黑料视频

Students interested in the Food in Sicily study away program, scheduled for May 7-27, 2026, are invited to attend an upcoming information session on Microsoft Teams. 

Participants in the study abroad experience can earn six 黑料视频 credits, learn about the culture of food in Sicily, and get hands-on experience tasting and making Sicilian dishes.

"Like ice cream, cheesecake and chocolate? What about marzipan, cannoli and sumptuous pasta? Then come experience the cultural and historic food ways of Sicily, the Mediterranean's largest island. We'll travel Sicily's eastern 'Greek' coast to see and taste this unique island's rich history of food traditions. You may even meet the  while visiting Caff猫 Sicilia in Noto, Sicily," said Food in Sicily Co-Director David Bell, Ph.D., chair and associate professor of linguistics in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Interested students are invited to at one of the following dates and times:

• Every Tuesday and Wednesday beginning Tuesday, September 9, through Wednesday, December 10, at 7:30 p.m. 

In its history, the island of Sicily has been conquered and ruled by the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans and Spanish. Each empire has left its mark on Sicilian food. Among the agricultural legacies of conquest are citrus and sugar from the Arabs and cacao beans from the Spanish.

The Arabs significantly impacted Sicilian cuisine, particularly through their introduction in the ninth century of sugar and sugar cane production techniques to the island, then called by the Arabs 鈥淚marat Siuilliya.鈥� Sugar became a key ingredient in Arabo-Siculo  pastries and desserts such as cassata (al-qa拧拧膩峁�), cannoli (qanaw膩t) and cubbaita (qubbayt) 鈥� Sicilian torrone, with cane sugar replacing honey as the primary sweetener in many dishes.  

The Arabs also brought pistachios to Sicily, establishing orchards especially in the fertile, volcanic soil near Mount Etna, and particularly in the area around the city of Bronte. And while the Greeks had cultivated almonds long before the Arab arrival, it was the  Arabs who revitalized and expanded their cultivation across the island. Also, during the Arab period, citrus fruits were introduced on a wide scale, especially lemon (lymun) and oranges (al-naranjah). Iconic Sicilian desserts like pasta reale (marzipan) and granita (flavered ice) have their roots in Arab rule of the island. In addition, the Arabs introduced the art of making sorbetto (shariba) or sherbet.  Over the centuries, Sicilians adapted the sherbet process, adding flavors like almond, pistachio, lemon, mulberry, and coffee to fruit juices creating what we now know as granita and sorbetto.  

Sugar and almonds are also the key ingredients in biancomangiare, a traditional dessert made with almond milk (or cow's milk) and thickened with cornstarch. It can be flavored with cinnamon and lemon peel and topped with chopped pistachios. This is what Mary Adams is making in the photo above, taken in the kitchen of the ethnographic museum 鈥淭empo Museo Dei Sensi鈥� in Canicattini Bagni in the Ibleian mountains outside the city of Syracuse. The citrus fruits introduced by the Arabs also found their way into vegetable dishes like the typical Sicilian salad of fennel and orange, in which the Arabic culinary tradition of blending sweet and savory flavors lives on.

During their time in Sicily, students also serve the community鈥攖he photo shows the fruit salad they prepared for Caritas, a church-run soup kitchen. We know as the dish as fruit salad; in Italian it鈥檚 called 鈥渕acedonia,鈥� a name derived from the French and inspired by the diverse population of the Macedonian Empire.

The Spanish empire, ruling Sicily for 500 years, greatly influenced the island鈥檚 desserts and pastries. Sugar from the Arab conquest added to the cacao from the Spanish conquest of the 鈥淣ew World,鈥� resulted in the creation of a distinctively Sicilian style of chocolate. Americans today might recognize this chocolate as similar to a Mexican or stone-ground, cold-processed sweet鈥攁 granular chocolate with visible sugar crystals.

In the 1990s, as part of a general renewal of interest in Sicilian cultural traditions, chocolate production remerged on the island in its distinctly Sicilian form. Immediately recognizable as distinct from the slick smoothness of a Lindt, Godiva or even Hersey鈥檚 product, Sicilian chocolate has been historically centered in the southeast of the island in the city of Modica (a UNESCO World heritage site famous for its late Baroque architecture). The OHIO students visited the boutique chocolatier Sabad铆, which uses only Fair Trade certified, organic cacao from Ecuador in its bars. Sabad铆, using cocoa butter鈥檚 adaptability to take on aromas, 鈥渁ges鈥� chocolate in barrels to impart fragrances specially selected to pair with its products. These barrels impart aromas such as tobacco, Earl Grey tea, chamomile, and whiskey. Sabad铆 emphasizes that the chocolate is not flavored by this process but is instead perfumed by it. The students enjoyed identifying the notes of each perfumed chocolate and with the generous samples offered by the shop, appreciated the complementarity of the aromas with the textured and slightly bitter chocolate. 

Food in Sicily is a faculty-led program for 黑料视频 credit. In OHIO study away programs, students earn OHIO credit, take courses with other OHIO students and are taught by OHIO faculty. A student's financial aid package applies the same as it would for on-campus courses.

Food in Sicily is open to undergraduate and graduate students, and students can earn six credit hours while learning how to make mozzarella, practicing Italian with "Table and Market"  dialogues, meeting with local social enterprises, volunteering at a local soup kitchen, taking cooking classes, and visiting farms, olive oil makers, and wineries. (For additional information, see the articles on from the 2019 trip, Food in Sicily students experience how service changes people's lives and Food in Sicily students discover the power of community resilience from the 2022 trip, and Food in Sicily students explore the island鈥檚 ancient Greek past and Food in Sicily students see how emigration changed Sicily as integration threatens its identity from the 2023 trip, and Food in Sicily students make traditional Sicilian dishes in the Ibleian mountains from the 2024 trip.

The Food in Sicily program is based in Ortigia, a neighborhood in the Sicilian city of Syracuse. Additional program activities include market tours and cultural visits to Catania, Noto and Taormina. Students also hike on Mt. Etna and enjoy time on Sicilian beaches.

For more information, visit the Food in Sicily webpage or contact Bell.

See more about Experiential Learning at OHIO.