Earlier this week I wrote a guest post for Mangia Monday, a weekly column over at Wanderlust Women Travel. The site’s owner, Lisa Fantino was interested in how Sicilians are taking a bite out of crime and it reminded her of some of her favorite culinary memories as a child.
Welcome, Lisa.
“You are what you eat, takes on new meaning with Sicilian comfort food!”
Some people eat to live and others live to eat…………….as someone with Sicilian blood coursing through her veins, I can tell you that Italians clearly live to eat. They have a love affair with food that begins the moment they cut their first molar to and doesn’t end even when old age has taken their teeth. All of this comes with good reason – because Italian food is fantastico. OK, I may be biased here but isn’t all comfort food the food we’ve eaten since birth? Well, for me that meant voosteddi on special occasions.
“Holy cannoli what is a voosteddi,” you must be saying. I had no idea but I knew it was a treat. My Papa Cicio would venture to New York’s Little Italy weekly and on some of those return trips home I would be lucky enough to get voosteddi. It was like a special snack because the whole experience was made special.
It would start with a call from Papa to Nana saying he was on his way home……..she in turn would find me and tell me voosteddi were on the way. I would wait with tummy growling, anxious for Papa to walk through that door carrying a brown bag loaded with greasy sandwiches from the heavens.
It was a ritual. Papa, Zio Vincenzo and I would gather around the kitchen table sucking down these divine bits of culinary pleasure, often joined by my cousin if he happened to be around, as Italian sons usually show up when it’s time to eat! The paper thin slices of what looked like beef were layered on the softest bread with just a dollop of ricotta and maybe some grated cheese. That was it. They went down so smoothly and I knew they had to be special because even Nana didn’t dare make these in her kitchen and she cooked EVERYTHING…..even capozzelli (Lamb’s head right down to the eyeballs)
No one would tell me where these voostedi came from – it was top secret and reportedly happened down a back alley at a door which required a special knock. I kid you not. You can’t make this stuff up and maybe you just have to be Sicilian to appreciate it.
When I was about 18 or 19, maybe even 20, I dared to ask Papa what was in a voosteddi, just in case I wanted to make one. He wouldn’t tell me. “You like it, then mangia,” he would say, twisting his knuckle into the side of his cheek with a smile on his face. That was the Sicilian hand gesture, and everything has one, that meant delizioso.
Well, I happened to be the straight chick to my Zio and cousin’s twisted sense of humor. My Zio figured he would tell me straight, “It’s bull’s balls.”
“Ew, that’s disgusting. It is not.”
“You asked and then you don’t like the answer, so just eat it, you’ve been eating it all these years.”
So I begin dissecting the sandwich, peeking between the slices of bread as if I would know what a bull’s testicle would look like when it was cooked. My cousin agrees with Zio and I do not trust this Goombah Johnny routine. Something smells like bull, if you pardon the pun.
I now finish the voosteddi, not knowing if I should waft down another or be sick to my stomach on one of the delicacies which has sustained me since I could chew.
OK, Nana would never, ever lie to me, not me. I was her #1.
“Nana, what’s in a voosteddi?”
“Bull’s balls,” she says without skipping a beat!
Nooooooooo – help me. This is the Italian kid’s versions of sliders and they were destroying me.
It wasn’t until years later, long after Papa Cicio and Nana were gone that I researched voosteddi only to learn that the mystery meat is really a cow’s spleen. Sounds kind of disgusting but oh so yummy and oh how I long for those days in Nana’s kitchen again!
NOTE: Cherrye has referred to these Sicilian treats as milza. I have seen them spelled vastedda. It’s all about dialect in Italy and with DNA from Palermo and Corleone, is anyone gonna mess with me on pronunciation?
Lisa Fantino is an award-winning journalist and attorney and the Italy travel consultant behind Wanderlust Women Travel and the Italian destination wedding site Wanderlust Weddings. She also writes travel features for MNUI Travel Insurance and blogs as Lady Litigator.
Interested in reading more about Sicily?
