Spend a week eating and drinking with us in the Mediterranean

You might not want to tell the owner of X, but the Colombian author Gabriel Garcìa Màrquez (who won the Nobel Prize the year we opened the Deli in 1982) once said, “Going to Sicily is better than going to the moon.” For a whole lot less than one would need to spend to score a seat on SpaceX, you can spend a week in Sicily next spring with Zingerman’s Food Tours (ZFT). While you won’t be able to see the whole planet from Palermo, you will see some truly exceptional sights that I’m pretty sure you’ll remember for the rest of your life. And, while I won’t suggest that a visit to the moon wouldn’t be memorable, I feel completely confident saying that the food and drink on the Zingerman’s Food Tour will be way, way, way better than what they serve in outer space! So good, I suppose, you could even say it will be out of this world!

Many 21st-century people mistakenly form their understandings of travel destinations based on the political construct within which those places are currently a formal part. Far more often than not that leads to false assumptions and missed opportunities. A deeper study of history, though, gives a more accurate picture, greater cultural and culinary understandings, and amazing experiences. As one example, French Catalonia, from whence the Banyuls vinegar hails, has alternatively been part of various Spanish and French kingdoms over the centuries, and, for a time, was also an independent principality. Sicily is certainly one of those places as well. While the island is currently part of the same political construct as Rome, Milan, and Florence, the reality is that for far longer it was, proudly, just itself. In fact, the Kingdom of Sicily existed for over six centuries up until 1860, three times longer than Sicily has been one of the regions of Italy.

When one mentally detaches Sicily from the rest of the Italian boot, it can be understood in a wonderfully different way. Having been to the region more than a few times, I think about it as part of a magical culinary triangle—Tunisia to the south, southern Greece to the east. Sicily a bit off center left to the north. Sicily, in that setting, brings together significant influences from North Africa and Greece; Arabs and Europeans; Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. It has olive oil, wine, honey, exceptional produce, and amazing almonds. It has pasta shapes and styles not found anywhere else in Italy. British historian Vincent Cronin called Sicily “an island lying outside time, where past events endure in an external present, a beach on which the tides of successive civilizations have heaped in disorder their assorted treasure.” In my own experience, it’s a magical, one-of-a-kind place with out-of-the-way gems and hidden culinary jewels. Exactly the sort of place that’s ideally suited to spending a week on Zingerman’s Food Tour.

The ZFT trip to Sicily this spring starts the week of U of M’s graduation. If you aren’t going to the commencement, then consider taking this beyond-terrific trip. The tour is six days and focuses on the eastern side of the island of Sicily. Visit amazing restaurants, learn from incredible home cooks, sip at wonderful wineries, commune with the culture, the history, and how to cook the food! Some of the highlights include:

• A visit to the amazing artisanal chocolate producer Antica Dolceria Bonajuto. If you want to experience what chocolate making in Europe would have been like four hundred years ago, this is the place to do it. And the chocolate is terrific!
• An amazing lunch all built around Bonajuto’s artisan chocolate.
• A visit to Taormina, the ancient city founded by the Greeks but with the influence of Romans, Normans, Arabs, and more.
• Visit the remarkable volcanic Mount Etna.
• Partake in the bounty of the fertile plains of volcanic soils—grapes, vegetable fields, and pistachios spread out from the slopes of Mount Etna.

As you consider whether or not to go, I’ll remind you of what Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said nearly two hundred years ago,

To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is not to have seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the clue to everything. The purity of the contours, the softness of everything, the exchange of soft colors, the harmonious unity of the sky with the sea and the sea to the land … who saw them once, shall possess them for a lifetime.

Save your seat to Sicily

Almonds, hazelnuts, and pistachios transformed into easy-to-enjoy sweet spreads

If you’re looking for a lovely little touch of something sweet to brighten a dark winter day, drop by the Candy Store (inside the Coffee Company, down the block from the Bakehouse) to check out these great little nut spreads from Sicily. They’re crafted by a small family-owned company run by a trio of fruit farming brothers-in-law near the town of Ribera on Sicily’s southeast coast (due east, straight across the sea, from Tunis). The family is dedicated to tradition, to preserving Sicilian culture, and to the sustainability of the land—a commitment that’s reflected in the quality of their confections.

Nuts have long been an essential element of both eating and economics in Sicily. Almonds came to the island about 1000 BCE from the Middle East. Not long after, Romans brought pistachios from their eastern colonies. (They’re still known today as festuca, from the Arabic, in the local dialect.) Sicily’s volcanic soil contributes significantly to the quality of the nuts, which are found in a wide range of dishes, both main courses and desserts. Pistachios are particularly prized, so much so that police helicopters hover over the fields as harvest approaches to prevent crop-theft.

The good news here is that we don’t have to engage in any unlawful activity to have access to these nut spreads. They are all, very properly, placed right on the shelves at the Candy Store—almond and pistachio, pistachio and hazelnut, hazelnut and chocolate, and also a very Sicilian orange and lemon spread. All are sweetened with sugar, another key local ingredient imported by Arab conquerors to the island in the 9th century (Sicily was one of the first places in Europe to have it). The company name, Scyavuru, means “scent,” or “fragrance,” in Sicilian dialect—you’ll understand why when you pop open the lid and catch the great aroma that emerges. You can use the nut spreads to top off your toast, spoon some into a Bakehouse croissant, or put a bit on a plate before you scoop some gelato on top. The staff at Scyavuru layer the different nuts as you would a parfait, so the small glass jars look as lovely as the spreads inside taste. As they say in Sicilian, Bon appititu!

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Cornman Farms Presents a Very Special Dinner

You won’t want to miss this event. Our friend, Gioacchino Passalaqua, an Italian artisanal food exporter and native Sicilian who co-leads the Sicily Food Tour with Zingerman’s Food Tours is coming to town Friday, January 8th, 7pm, and he’s bringing one of Sicily’s top chefs with him. Claudio Ruta is a Michelin star recipient for his restaurant La Fenice in the Villa Carlotta Hotel in Ragusa, Sicily. The area is renowned for its bounty of amazing foods, and Claudio is bringing many of those signature flavors along with him for a very special dinner at Cornman Farms in Dexter. With the assistance of Gioacchino—an accomplished cook and sommelier in his own right—Claudio will be preparing a menu with wine pairings that showcases the amazing foods of Sicily.

Reserve your seat here

Please join us!