the eighteenth century in Sicily. He makes 

 pasta with truffles and cream and does 

 fancy saucing. 



But most of the food at Regaleali is 

 countrified and springs from the earth. 

 There is pasta con le sarde (noodles with 

 fresh sardines and wild fennel), the signa- 

 ture dish of the island. Tomatoes, assimi- 

 lated long ago, now provide the ground 

 bass of the kitchen. Dependable sun and 

 bumper crops make the laborious job of 

 drying tomatoes and extracting their 

 essence an almost mythic adaptation of a 

 New World ingredient to local conditions. 



The century, even the millennium, is the 

 time frame here. From ancient days, Sicily 

 was the wheat-growing center of the 

 Greeks and then the Romans. Recently, 

 wine grapes replaced wheat in the fields. 

 Lanza is too polite, perhaps, in a book 

 aimed at Americans, to say the reason for 

 the change is unbeatable competition from 

 North American flour. 



In Lanza's amiable, confident text, the 

 engine of progress roars dully offstage, but 

 it is there, threatening the old way of life. 

 Her sense of her cuisine is what gives this 

 drama of devolution its point. The knowl- 

 edge of how to make the intricate sweets 

 invented by gifted nuns is dying out, but 

 the local ricotta continues to be made as it 

 always has, from the whey of Regaleali's 

 hundreds of ewes: 



One dish that is absolutely unforgettable 

 when Mario makes it with our ricotta is 

 Guastelle (Spleen Sandwiches). Guastella 

 is actually the name for a certain kind of soft 

 roll with sesame seeds on top; it resembles a 

 hamburger bun. You cut it in half and fill it 

 with wanned ricotta, caciocavallo [a hard 

 cheese made from cow's milk], and beef 

 spleen, an organ meat that is much appreci- 

 ated in Sicily. The spleen is sliced and 

 cooked literally swimming in lard. Since 

 spleen is not available in the United States, 

 you will have to have schiette (spinster) 

 guastelle, as we say at Regaleali. Maritate 

 (married) would be with spleen. (Elsewhere 

 in Sicily these terms refer to the absence or 

 presence of ricotta.) Guastelle are really 

 street food, and there is a focacceria in the 

 Piazza San Francesco in Palermo where 

 they still make them. 



Perhaps soon no one will make 

 guastelle any more. Myself, I am trying to 

 imagine their taste. I have no idea if I 

 would like them, but I am sure, pace Mon- 

 tignac, neither Lanza nor I would feel 

 comfortable eating one without the bun. 



This is the final column of writer Raymond 

 Sokolov, who will be pursuing less-fatten- 

 ing endeavors {see page 88). 



American Museum of Natural History 



BEYOND THE 

 NORTtt CAPE 



Spitsbergen to 



Bergen, Nor\A/ai| 



August 6-21, 1994 



The Norwegian Arctic is a 

 spectacular area renowned for 

 its breathtaking landscapes. This 

 summer, a team of American 

 Museum experts, sailing aboard 

 the comfortable Polaris, will 

 explore a region characterized 

 by fjords, glaciers, mountains, 

 icebergs and ice floes 



We will begin at Spitsbergen, a spectacular group of ice-covered 

 islands just 625 miles from the North Pole. From there we will 

 sail south along the coast of Norway, visiting mist-shrouded 

 Bear Island, the mountainous Lofoten Islands and spectacular 

 Geirangerfjord. Join us as we search for polar bear, walrus, seal, 

 reindeer, arctic fox, orca, sperm whale and numerous species of 

 birds beyond the North Cape. 



American 

 Museum of 

 Natural 

 History 



Discovery Cruises 



Central Park West at 79th Street 



New York, NY 10024-5192 



Toll-free (800) 462-8687 or 



in NYS (212) 769-5700 



Rediscover Your World 



79 