Check out my post today at Bleeding Espresso’s Gita Italiana-we’re talking about getting to Sicily’s Aeolian Islands from various points in Calabria or click here to see how I can help you plan your trip to Calabria or southern Italy.
Photos: Papero Giallo and Eating in Translation via Flickr.
DEPUTY SECRETARY OF DEFENSE MESSAGE ON POTENTIAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
US Fed News Service, Including US State News April 8, 2011 WASHINGTON, April 7 — The U.
S. Navy issued the following press release:
Deputy Secretary of Defense William J. Lynn III sent a message on April 7 to the Deprtment of Defense workforce on a potential government shutdown.
“The department remains hopeful that a government shutdown will be averted. The President has made it clear that he does not want a government shutdown, and the administration is working to find a solution with which all sides can agree. However, prudent management requires that we plan for an orderly shutdown should Congress be unable to pass a funding bill before our current funding expires on April 8.
The President and the secretary know that the uncertainty of the current situation puts federal employees in a difficult position, and are very much aware that a shutdown would impose hardships on our military and civilian personnel as well as our military families. As we approach the expiration of the current continuing resolution, we will provide you with updated information as soon as it becomes available. For now, I want to provide you with information on how the potential shutdown – should it occur – will impact our military and civilian personnel.
Department of Defense (DoD) Operations During a Shutdown Operations and activities that are essential to safety, protection of human life, and protection of our national security, are ‘excepted’ from shutting down. The DoD will continue to conduct activities in support of our national security, including operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Japan; Libya-related support operations; and other operations and activities essential to the security of our nation. The department must also continue to provide for the safety of human life and protection of property.
Other excepted activities will include inpatient and essential outpatient care in DoD medical treatment facilities; emergency dental care; non-appropriated funds activities such as mess halls and child care activities; certain legal activities to support ongoing litigation and legal assistance for deployed DoD personnel; contracting and logistics operations that are in support of excepted activities; certain education and training activities to include the DoD education activity schools; and financial management activities necessary to ensure the control and accountability of funds.
In the absence of appropriations, non-excepted activities that have not already been fully funded will need to be shut down in an orderly fashion. In accordance with existing laws and regulations, I will issue more detailed guidance to the department regarding specific activities that are considered excepted or non-excepted. However, the secretary and I understand that the military departments and defense agencies and individual commanders must tailor this guidance to many different situations around the world. Therefore, should there be a government shutdown, DoD personnel will be informed through their chain of command about how a shutdown may affect them personally. go to website government shutdown military pay
Duty Status Military personnel are not subject to furlough and will report for duty as normal during the shutdown. Reserve component personnel should refer to the DoD Contingency Guidance document and to their chain of command for more specific information.
Civilian personnel deemed to be performing excepted activities will continue to work during the period of a shutdown.
If there is a government shutdown beginning on Saturday, April 9, all DoD personnel should still report to work on their next scheduled duty day, beginning at their normal duty hours to receive additional instructions.
Civilians will be briefed by their supervisors by Friday, April 8, as to whether their work and responsibilities fall into excepted or non-excepted status, as defined by applicable laws and regulations. Excepted status categories are outlined in the DoD Contingency Guidance document, which is being distributed through the chain of command. If their work and responsibilities are non-excepted, or if they are not needed to carry out excepted work and responsibilities, employees will be furloughed in a non-pay status. Furloughed employees may not telework or volunteer to work.
Generally, contractors performing work on contracts funded prior to a shutdown, whether supporting excepted activities or not, may continue working and will be paid out of the obligated funds, subject to further direction from the contracting officer. New contracts, or increases in funding of existing contracts, needed to support excepted activities may be entered into during the period of a shutdown, but payments under such contracts cannot be made until Congress provides additional funding. Contract personnel should also report to work on Monday, April 11, to be briefed on their status. site government shutdown military pay
Military, Civilian, and Retiree Pay If the government shuts down due to the absence of funding, the DoD will have no funds to pay military members or civilian employees for the days during which the government is shut down. However, both military and civilian personnel will receive pay for the period worked prior to the shutdown. Military personnel, and civilians occupying excepted status positions and required to work, are entitled to be paid for work performed during the shutdown, and will be paid retroactively once the department receives additional funding. Congress would have to provide authority in order for the department to retroactively pay non-excepted employees for the furloughed period.
