Gastronomy

Talking about a tourist resort means bringing up the subject of local foods, because many rites, habits and behaviour patterns come from the typically Italian culture of enjoying good, fresh, well-cooked food, all of which leads back to our personal origins and the gastronomical culture of our place of birth.
Therefore fish, and the typically Mediterranean vegetables, are the main protagonists of the Egadi islands' cuisine. Fish, and tuna fish in particular, show the traces, in the way they are prepared, not only of strong Arabic and Spanish influence, but also of the special odours of the spontaneously growing local herbs that find an ideal habitat in these islands.
Aubergines (eggplant) triumph everywhere - at home and in restaurants - cooked in a hundred different ways: au gratin, in caponata (cooked with celery, capers, olives and tomatoes), alla parmigiana (cooked in the oven with tomatoes and cheese), roasted or grilled, sautéed with garlic and parsley, each dish having something original added by its creator. Wild fennel is used to add that special flavour to pasta with fresh sardines or to flavour fish dishes; sea urchins create an hors d'oeuvre or give flavour to pasta dishes: sea bass are cooked in the oven, grilled, stewed...; tuna fish is served grilled, in a sweet-sour sauce, in superb fishcakes, in fish roulades, raw, with potatoes, stewed...; fish couscous, as savoury and rich as the chef wishes to make it, the small, flavoursome limpets, ricotta cheese (similar in texture to a cottage cheese), the sea anemones.
Various restaurants on the Egadi islands have reinterpreted typical traditional island recipes and dishes, giving them an extraordinarily original flavour. Visitors can taste these delicious dishes in the typical Egadian restaurants, which give one the opportunity of travelling in time through history and local traditions as they are recounted to diners in the form of anecdotes between one dish and another, putting guests in harmony with the surroundings. Those who enjoy good food must not, therefore, miss dining on such delights to the palate.
Restaurants: El Pescador, Nautilus, La Playa, Quello Che C'è' C'e'!, U Spiticchiu, Ristorante Aegusa