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A selection of special items I’ve been hoarding, giving love, and now must release to you exclusively. Feel free to purchase or simply admire here. I show and I tell.

Cucina Che Vai Natura Che Trovi

The most beautiful cookbook series ever written (si) is the In Bocca (In the Mouth) series from Edizioni il Vespro. Starting in 1976, it is comprised of 20 excellent regional cookbooks also heavy in local lore, art, poetry, slang, and much more. The books are extremely rare and the editions roughly go for $400 ish bucks in the US.

The cookbook (now available to purchase) I’m featuring above was some kind of related side project of the series called ‘Cucina Che Vai Natura Che Trovi’ which very roughly translates to: You go to the kitchen, you find nature.

The editor’s distinctly wanted to focus on the simple, natural dishes that formed the backbone of Sicilian cuisine. Garlic aioli with a large red mullet, grilled and wrapped in fig leaves, seasoned with oregano and basil. Also, lamb, hare, rabbit, and fish, simply grilled. Almond and honey based pastries. Bread and vegetables like bitter chicory. The wine whose grapes sprung out of the fertile terra firma around Mount Etna.

They chose to call attention to the cuisine of the truly poor and omit very lengthy recipes (no time) or recipes that require special tools (no money). It’s more a soup of wild greens gathered on the way home from working in the fields enriched with maccu (a creamy bean paste) over a prawn couscous which would specifically require a couscoussier.

There are incredible historical images and drawings throughout. There is also a chapter in the book titled ‘Sicilian things' which has a collection of sayings and proverbs and riddles.

The last time I was in Alcamo visiting my family, I scooped myself a big plastic bag of dried chickpeas from the produce stall around the corner from them. It had a great sign and somewhere I have a pic! Lemme see. Ok, I found it:

I think they cost something close to 4 euro for about 70 ounces. It ended up being extremely simple to bring back in my suitcase and were the most delicious chickpeas I’ve ever had in my life.

A translation of the ‘Minestra di ceci’ recipe above:

Chickpea Soup

This soup also boasts an ancient tradition and is still prepared today in both western and eastern Sicily. In the evening, soak 800 grams of chickpeas in water overnight with a pinch of baking soda. Transfer the chickpeas with their cooking water (which should well cover the legumes) to a pan, add salt, and bring to a boil over low heat. Cook. In another terracotta pot, sauté 2 sliced onions in olive oil, add 2 ripe tomatoes, peeled and cut into wedges, a pinch of rosemary, ground red chili pepper, salt, and black pepper. Add the chickpeas with the cooking water and let them absorb the flavors. Serve this soup piping hot.

Me here: Serve this soup piping hot…with a few big glugs of olive oil, sea salt, primu sale cheese, and semolina bread on the table. Obvs. Ahhhhh! This reminds me —

During the Sicilian Vespers, Sicilian soldiers would ask supposed allies to pronounce the difficult word for chickpea (ciciri). If they pronounced it wrong or with a foreign dialect, they knew they were enemies trying to infiltrate. I just learned this linguistic quirk or insight is called a shibboleth.

It reminds me of how my Papa used to tell me when I was little that American soldiers in NYC would do a similar test on potential German spies during World War 2. The word/trap in question here was the ‘Houston’ in How-stun Street. Later, he told me he thinks he completely made that up.

I wonder what you call the Sicilian instinct to make sacred a small quirk and use it as a trick to catch outsiders THUS making yourself feel even MORE like a Sicilian.

There is not a whole ton on the internet about the il Vespro book series, but I just found this short film which features them nicely. You can get a sense. I deeply enjoyed the second half when they start cooking…