Military retirees and annuitants are not paid from annually appropriated funds, and therefore their benefits should continue without interruption.
Additional Resources The department’s leadership will do our very best to provide clear information about the status of events as the week progresses. Additional information regarding military and DoD civilian pay, leave, and other DoD policies applicable to a potential shutdown will be posted on the department’s main website as soon as it becomes available.
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of all of you, the Department of Defense provides critical services to the American public. Your contributions touch people’s lives in so many significant ways, and I want you to know how deeply I appreciate your dedication and your expertise. Our decisions concerning which functions are excepted or not excepted are based on government-wide legal, regulatory, and policy guidance as well as our best judgment on how to reconcile our national security requirements with the limitations imposed by a government shutdown. The fact that certain functions are not excepted or that certain personnel may be subject to furlough should not be taken as a statement that the secretary or I or the department do not value those functions or employees. Thank you for your continued service to the department and the nation.” For any query with respect to this article or any other content requirement, please contact Editor at htsyndication@hindustantimes.com
Interested in reading more about Sicily? 
Ciao cara – prossimo volta, andremo in Sicilia mangiare voosteddi!
Si, certo! Well, we will g to Sicily and I will watch you eat it, how is that?
Lisa at Wanderlust Women´s last [type] ..Mangia Monday at an Infamous Focacceria in Palermo- Sicily!
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OMG, I’m soooo hungry now haha!
Ha!
Andi´s last [type] ..When It Comes To Choosing Your Hotel–Why Trust Words & Photos- When You Can See For Yourself
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Well, it certainly sounds disgusting, but if you say it was good, it must be good…try it, you’ll like it!
Yea, that is Lisa saying it is good-I am far too picky of a meat eater to try spleen! lol
saretta´s last [type] ..Meow
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An interesting story, especially how we like eating something until we know what it is. That said I won’t be trying it next time I’m in Calabria, but enjoy those of you who do.
Ha, you are like me, huh? Power of suggestion, I suppose!
travelingsuep´s last [type] ..Xmas Torch 2010
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Lovely article! I can identify with many statements here, but I’ve never had voosteddi. Sounds delicious! And I’m laughing about the capozzelli… glad to know I’m not the only one who had to witness that. Blech!
Double blech!
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[...] bakeries, rosticcerie, pizzerie and trattorie serving Sicily’s finest food. In addition to trying street food Milza (aka – voosteddi), also visit Antica Focacceria San Francesco or have thin-crusted pizza at [...]
[...] It’s often strange to see how customs evolve, morph or change when traveling from Italy to the United States. Growing up in a mostly Sicilian household, with a touch of Calabrese tossed in for good measure, many of our superstitions, customs and delicacies were right off the boat. However, where we differ from the natives is the history behind them. As you can tell, it’s a bit like playing the childhood game of telephone to see how far off the mark a recipe, tradition, or holiday custom will deviate, as I explained here for my family’s version of the voostedda. [...]
[...] first time I went to Sicily, or more specifically, Palermo, I was told to try a milza sandwich. Since I’m not one to go looking for organ meat, or in this case, spleen, smothered in cheese and [...]
Thank you so much for the article on Voosteddis.
I had been looking forever for the mention of it in any site, cookbook or word of mouth.
I was pronouncing it wrong, we heard it as pasteddi. Now I realize why we could never find it. My grandmother used to make them but the buns weren’t browned. She Americanized it by putting cooked ground beef in them but the rest is the same.
This Saturday we are getting together (8 sisters) to make them for ourselves with the help of an aunt. Wish us luck.
Cathy Raymond
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All I can say, Cathy, is that you are a brave bunch of women……..but ground beef is so cheating. LOL
Lisa at Wanderlust Women´s last [type] ..Top 5 Things You Didn’t Know about Disneyland
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