Cucino Paradiso by Clifford Wright

[chefzadi]

According to Clifford Wright.

I found the sights, smells and tastes of Sicily had an Arab feeling, an aura that was not a mirage, but a story waiting to be told. It became all the more intriguing  when Tommaso d'Alba, a Sicilian gastronome and author of La Cucina di Derivazione Araba, told me a Sicilian proverb: Scratch the skin of a Sicilian and you will find an Arab"

According to Waverly Root in The Food of Sicily (as quoted in Mr Wright's book)

Almost everything that strikes us today as typically Sicilian is typically Saracen.

According to Clifford Wright

A good clue to determining which dishes are Arab in origin is the linguistic connection

I will look through the recipes that I can identify as Algerian based on the ingredients and preparations alone and also note the dishes that have a linguistic connection to an Arab influence. In this way we can go back and forth between what the Saracens took to Sicily and what the later Pied Noirs Sicilians brought to Algeria.

[chefzadi]

Best of Sicily Magazine

The Arabs changed Sicilian agriculture and cuisine. Their scientific and engineering achievements were remarkable. More significantly, they changed society itself. To this day, many Sicilian social attitudes reflect the profound influence --often in subtle ways-- of the Arabs who ruled a thousand years ago but who (with the Greeks and others) are the ancestors of today's Sicilians.

A little online reading for quick background information.

[Behemoth]

Best of Sicily Magazine

The Arabs changed Sicilian agriculture and cuisine. Their scientific and engineering achievements were remarkable. More significantly, they changed society itself. To this day, many Sicilian social attitudes reflect the profound influence --often in subtle ways-- of the Arabs who ruled a thousand years ago but who (with the Greeks and others) are the ancestors of today's Sicilians.

A little online reading for quick background information.

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This reminds me of the fascinating conversation I had with my BIL's girlfriend, who is Spanish. She was sharing with me the apparently Arab origin of the name "Guadalahara".

Wadi - al - Khara.

(I s**t you not. )

I really wonder what that was all about...

That is an interesting link, Farid. I am really looking forward to seeing where you go with all this.

Edited April 14, 2005 by Behemoth (log)

[chefzadi]

She was sharing with me the apparently Arab origin of the name "Guadalahara".

This has to do with the Moorish influence in Spain who of course went to the new world. I wouldn't have made the connection were it not for my wife who knows her World History better than I do. I'll be starting another thread. We'll have several threads going on at the same time.

[docsconz]

That is an interesting book and it has a lot of truth to it. Clearly there was major Arabic influence upon Sicilian cuisine as well as other facets of the culture. The difficulty in untangling the Sicilian web, however, is the fact that due to its location in the Mediterranean Sicily always has been the original melting pot as it has taken up aspects of so many cultures including Greek, Roman,Norman, Spanish and even French. To see Sicilian cuisine as a product of any one of these influences would be too simplistic, although Arabic influence is probably as significant as any.

[chefzadi]

That is an interesting book and it has a lot of truth to it. Clearly there was major Arabic influence upon Sicilian cuisine as well as other facets of the culture. The difficulty in untangling the Sicilian web, however, is the fact that due to its location in the Mediterranean Sicily always has been the original melting pot as it has taken up aspects of so many cultures including Greek, Roman,Norman, Spanish and even French. To see Sicilian cuisine as a product of any one of these influences would be too simplistic, although Arabic influence is probably as significant as any.

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I see what you are saying. I think that Clifford Wright addresses some of the points you mention. I understand the same. The intent is not to have an Arabist-centric point of view, but rather to trace to certain aspects of history. It is interesting to me that the Saracens were in Sicily so long ago, then the Italians who were mostly Sicilians came to Algeria. The Basin is layered and woven. I don't offer a "Meta-narrative."

EDIT: I am also very surprised at the number of Sicilians who have written about this.

DOUBLE EDIT:

The difficulty in untangling the Sicilian web, however, is the fact that due to its location in the Mediterranean Sicily always has been the original melting pot as it has taken up aspects of so many cultures including Greek, Roman,Norman, Spanish and even French.

