POMP AND SUSTENANCE: Twenty-Five Centuries of Sicilian Food

Simeti, an American who married: into a Sicilian family and irresistibly described her quarter-century on the island in On Persephone's Island (1986), has now researched Sicilian food in its libraries, kitchens, and fields and come up with an evocative mixture of culinary history, literary quotations (from Italian novelists, foreign travelers, and others), lively reporting, sensuous appreciation, and richly annotated recipes. Christmas noodles, New Year's lasagna, stuffed breads, cannoli, eggplant (""the range and fantasy of Sicilian eggplant recipes is overwhelming""), and the thin chickpea fritter called panelle are a few of the dishes that Simeti serves here, steeped in a centuries-spanning context of class, conquest, carnival, convent life, and family memories.