Customer Reviews

Sweet Honey, Bitter Lemons: Travels in Sicily on a Vespa

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As editor of a motorscooter enthusiast magazine (Scoot! Magazine) I picked up this book because of Fort's journey by Vespa. Much like "Vroom with a View" by Peter Moore Fort uses the scooter to travel around Sicily for the ultimate "Italian" journey. While there isn't as much scooter chat as I would like, I did find the story of his journey fascinating. The book is filled with in-depth discussion of Sicilian cooking and food history, as well as his experiences with the proud and earnest Sicilians he meets along the way.

Fort is lucky to not only be able to experience the tastes of these foods, but he often goes back into the kitchens and observes the making of these age-old chapters of Sicilian history. I was unaware of how many different cultures contributed to Sicilian history and by extension the cuisine.

The recipes that end each chapter seem relatively simple to recreate, except that measurements are given in metrics. I have earmarked a few items to try in the future.

If you are looking for an exploration of Sicilian cooking, check this book out. If you are a scooter fan, you may also try Peter Moore's books and "Spotted In France" by Gregory Admont (which is similar to "Sweet Honey" except that he tries to eat at as many Michelin star restaurants a s possible).

I enjoyed this book, but I found the author's personality to be a little distracting. I was hoping for some more details about Sicily itself. I had visions of descriptions of churches and monuments, squares and farms. Instead, Fort seems overly preoccupied with his physical comfort or discomfort, his emotional needs and desires, and his frustrations with people and places he seems to feel are beneath him. He seems to be disturbed by the presence of tourists, remarking condescendingly on those whose ignorance of the local cuisine irks him, forgetting that is still a tourist himself. While that may be normal for a preeminent food critic, it does not make for pleasant reading.

Never the less, Fort's descriptions of the meals that he eats and the people he meets are wonderful. He describes his food with the voice of a lover, allowing the flowing description to roll effortlessly. He is particularly enamored of the deep rich flavors of the traditional Sicilian cooking. And each chapter ends with several recipes for the reader to try themselves.

Read this book for love of Sicily, for the descriptions of the food, and for a good chuckle over a middle-aged, self-satisfied foodie!

Includes some good travel suggestions for Sicily. Looking forward to traveling in Sicily, Thanks for the ideas. But I will travel my car!

Well-respected British food writer Matthew Fort attempts to recreate a youthful journey through Sicily in this light-heartened culinary travel memoir. Fort develops an almost romantic relationship with the island's food, just this short of gluttony, and at times it can be a little much. The meals he enjoys among the Sicilians can go on for pages and pages--sometimes I felt a little ill at the sheer quantity of courses and wines that Fort consumes.

That said, the book really excels at giving a sense of the culture (family, love, pride in one's work) that surrounds eating and food in Sicily. When food represents something larger than itself--and it often does, to Mr. Fort's credit--then the travelogue really shines. Not a "must read," but a mostly enjoyable exploration of a beautiful place and culture.

i like this author, used read him in the illustrated london news--his sicilian experience was not unlike ours on a walk there, it really evokes the earthy life