The Surprising Jewish Roots of Sicilian Cuisine

Bavette pasta alla trapanese, bucatini with broccoli and muddica atturrata, stigghiola or sheep intestines, spleen and panelle chickpea fritter sandwiches, and busiate corkscrew pasta al pistacchio. The cuisine of Sicily is varied, simple, and above all, deliciously satisfying and comforting.
But few dishes are as ubiquitous on Sicilian menus as caponata - an eggplant salad of sorts often with tomatoes, olives, onions, and capers cooked in sugar and vinegar.
In this video, I dig into the Jewish roots of Sicilian cuisine.
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[@Yellow-wp5ne]

I come from Italy, Sicily and my surname is on the list of the Sicilian Jewish families. I wish I could learn more about this piece of history

[@BaurJoe]

You should! It’s such a rich, fascinating history.

[@silvierousso3995]

Thank you Joe ! Here in Italy there are thousands of Bnei Anusim ( our Jewish Sicilian ancestors were forced to Convert to Catholicism) so Yom Tov became Bongiorno surname , Chacham ( The wise one) became Caccamo and so on , Rabbi Barbara Aiello in Serrastretta ( Calabria) is helping .any of us to RETURN to Jewish Identity

[@BaurJoe]

That’s so interesting! Thank you for sharing.

[@gabrielleangelica1977]

Yes, Rabbi Barbara is great.

[@TonyisToking]

Italy had two dispersions of Jewish culture in history. Actually almost three, technically. The first was the original Ashkenazi Jewish population that ended up in Southern Europe/Levant region during Roman rule. The second and third was in the 9th century when Sephardic Iberians invaded Sicily. The third being when Sephardic Jewish were exiled from Israel in 1492 and dispersed throughout Italian communities that were familiar to them. Many of those Sephardic populations dispersed into the New World after Columbus' discovery as well, mostly in Argentina and Brazil.

[@REOGURU]

I have a favorite Italian restaurant I frequent, but never order the Eggplant Caponata. Now, armed with that little historical story I'm going to order it, and probably enjoy it slightly more!

[@BaurJoe]

Do it! I always enjoy food a little more if I know the story behind it.

[@GMCatalina]

Make your own, it’s not that hard.

[@frankasafscimone3920]

There is a rediscovered mikveh in Ortega and more than 20 years ago I went to services of a rabbi who was born a Sicilian anusi. I was born to a Jewish mother and my father's father was from a Jewish family from Taormina which arrived on the island 2,000 years ago.

[@manitheman0806]

The Sicilian Jewish diaspora ended up as immigrants in the America's......They remained Catholics from the early conversions