Mouths Open - The Kings and Queens of The Sicilian Feast
The Daily - Arts and Life - Saturday, April 23, 2011
The Sicilian time machine is running at full tilt. The Holy Week feasts, or festas, have removed any vestigial lines between everyday life and religion, closing towns and cities where men hoist great statues of Jesus and Mary and plow through the crowds in day-long processions complete with marching bands and Roman guards.
These being Sicilian feasts, mammoth amounts of food are consumed at nonna’s table and on the street. Though baby steps are being made toward modernizing the Sicilian palate, the stars of feasts that dot the calendar are classics. The ethic of the Sicilian grandmother is not easily displaced.
“Imagine you go into your house. The first question your mother always asks is ‘Hai mangiato?’ – have you eaten?†says Pierpaolo Ruta, who runs Modica’s Antica Dolceria Bonajuto pastry shop with his father Franco. “You could be dying at the end of the phone and she’ll still ask that first.â€
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