Welcome back friends: Sicilian food is contradictory, just like the Sicilian culture. It is an odd mixture of Italian, Greek, Arab, French, Spanish, and North African. Its dinner plates are living odes to the number of peoples that have conquered, colonized, settled, ruled, and emigrated here. Every region in Italy has its unique culinary traditions, but to lump Sicilian food under the over-arching category of "Italian food" does a disservice to this island's culture and proud history. The first recorded example of Sicilian food comes from the 5th century B.C., from a cook named Mithaecus. His writing on his native land's cuisine was the first documented cookbook in Greece – and the first cookbook in the world in which the author's name was well-known and identified. Sicily was first inhabited by an "ancient people of Italy," with small groups from Egypt and Spain. However, the island was not put on the map until the Greeks colonized it. They left behind grand ruins and theaters in places like Siracusa and Taormina, but also – significantly – brought olives and grapes with them, introducing some of the most important crops to the region and to what we know of Sicily and Italy today. The Greek diet – which today is so affectionately called "the Mediterranean diet" – leans heavily on fresh fish, vegetables, and grains.
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