Sicilian Feasts offers more than 160 recipes, along with menus for holidays, notes on ingredients, list of suppliers, an introduction to the Sicilian language, and a glossary of food terms in Sicilian, Italian, and English. Illustrations demonstrate special techniques. Giovanna Bellia La Marca uses simple methods and readily available ingredients to teach the straightforward and delectable everyday cooking of Sicily. She features examples of elaborate dishes developed by the monzu, a class of eighteenth-and nineteenth-century professional cooks, now effortlessly recreated with modern appliances. La Marca also introduces her readers to the practice of transforming almond paste into beautiful and realistic marzipan fruits, a traditional Sicilian art form.