The Pane e Panelle Pilgrimage

Panelle are thin fritters made from nothing but chickpea flour, water, parsley and salt - spread into a thin layer, set, cut into rectangles and fried until golden and crisp. Pane e panelle is the sandwich: those hot fritters crammed into a soft mafalda roll (Palermo's sesame-crusted bread), sometimes with a squeeze of lemon, sometimes with a crocchè (potato croquette) tucked in alongside. It's Palermo's most beloved street food - cheap, fast, plant-based and available from friggitorie (fry shops) and market stalls across the city. The chickpea tradition traces back to the Arab rule of Sicily, which is also why Palermo's food tastes of North Africa as much as Italy.

Palermo already has pasta con le sarde on this site; pane e panelle is the street-food side of the city. Palermo's markets - Ballarò, Vucciria, Capo - are some of the most chaotic, sensory, overwhelming food markets in Europe, and panelle is the snack you eat while navigating them. A hot pane e panelle from a market friggitoria, eaten standing up with the vendors shouting around you, is Palermo at its most alive.