Never say “arancine” in Catania! ☝️

As you well know, arancini, besides making us famous all over Italy, are the subject of a never-ending dispute between Palermo and Catania. 😅

A timbale of meat, rice and vegetables, breaded and fried, the fruit of a centuries-old recipe (thought to date from the period of Muslim rule because of the use of rice and saffron), it was born as a take-away food for work in the fields or hunting trips, thanks also to its crisp coating, which kept it fresh and made it easy to carry.

Sicilians consider the arancino the most characteristic rosticceria product of their region, and there is hardly a town in Sicily that does not claim to be its birthplace, but the dispute over its name remains particularly heated.

The reason is that western Sicily tends to use the term “arancina”, given its round shape, while in the east it becomes “arancino”, where it has a pointed shape inspired by the silhouette of Etna.

But whether it is a "ball" or a "point", masculine or feminine, matters little: the arancino remains the king of Sicilian street food and everyone agrees on how good it is.