Free Food and Foraging in Sicily

But before we go there is just time to share a post I wrote about foraging in Sicily last year

Knowing the wild edible food is a really good skill while travelling and Sicily is a wonderland of wild food! It is also a really beautiful activity that is almost meditative, brings you closer in touch with nature and sharpens the senses. In contrast to buying food in a supermarket where all the bright colours and writings compete for your attention and overwhelm the senses, when you forage you have to pay close attention, look out and listen with all the senses.

The more I learn of what to eat from the wild here in Sicily, the more it seams like just everything green is edible! There are really so many greens here, that no matter where you are, with a bit of nature, you can almost always go out and collect a salad or greens to your meal. And they all have different flavours and textures!

I already knew some edibles from my 2 months living in caves in Crete - much of the vegetation is similar, but I've gotten to learn many more here on Sicily by now.

I could give a list, but many of the plants I don't even know the name of - either the people who have shown us know just the local dialect or I've forgotten the names. I learn better by look, smell and texture! I'll give some examples, but my advice is to just ask the locals. Actually we haven't even had to ask, we just keep finding people showing us plants. Also in the different communities, they use a lot the wild edibles. There is a big tradition, it seems, on these Mediterranean islands, to pick and use greens from the wild.

Other ways to find free food is to ask at the markets for vegetables they cannot sell, or go when the market is over and pick what's left behind. About regular dumpster diving in supermarkets we haven't had really any luck. Most places are locked away.

Some wild pickings: