Exploring Sicily’s Markets with Chef Carmelo Chiaramonte

In Sicily’s markets like this one in Catania where we spent time with another top Sicilian chef, Carmelo Chiaramonte from the restaurant Il Cuciniere—the cook—in Catania. These are dried stalks of wild fennel – not just an aromatic flavoring but widely used as a medicine, he says. Carmelo orders his fruits and vegetables, like his fish, directly from the market, from suppliers who make sure he gets the best – and he knows the qualities of all this materia prima, as it’s called in Italian.