I'm trying to understand the Algerian web through this, at least along the coast. Edited April 14, 2005 by chefzadi (log)

[docsconz]

The history of the region is remarkeable and fascinating. It really is a web of influences on both coasts and in between.

[carswell]

For a detailed discussion of foreign (Muslim, Spanish, Jewish, Norman, etc.) influences on Sicilian cuisine in a broader context that includes Northern Africa, see Wright's monumental A Mediterranean Feast. Cucina Paradiso is more a recipe book with good introductory material; Feast is more a reference book illustrated with recipes.

And isn't Root's book The Food of Italy?

[chefzadi]

And isn't Root's book The Food of Italy?

You're correct. My typo.

The very reason I posted this in the Middle East and Africa thread is to focus on Arab influences in Sicilian cooking without getting too off track with all the other influences that have informed the island. All of those influences are of course worthwhile and Sicily has shaped them into something very special.

Edited April 14, 2005 by chefzadi (log)

[docsconz]

Some of the clear Arabic contributions to Sicily and the rest of the Mediterranean include citrus, raisins and saffron. I'm not sure which direction cous-cous travelled, although I suspect it is of Arab origen.

Wright is undoubtedly correct about the linguistic connections, although those aren't always so clear.

[Pan]

Didn't the Phoenicians colonize Sicily? I think they did, and the fact that Malta was a Phoenician colony and Maltese speak a Semitic language descended from Phoenician today strengthens the argument (if there is one). If I'm right, does this complicate the issue?

[Wolfert]

Didn't the Phoenicians colonize Sicily?

................and the Greeks, the Romans,  the Hapsburgs, the Bourbons and the Normans all came to conquer or colonize Sicily.

Just a gentle reminder that on  the 'Greek' side of Sicily (Siracusa, Ragusa, Noto, and Catania)you find a  very different cooking style from the  Arab inspired cuisine of Palermo and Trapani.

I'm not sure which direction cous-cous travelled, although I suspect it is of Arab origen. 

North African Berbers claim they 'invented' couscous. I think they developed the art of steaming fish, vegetables, lamb, chicken, rice, barley and semolina couscous in the Mediterranean.

Edited April 15, 2005 by Varmint (log)

[carswell]

I'm not sure which direction cous-cous travelled, although I suspect it is of Arab origen.

North African Berbers claim they developed couscous and the art of culinary steaming in the Mediterranean. They steam fish, vegetables, lamb, chicken, rice, barley and semolina couscous.

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You're up and articulate early, Paula.

A few factoids gleaned from A Mediterranean Feast:

• There is little archeological evidence as to the early use of couscous, largely because it was originally cooked in a basket set atop an earthenware vessel. As the baskets were made from organic material, they did not survive the ravages of time. Vessel shards survive but cannot be dated accurately.

• The earliest couscous surviving recipes (16th and 17th century) are identical to the ones in use today.

• Couscous is thought by many to be Berber in origin and probably entered Arab consciousness in the 12th century in Tunisia.

• Couscous, under different names, is made from barley, rice and millet as well as hard wheat. In 1352, a traveller described dinner in Mali (modern-day Mauritania) as involving "millet, sour milk, chickens, lotus flour, and rice, founi, which resembles mustard grains." In West Africa, sorghum and finger millet are sometimes used. Tunisians distinguish between couscous made from different varieties of hard wheat.

[Wolfert]

I haven't seen the Roman mosaics in Tunisia depicting the cooking of couscous in claypots, but have been told there are some. Has anyone seen these?

[chefzadi]

I don't know how to approach this thread anymore. I've been thinking about it off too the side as I've been looking over the recipes in the book.

I get the impression that it was misunderstood from the start as being about or defining Sicilian cuisine. That's not my intent at all. I will quote Clifford Wright, "quest for the lost paradise of medieval Arab flavors."

