What’s for dinner Mum? May Day, 1st May

As May Day is a public holiday, we have had a quieter day, spending the morning having a last stroll round the gardens and through the alleys before lunching at the Antico again (it was so good last night, but this time we do the takeaway meal, equally good), and then return home to pack before leaving tomorrow on the bus for Trapani.

With a bit of time on our hands, it is a good chance to write about our food experiences here in Palermo.

On our first morning in Palermo, we visited the famous Ballaro street market, which extends along the streets for about 5 blocks. Here, it seems possible to purchase just about any food you could imagine. Over the next few days we tried many different local dishes, from the markets, from cafes, and from restaurants. Here is a selection:

Its not just colour and smell – these guys yell too!	Some interesting fish
Lots of fresh seafood – so fresh that the yabby-like crayfish at the back were trying to leave…	Whole carcases hanging up on the street stalls and cut up while you watched.
Cheese, including a local delicacy, grilled ricotta	These long zucchini were just that – about 1 metre long!
	Watching these guys carving up huge tuna was entertaining
The sheep heads were on special at 1.99 euro. Thought about it …	Lots of fantastic fruit
Now this was a funny fish, bright silver, quite thin, but very very long, about a metre or so.
	… never did find out what these were... but I liked their refrigeration system!
Cannoli, a pastry filled with ricotta and almonds	Arancini, risotto rice, cheese and ham balls, fried
Some delicacies from the Antico Focacceria, including caponata of melanzone (eggplant, and other vegies with almonds), involtini (rolls of eggplant) and various kinds of foccacia	More lunch specials including chick pea fritters  called panelle and sardine involtini, made with raisins, pine nut, fennel and breadcrumb stuffing

We didn’t get to try the seven layer chocolate cake as we were too full after our lunch. Nor did we try another local specialty, gelato in a sweet bread roll. This seemed to be a fave of the locals.

As with everything in Palermo, the food was a fusion of Arabic, Italian and who knows what else. And all so fresh and cheap.