I ate panelle at a shop near the Vucciria market, where they were fried in huge woks of oil and served with a squeeze of lemon. Other street foods to try include sfincione, a thick pizza with tomato, onion, and anchovy; stigghiola, grilled lamb intestines wrapped around scallions; and pane ca meusa, a sandwich of boiled veal spleen and lung served with lemon and ricotta. I tried the pane ca meusa at a stall that has been operating since 1834. The spleen was tender, the lung was earthy, and the combination was strangely addictive.
Where to Eat and What to Pay
Palermo is the capital of Sicilian street food, and the best stalls are concentrated around the Vucciria, Ballaro, and Capo markets. I spent three days eating my way through Palermo and spent an average of fifteen euros per day on food, eating five to six items. Catania, on the east coast, has its own street food culture, including arancini with a filling of eggplant, tomato, and basil called alla norma. I preferred Palermo for variety, but Catania for quality. The total cost for a week of street food eating, including a few sit-down meals and wine, was four hundred twenty euros. Sicily is not expensive. It is generous.
