A trip down to Sicily can leave you thinking you might be missing out on the food scene if you follow a vegan diet. Fear not! A quick whizz around the the circumference of this island left me, my tastebuds and my stomach more than happy. Read on for where to go and what to eat! Typical dishesThe Sicilian diet in my opinion far outranks the typical Italian fare of pasta and pizza. It is a more rounded and perhaps healthy, mediterranean style diet that caters well to vegans and vegetarians. Being an island, naturally fish features strongly and in Palermo and other sea towns the specialities and primos all focus on local seafood, - but as a result the use of other meats seems much reduced. Sicily boasts verdant pistachios and their Sicilian pesto -as opposed to Genovese pesto from Genoa in the north of Italy - is made extra tasty with these nuts instead of pine nuts inside. Lemons and Sanguinelli, - blood oranges, are also famous on this island so you can enjoy fresh juice and fruits wherever you are, even stopping on the edge of a road for a refresher. The aubergines in this part of Italy exceed melanzane I've seen in any other part of the country. Bulbous, plump and a rich purple, they are far more appealing than the wrinkly black things you sometimes find and feel like they contain all the volcanic nutrients of Sicily's soil inside. They are also the base of the local dish Pasta alla Norma. Usually topped with a special salty baked ricotta you can ask them to leave it off or even ask for bread crumbs instead. SyracuseArancina Gluten Free When visiting Syracuse, there are only 2 places that should be on your list. First there is the archaeological park which is a beautiful walk on a sunny day through the necropolis, the enormous S-shaped cavern, the 'Ear of Dionysius', and one of the largest Greek amphitheatres. Then, if you're not already staying there you must go to Ortigia, the gorgeous little island which with its castles, turquoise sea, and charming curvy traffic-free streets, make it a perfect place to stroll around. At this stage in our trip I was determined to eat an Arancina - Sicilian fried-rice balls and was even considering a compromise for a vegetarian option, but everything we found had the traditional ragu - a small amount of bolognese like meat sauce - inside. Being winter many places were closed but trusty Google maps provided me the answer as I typed 'vegan' into its search engine and up popped 'Arancina Gluten Free'. This little joint is just over the bridge from the mainland, with the most bizarre nationalistic and military decoration, but, if you take away (which is also cheaper), is definitely worth putting up with! As the name suggests they are all gluten free, so the rice isn't fried in wheat batter, and are meant to be more digestible. If you don't visit in the dead of winter as we did, he'll have the oven on too where he can even bake the arancini for a healthier option. There is a list of 6 vegan options. I had one with pistachios, pesto and curry and another with creamy porcini mushrooms. Grab a freshly squeezed blood orange juice and head to the quay with the boats to look out to sea! Palermo I love Palermo, it has quite a calm, civilised feel amongst the supposed Sicilian chaos, beautiful architecture from its rich history and plenty of these awesome Magnolian Fig trees! Fud Although at first relucant, due to its very loud atmosphere, shared tables and not so Sicilian looking menu, if you fancy something a little different, try FUD where everything is written in purposefully bad phonetic spelling. We had a bottle of the 'haus uain' for example. They have several vegan burgers, sandwiches or wraps on their menu and I went for this seitan kebab piadina which was very tasty, if a little overdone on the vegan salad cream and iceberg lettuce. Beware of the chips which are these thin fried potatoes often known as 'crisps' instead! Ke Palle If you're not quite done with Arancine or if you're looking for a pick-me-up snack, stop off at the humorously named Ke Palle (Literally 'what balls!', in the sense of bollocks, an expression used to express disappointment or irritation). They have an abundant array of arancini with a clearly marked vegan selection. I tried one of these warming oven baked ones and it was delicious! Cafe Cartari We happily stumbled upon this cosy little eatery not far off the main road. Dishes were a bargain at 4€ each so we hungrily ordered 2 each! Here I started with a warming chickpea soup and followed up with a caponata, deliciously stewed aubergines. Pasta dishes come up at the same price and you can pretty much request anything from the owner, such as pasta alla norma (no cheese please) or pasta with broccoli (no anchovies please), as they cook it up fresh for order. TaorminaIf you're in the region of Catania, the beautiful town of Taormina is an hour or so north and provides beautiful views from their well-preserved Greek amphitheatre. If you're lucky, the view should include Mount Etna where above you see just clouds. Continue your drive -or take the local bus- up the incredibly steep winding roads to Castelmola and savour the spectacular heights! De Gustibus While not specifically targeting vegans, with salads and juices for the summer and a choice of warming broad bean, chickpea or lentil soups with homemade bread for the winter, De Gustibus should have you sorted for something to eat. Nothing particularly special and not the cheapest, but it has an elegant seating area and a friendly owner. On the Road to Syracuse - Priolo GargalloDelizie dei Sensi Driving from Catania towards Modica -the highway that goes to Syracuse- hunger got the better of me and we decided to get off at the next junction. Just a 2 minute drive into the village of Priolo Gargallo led us to this 5 star spot full of locals playing cards on a rainy Wednesday afternoon. No particular menu, the waiter asked us what we wanted. My boyfriend asked what vegetables they have - spinach and brocolli - and then requested a pasta with those. Not a problem! I can think of a fair few places in Italy where personal requests do not go down well or at least not without a little shrivel of the nose, but here they didn't bat an eye-lid. I went for tomato and aubergine, - alla norma. The results were fantastic. We were brought a little appetiser of tomato and olive oil bruschetta while we waited, followed by two enormous plates of pasta. After a bit of wine, mineral water, coffee and a complementary biscuity pudding to nibble on, I couldn't believe it when we were just charged a flat 7€ each!
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