A Sicilian Vegan Experience!
When thinking about Sicily, one of the first things that comes in mind are definitively those notch quality Vegetables. Is there any original Sicilian Vegan recipe, in the Sicilian Cuisine?
Its unique history, full of stylistic blends both in the art as well as in food, deriving from the influences of the Saracen, Arab, Spanish and French world, Sicilian culture offers today an incredible historical, artistic and culinary heritage with a wide choice.
And in the kitchen, we find perhaps the most important cultural element, through which it is possible to understand and recognize the influence, habits, behaviour and history of a people. While a lot of modern Sicilian recipes have got a base of meat or animal-derived ingredients, many Sicilian dishes are vegan or vegetarian since their first creation: poor food made with cheap, but fresh, simple ingredients.
Taking advantage of the amazing quality of all the vegetables that naturally grows in Sicily, you can find some of the most delicious recipes without any trace of meat. Is this something bad and it is impacting the taste of the food? Not at all.
Some Sicilian Vegan recipes examples? A super fresh and easy to make “Fennel and Orange” salad, pasta with beans (Pasta Fazool!) or the less famous pasta with the Tennerumi, portions of the sprouts and new leaves of the long courgette plant called “snake” and in general all the pasta that bring together vegetables and legumes – but also pasta with Sicilian Pesto.
And it’s not exclusively salads or pasta – we’ve got Veg recipe all over the place also on the Sicilian Street Food, with the Panelle (Chickpeas flour fritters) and the Crocche’ (Potato Croquette) 2 staples of the Sicilian Street food, served on their own or together in a fluffy sandwich.
Are you still not 100% convinced? Then what about Arancine? You’ll say “but Arancine are typically filled with cheese and ham or with ragu”. That’s true, but it’s not unusual to find all years round Arancine filled with Spinach or with Mushrooms, and they’re just delicious.
If you want to give it a go, here’s our selection of Veg-Friendly Recipes directly from our site!
1)Pasta with Pistachios Pesto:
3)Caponata
don’t forget Pasta alla carrittiera and pasta a picchi pacchi both very delicious.