[archestratus]

Well, let me chime in as long as we're discussing Cucina Paradiso. The whole notion of "influence" in a cuisine is fraught with difficulty because cuisines do not evolve in isolation. This is a problem I found in researching the book on Sicily. When we speak of "Arab" influence or "Greek" side of the island, these expressions should rightly be in quotes because they almost have no meaning.

Remember that Sicilian food is unique and its evolution has occured as a result of all of its invaders so one cannot really untangle the web. But one can make generalized comments and create aritficial markers as I attempted to do in Cucina Paradiso. The criteria I used were 1) folkloric: those dishes considered by Sicilians themselves to be part of what they call "cucina arabo-sicula." 2) linguistic evidence. One needs to be careful with linguistic evidence, but generally when one comes across a dish called sfinci (a kind of fritter) and learns that it is directly derived from the Arabic word, then one can legitimately call the dish "Arab."

One silly critic said of my choice of one dish in Cucina Paradiso that contained tomatoes, "well, there were no tomatoes" when the Arabs ruled Sicily. Well, she missed the point entirely. I was talking about "influence" not directly derived dishes--there are none. And even the couscous in Sicily may not derive from tenth century Arabs in Sicily, but may very well be related to a much later time.

About mosaics in Tunisia: I have have done some research on this, both when I've been in Tunisia and through archival research. I found no evidence of a couscous pot depicted in mosaics. If someone does have a depiction they should post it.

[chefzadi]

I read the cookbook as a historical novel of sorts. A backdrop of history and scholarship with a narrator on a quest.

[albiston]

I don't know how I managed to miss this thread up to now! Thanks for starting this interesting topic Farid.

What I find incredibly fascinating about the Arab influence in Sicily is how the Christian religious orders, especially nuns, were responsible for spreading these on to areas less directly influenced by the Arabic rule. While I do agree with Paula that the influence is stronger in the Trapani and Palermo areas, you can find evidences of the arabic culture pretty much everywhere on the island, especially if you look at Sicilian pastries. The love for almonds, rose and orange blossom waters stems, as far as I know, from those times: it became a fundamental part of the monastic sweet making industry (as it was and in part still is) especially in the Palermo area and likely spread from there pushed by the fame of the local sweets.

I can't believe nobody mentioned the most important influence the Arabs have had not only on Sicilian cuisine, but on that of the whole of Italy: dried pasta! Although Italian researchers still argue if this was invented in Sicily or Northern Africa (I personally think the latter is much more convincing) there is no doubt that the evolution of pasta from fresh to dried happened under the Arab culture. In some Italian regions, take Puglia, you can still find the old name for pasta in use Tria, which comes directly from the arabic ytria (forgive any spelling mistakes please). We Italians just invented the pasta press to make all those hundreds of shapes that still baffle foreigners today .

Regarding cous cous: all he Italian sources I read pretty much agree that the Trapanese tradition of cuscussu di pesce is pretty recent and was probably brought to Italy by the North Africans working as fisherman on Sicilian ships at the beginning of last century.

[Adam Balic]

Many of the early Italian cookbooks contained large chunks of earlier Arabic texts, in some cases retaining the original names. Even in later Italian cooking texts there were North African/Arabic influences. Bartolomeo Scappi's "Opera" (1570) contains a recipe for "Moorish couscous" for instance. Odd to think of 16th century popes tucking into couscous.

However, I think that this issue is very complex as Arabic culture wasn't exactly geographically or temporally fixed. In addtion, the Jews co-existed within Arabic states and I am sure that some Arabic dishes in Italy have arrived there via the Jews in Italy. Even Artusi has a recipe for couscous which he indicates comes from Jewish Italians.

Re: Pasta. I would say that the likely Arabic origin of pasta applies to Semolina based pasta, many soft wheat pasta most likely developed in Italy (an also independently in other parts of the world. Also, I think that the Arabic 'ytria' (string?), derives from a Greek/Armenian root?

