Ciao ;) An osteria is a type of Italian restaurant that serves traditional, regional cuisine. It is usually a casual environment where food is served family-style. An osteria is usually smaller than a typical restaurant and often has an informal atmosphere
Palermo has terrific food combined with the most chaotic traffic and rudest drivers in Europe. Sicilians undergo some sort of Frankenstein transformation when they get into a car.
I hate to say it, but I was massively, massively disappointed by the food in the whole island of Sicily. And before people jump into conclusions, let me say that I'm Greek and I cook every day; I know food, believe me. Having said this - we spent 10 days in total, in Palermo, Cefalu, Taormina, Siracusa, Noto and Modica. We ate in every kind of place, from Ballaro market to restaurants of 100€ per person. Disappointment after disappointment. First of all - why does every recipe need to include breadcrumbs? Yes, I understand that these come from different times and cucina povera, where people had to utilise everything and waste nothing to make dishes filling. In 2023, why am I paying 20 euros for a secondo of swordfish rolls filled with breadcrumbs? In some places, I saw pizza and sfincione topped with breadcrumbs. Mindblowing. Second - why every place, from the most modest to the fanciest, has the same dishes in rotation? 10 days, most of them two meals a day in restaurants, over and over - pasta alla Norma, involtini di pesce spada, pasta con le sarde, caponata, melanzane parmiggiano, tuna bottarga. No imagination at all. I am positive that people in Sicily actually cook and eat brilliantly in their homes. The quality of the ingredients is unmistakable. Yet for some reason, they have decided that tourists don't deserve the best of their cuisine. Maybe the majority of them are Americans and Brits with zero food standards, happy to pay handsomely for plates of pasta boiled without any salt at all (in so many restaurants...), pizza and cheap fried food, just so they can then brag to their friends afterwards about their holidays. Again, I'm not talking about tourist traps, although I have to admit I have never seen as many tourist traps as in Sicily. I'm talking about decent looking restaurants, with reviews ranging from good to excellent; restaurants which then served us unsalted pasta. I'm sorry, Sicilian food - I came prepared to love you and adore you for life. And I feel betrayed.
Ciao there! I totally get where you're coming from, and it's a bummer that your Sicily food experience didn't live up to your expectations. Unfortunately, it is challenging for a foreigner who wants to explore the full spectrum of Sicilian cuisine to navigate the culinary scene. As in many places around the world, commercial restaurant offerings cater to what people want. They have to serve the masses; otherwise, they wouldn't last a month. I can assure you that locals in Palermo, for example, do not frequently eat street food; in fact, they eat it quite rarely. Yet, the historic center is filled with places that seem to serve only that. This is because those who visit these areas want to eat that type of food. If you're looking for variety, you need to know how to navigate the city, and as I explain in another video where I discuss the mistakes tourists make, neither TripAdvisor nor the average travel blogger will point you to these places. You have to get well-informed advice from locals. This holds true in the vast majority of tourist destinations, not just Sicily. I've lived in various places such as Barcelona, Dubai, Rome, and Bali. In each of these places, after the initial few months, once I became accustomed to and immersed in the local culture, I always rediscovered a completely different culinary offering than what I experienced during my first few months there. Nowadays, for example, in Rome, if you want to eat real Roman cuisine that is different from the usual pasta cacio e pepe, carbonara, or saltimbocca alla romana, you have to travel several kilometers outside the city center to places where a tourist would never end up. We also need to ask ourselves how many people genuinely want to delve deep into a country's culinary culture? In Palermo, for example, a tourist typically stays for about 3 days. They approach the destination with the mindset of "let's try the most famous and essential dishes" and leave it at that. If you show them something different, they might not even try it because it's not what they've heard about before coming. Anyway, I'm really sorry you didn't have the culinary experience you wanted in Sicily. Hopefully, if you get the chance to visit again, you'll be able to uncover a different side of Sicilian cuisine that you'll love. Fingers crossed for next time ;)
I love your video’s ! I was born in LaVucciria !
Great video. Grazie for the info! I’ll be back in Sicily in May for the 2nd time and am so excited.
Great channel of Sicilian information Nico, Grazie
Very useful
So informative, thanks a lot! 👍
Very nice video, thanks
Cool 😎 I love Italian food. Do you guys have the tradition of aperitief as well just like in Napoli?
