Made in Sicily (Giorgio Locatelli)

The Michelin-starred chef and bestselling author of Made In Italy delivers an exquisitely designed cookbook on the cuisine of Sicily, which combines recipes with stories and history of the island and its vibrant culinary traditions

When renowned Michelin-starred chef Giorgio Locatelli—author of the bestselling Made in Italy—was young, he was captivated by friends’ tales of Sicily. When he finally visited himself, he was blown away by an island of amber wheat and vegetable fields, lush orange, lemon, and olive groves, and rolling vineyards. Made in Sicily explores the ingredients and history of the Italian island, a region with a rich culinary tradition marked by the influence of Arab, Spanish, and Greek colonists—and introduces readers to the cooks, fishermen, and farmers that define Sicilian foodways.

The absolute belief in ascendancy in ingredients over pretentiousness or fuss defines Sicilian cooking, where “what grows together goes together.” For Sicilians, great food is about conducting and expressing the taste of ingredients to the maximum, in the simplest way. The recipes in Made in Sicily, ranging from four kinds of caponata to Pasta con le Sarde (pasta with sardines, fennel, and pine nuts) to tender-crisp arancine (golden fried risotto croquettes) to the iconic Palermo dessert cassata siciliana, a ricotta-sponge cake soaked in liqueur with a delicate marzipan shell, embody that ethos, transmitting the personality of the land and sea of the singular island.

As much an objet d’art as a cookbook, Made in Sicily is a book of uncommon beauty that takes readers on a passionate journey—via breathtaking full color photography, intimate narrative portraits of everyday Sicilians, insightful food writing on Sicilian ingredients and techniques, and of course, exquisite recipes-through the heart of one of Italy’s most romantic, dramatic regions.