This part of our journey brought us to Siracusa on the eastern coast of Sicily. Our stay for this part of the tour was on the island of Ortygia. Connected to Siracusa by bridges, Ortygia is not only a tourist and shopping area, but is also a residential neighborhood. The sea was churning and so, after breakfast, we walked along the sea wall each morning, enjoying the roar of the water.
Sicily has a very vibrant puppet theater culture, and one of the most famous of these puppet theater companies is located in Ortygia. We were fortunate to be able to attend a puppet show at the Teatro dei Pupi where I understood not a word of the play, but still managed to get the gist.
One of my most favorite activities when visiting towns and cities in Sicily was to walk through the open air market in whatever town or city we were visiting. The culture of these markets can be intimidating; some of the vendors clearly are performers trying to get tourists and visitors to part with their euro. It’s loud, it’s crowded nearly all the time, and snaking through the aisles and aisles of vendors is exhausting. But when people ask me what I liked most about Sicily, while learning about the history, seeing the landscape and visiting cultural sites, was unforgettable, experiencing the foods of Sicily is at the top of the list.
The weekly farmers’ markets or visits to farmstands in the US can’t compare to the bounty found daily in these open air markets where stall after stall of fresh produce, meats, fish and cheese are arranged to tempt shoppers looking to prepare meals. It is an incredible array that unfortunately is tough to replicate in the US where food shoppers are more accustomed to giant super markets and agri-business.
In Ortygia the market is quite well-known. On the day that we visited, it was teeming with tourists, of course, but also locals who were buying the ingredients they needed for meals. It was sad to pass up the beautifully ripe tomatoes, or fresh-from-the-boat seafood, so I consoled myself with some peppercorns to bring back home as a reminder.
While our US love affair with big box grocery stores will never go away, there is one thing I feel drawn to after visiting markets in Sicily, and in Ortygia. I need to prioritize getting my own foods sourced from smaller, local growers.
After An Educator's Journey 