“What are you doing in Palermo, then?” was a question I was asked not only before and after my trip, but also during it, when I had to confess I was neither in vacanza, ‘on holiday,’ nor strictly ‘on business.’
Saying “I’m an anthropologist” only muddies the waters further. As well as making me sound rather serious, if people have a preconception of what anthropologists do at all, they usually have something very different in mind from my work. They think of a village setting, usually, the more remote the better. In Italy, they might assume I am studying the traces of an ancient folk custom, given that the ‘greats’ of Italian anthropology have tended to focus on that sort of thing.
Once I break my methods down to the essentials — for the most part, it seems like I do little more than chatting to people, ‘hanging out,’ and looking at things — saying “I’m a researcher” feels too generous. Real researchers work in libraries, or better still, in archives. What research could I possibly be doing in a café?
There is a bit more to it than that, of course, but it looks like fun on paper, and it often is. It is tiring too, however, and meeting so many new people a day can be nerve-wracking.
What if they discover I haven’t read [insert canonical Italian historian here]? What if they think my work is a waste of time; worse still, what if they tell me so? (It happened more than once.) What if we never find each other at all, because our WhatsApp pictures were taken a lifetime ago and I’m waiting in the wrong piazza altogether?
Palermo keeps you on your toes. Scheduling an hour or two for yourself, in which you can sketch a nearby building, read something undemanding, or write some notes at leisure, is crucial. The best time to do this, of course, is lunch. If you get a second wind, you can then go out and do more ‘research.’ But if the carbohydrates work their soporific magic, which they often do, you can head back to your dilapidated B&B and take refuge under the air conditioning for a blissful moment.
A few people asked me where I enjoy eating in Palermo, and I keep a longlist of places I like on Google Maps. Not all of them are perfect, but you need something up your sleeve in various corners of town. Midday in summer is not the time for a long, hungry hike. For a solo lunch in particular, however, I am always more than happy to walk a while to one of the following places:
Ferro di Cavallo, Via Venezia 20
Anyone who lives in Palermo will tell you this restaurant has gone downhill in the last [2? 5? 10? 20?] years, and they are probably right. If you can overlook the erratic service, it is nonetheless worth visiting this ‘institution,’ because if you catch it on a good day, it’s still a real pleasure.
A few of the seafood dishes — the polpette di sarde, little balls of sardine in a deep tomato and currant sauce, and the pasta with swordfish and aubergine — are done very well, and sometimes, they’re exquisite. But you’re really here for the thrill of jostling for a table in the cool shade, and for the light buzz of lunchtime gossip when you’ve found one.
Caffè del Kàssaro, Via Vittorio Emanuele 390
My friend Davide told me to come here for lunch, and when I arrived I was convinced he had sent me to the wrong place. If appearances could be trusted, this café would win a Full House in bad-restaurant-bingo. It’s in the middle of a busy road; there is word art on the sign and a massive printed menu that looks turistico-as-hell. I nearly texted “WTF?” to Davide when I first sat down.
Do not be deceived: the Sicilian classics are played straight here, and the pasta con le sarde and the pasta alla norma are just as they should be. Delightful. The baked cassata is heavenly, and not just because of the rich, flavoursome ricotta, but because of its perfect crust, and some other magic I cannot profess to understand. The best €2 I have ever spent on dessert.
Moltivolti, Via Giuseppe Mario Puglia 21
Moltivolti is many things to many people: a social enterprise, a meeting place for activists, charity workers and people who have recently arrived in Palermo, and a kitchen that reflects the many communities that call the Ballarò neighbourhood home. Chefs from all over the world have contributed signature dishes to the menu, but the Sicilian dishes alone remind us that the island’s food is already a global cuisine.
The fish cous cous alla trapanese, ubiquitous in the west of the island and often heralded as evidence of Sicily’s affinity with North Africa, is seldom seen in Palermo, and even more rarely done well. Moltivolti’s take on the dish makes the best of local seafood, which is fresh and deep-fried. The handmade cous cous retains a satisfying al dente texture that can’t be replicated with the instant stuff.
The biancomangiare is Sicily’s past and future in microcosm. Its name acknowledges its French cousin, the blancmange, and the undertone of cardamom in Moltivolti’s version gives it a hint of the Afghan firni. Everybody here has a Hot Take on Moltivolti’s politics, but the food is going in interesting directions too, and deserves to be discussed in its own right.
Bangla Fast Food, Via Maqueda 142
Italian and Bengali dishes make up a significant percentage of the food we eat at home. For all that I love the former, there are some days when the heart wants a daal, and will accept nothing else. The streets of Palermo are littered with empty Gaviscon sachets, testament to the dominance of fried snacks in the city’s diet. Daal days, when my body goes on strike and demands something gentle (sorry), come around more often than usual here.
I intended to try a number of the city’s Bengali restaurants. Of the ones in this corner of town — and there are a fair few — Bangla Fast Food has a reassuringly short menu, so I tried it first. I felt an instant loyalty, and I couldn’t bring myself to stray elsewhere.
The fish curry is a highlight of the menu, as is the chana daal, which was so comforting the first time I ate it that I went back the morning after to have it for breakfast. I will write properly about Italian breakfast another day, I expect, but we have not always had the easiest of relationships. As well as being perhaps Palermo’s best-value lunch, therefore, Bangla Fast Food became my default when I wanted to start my day with something that was neither sweet nor deep fried. They also make a lovely bhapa doi, a sweet steamed yoghurt in a little plastic cup.