Yes! Also in Palermo it's a tradition :)
I'm new subscriber....Hello to everyone
can you suggest any good TAVERNAS in palermo?
Hi😃 What about Osteria?
Ciao ;) An osteria is a type of Italian restaurant that serves traditional, regional cuisine. It is usually a casual environment where food is served family-style. An osteria is usually smaller than a typical restaurant and often has an informal atmosphere
SO ITALY IS IN THIS LITTLE DOWN ACROSS THE WORLD ?? REALLY
Palermo has terrific food combined with the most chaotic traffic and rudest drivers in Europe. Sicilians undergo some sort of Frankenstein transformation when they get into a car.
I hate to say it, but I was massively, massively disappointed by the food in the whole island of Sicily. And before people jump into conclusions, let me say that I'm Greek and I cook every day; I know food, believe me. Having said this - we spent 10 days in total, in Palermo, Cefalu, Taormina, Siracusa, Noto and Modica. We ate in every kind of place, from Ballaro market to restaurants of 100€ per person. Disappointment after disappointment.
First of all - why does every recipe need to include breadcrumbs? Yes, I understand that these come from different times and cucina povera, where people had to utilise everything and waste nothing to make dishes filling. In 2023, why am I paying 20 euros for a secondo of swordfish rolls filled with breadcrumbs? In some places, I saw pizza and sfincione topped with breadcrumbs. Mindblowing.
Second - why every place, from the most modest to the fanciest, has the same dishes in rotation? 10 days, most of them two meals a day in restaurants, over and over - pasta alla Norma, involtini di pesce spada, pasta con le sarde, caponata, melanzane parmiggiano, tuna bottarga. No imagination at all.
I am positive that people in Sicily actually cook and eat brilliantly in their homes. The quality of the ingredients is unmistakable. Yet for some reason, they have decided that tourists don't deserve the best of their cuisine. Maybe the majority of them are Americans and Brits with zero food standards, happy to pay handsomely for plates of pasta boiled without any salt at all (in so many restaurants...), pizza and cheap fried food, just so they can then brag to their friends afterwards about their holidays. Again, I'm not talking about tourist traps, although I have to admit I have never seen as many tourist traps as in Sicily. I'm talking about decent looking restaurants, with reviews ranging from good to excellent; restaurants which then served us unsalted pasta.
I'm sorry, Sicilian food - I came prepared to love you and adore you for life. And I feel betrayed.
Ciao there! I totally get where you're coming from, and it's a bummer that your Sicily food experience didn't live up to your expectations. Unfortunately, it is challenging for a foreigner who wants to explore the full spectrum of Sicilian cuisine to navigate the culinary scene. As in many places around the world, commercial restaurant offerings cater to what people want. They have to serve the masses; otherwise, they wouldn't last a month. I can assure you that locals in Palermo, for example, do not frequently eat street food; in fact, they eat it quite rarely. Yet, the historic center is filled with places that seem to serve only that. This is because those who visit these areas want to eat that type of food.
If you're looking for variety, you need to know how to navigate the city, and as I explain in another video where I discuss the mistakes tourists make, neither TripAdvisor nor the average travel blogger will point you to these places. You have to get well-informed advice from locals. This holds true in the vast majority of tourist destinations, not just Sicily.
I've lived in various places such as Barcelona, Dubai, Rome, and Bali. In each of these places, after the initial few months, once I became accustomed to and immersed in the local culture, I always rediscovered a completely different culinary offering than what I experienced during my first few months there. Nowadays, for example, in Rome, if you want to eat real Roman cuisine that is different from the usual pasta cacio e pepe, carbonara, or saltimbocca alla romana, you have to travel several kilometers outside the city center to places where a tourist would never end up.
We also need to ask ourselves how many people genuinely want to delve deep into a country's culinary culture? In Palermo, for example, a tourist typically stays for about 3 days. They approach the destination with the mindset of "let's try the most famous and essential dishes" and leave it at that. If you show them something different, they might not even try it because it's not what they've heard about before coming. Anyway, I'm really sorry you didn't have the culinary experience you wanted in Sicily. Hopefully, if you get the chance to visit again, you'll be able to uncover a different side of Sicilian cuisine that you'll love. Fingers crossed for next time ;)
These videos are so annoying, nobody cares this all content creations...
Anyone who needs this advice should stay home...
There’s always someone like you in the comments. Bore off