[albiston]

Many of the early Italian cookbooks contained large chunks of earlier Arabic texts, in some cases retaining the original names. Even in later Italian cooking texts there were North African/Arabic influences. Bartolomeo Scappi's "Opera" (1570) contains a recipe for "Moorish couscous" for instance. Odd to think of 16th century popes tucking into couscous.

Interesting. I'll have to look more into that. The articles I read on cous cous from Trapani, did not mention the fact at all. Thanks for the tip.

Re: Pasta. I would say that the likely Arabic origin of pasta applies to Semolina based pasta, many soft wheat pasta most likely developed in  Italy (an also independently in other parts of the world. Also, I think that the Arabic 'ytria' (string?), derives from a Greek/Armenian root?

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While there is no doubt that the arabic origins applies to dried semolina pasta, I suppose the use of durum wheat was already widespread. If I recall correctly hard wheat was introduced in Sicily by the Romans. It adapted better to southern Italian climate than the soft kind and became a quite common ingredient in the area, togetehr with other grains lost or pushed into a tiny niche today. It would not surprise me if it was used to make the fresh hand shaped (essentially gnocchi at the time) or hand rolled pasta (like laganae) eaten at the time.

[Adam Balic]

Alberto - not the thread to discuss pasta origins, but here is an interesting article by Clifford Wright on the subject. Roman Pasta?

As for Scappi, I only have the recipe title "succussu all moresca", not the recipe itself. I haven't been able to find a transcript of this book todate .

Having said that, I would imagine that the couscous in Sicily took the direct root from North Africa, rather then though Scappi etc.

[albiston]

Alberto - not the thread to discuss pasta origins, but here is an interesting article by Clifford Wright on the  subject. Roman Pasta?

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Great link! Thank you Adam. I must admit I've had a hard time finding articles on the subject written with such a rigorous scientific approach. I'll have to take back what I wrote in the previous post... and burn a few books for making me appear like a fool !

[Adam Balic]

Foolish? Nah.

Another good resource for the origins of pasta is "Pasta: by Silvano Serventi, Françoise Sabban, Antony Shugaar (Translator), Francoise Sabba". This looks at pasta development in both Europe and China.

Charles Perry has also written an article on the Persian/Arabic origins of various pasta in the Far East.

I learnt all this valuble pasta stuff while researching the eGCI pasta course I did.

[chefzadi]

  The origin of macaroni lies not with the Etruscans, Greeks, Romans, or Chinese, but apparently with the Arabs. The earliest evidence of a true macaroni occurs at the juncture of medieval Sicilian, Italian, and Arab cultures.2

]The very first macaroni products were likely to have been little balls of pasta, which were easily storable and could cook quickly in a region that lacked firewood and therefore the ability to keep fires going for a long time.

In the anonymous thirteenth-century Hispano-Muslim cookbook Kitab al-tabikh fi al- Maghrib wa’l-Andalus, we find some of the earliest references to macaroni. We are told that there are three ways of making it. It can be "made round like a coriander seed,"

The coriander seed-type appears to be a form of pasta secca, called maccarone in fifteenth century Sicily, that later became known as maghribiyya in Syria, also known as the name of a dish, and the muhammas of Tunisia and the burkukis of Algeria.

If the first macaroni products were likely to have been little balls or berkukis (or berkoukes) wouldn't the Arabs have already known this type of pasta before arriving in Sicily? The process of making berkukis is similar to making semolina couscous. My aunt in Algeria makes both at the same time. She just forms the semolina flour larger for berkoukes.

[Adam Balic]

It would seem that this would be the case, but without documentaion it is difficult to make a say when and with whom it originally developed. But I don't think anybody is suggesting that pasta was developed on Sicily by the Arabs, just that it may have strongly influenced the direction European pasta evolved in.

Also, I would think that the very large group of products we know as pasta, proberly evolved from some quite independant sources.

Also, technically some of the round semolina products are not pasta as they are formed by accretion  rather then being a 'paste' product.