After a long day of classes the last thing I wanted to do was go hunting for a new food. As I was walking back from my last class I was trying to search for stores that sold authentic Italian desserts that didn’t close at 20:00. Thankfully one of my friends recommended an Italian store that sold authentic arancini, so my roommate, Joji, and I looked up the store and discovered it closed at 23:00, giving us plenty of time to walk over and grab dinner.

On the way there we were contemplating what food we wanted to get. I knew that my selections would be somewhat restricted because I am a pescatarian and allergic to garlic, which always cancels many options for me. The walk to the store was short -a seven minute walk from our apartment- and we almost didn’t notice the store. With a small sign that read Arà è Sicilia in glowing white letters we realized that this was the place to get the authentic Sicilian arancini.

When this food was first suggested to me I was originally interested in it because I love rice dishes and I wanted to try an alternative form, but then as I researched what arancini is I discovered that it is a traditional Sicilian dish. This made me even more excited to try it because my family on my father’s side is originally from Sicily, and lately I’ve been trying to get in touch with my Italian roots.

The store was small with a few pastry cases filled with different kinds of arancini, meat pastries, candies, and a variety of tiramisu. The store smelt of fried bread, and suddenly I felt my stomach grumble. Originally I intended on ordering the spinach arancini-which is what was recommended to me by my friend, but Joji and I decided to go with the original flavor-eggplant and tomato. We were also tempted by the colorful looking desserts in the pastry cases and decided to order desserts as well. I decided to get a green colored almond flour tart with ricotta cheese on the inside.

Because it was so late and we wanted to get started with our homework Joji and I took our arancini and our desserts to go and ate them back at our apartment. Still warm, and with the aroma of deep fried bread crumbs in the air I was excited to start eating my arancini.

The arancini looked like a large, deep fried meatball on the outside. It was heavy and greasy so originally I thought it would taste as such, but I was surprised when I took my first bite. The outside was a deep orange color and had bread crumbs that fell off when you moved the arancini, and the smell was amazing. I had forgotten how much I actually liked the smell of deep fried foods because I always think of them as being oily, and fattening. The arancini gave off a savory smell that reminded me of working at my city’s local pond over the summer, making fried dough and experimenting with the deep fryer.

The more I looked at the food, and smelt it’s aroma, the hungrier I became and I couldn’t wait to start eating. As I shoved my fork into the ball I squished it, causing the rice, tomato, and eggplant to poke out from the breaded crust. Everything in the dish was cooked to perfection. The flavors blended effortlessly, and the rice was perfectly moist with just enough spice to poke out and make a statement. Even though it was the end of the day it tasted as if it was just made for me.

Now that the ingredients had spilled out the aroma changed from deep fried bread crumbs to a different version of savory. You could smell the tartness of the tomatoes, and the aroma of different herbs that was mixed into the sauce. The inside looked just like the Italian flag-green from the eggplant, white from the rice, and red from the tomato-a classic italian dish. Although the outside had a hard crust from the breadcrumbs, the mixture on the inside was soft and melted with the fork. The eggplant was difficult to cut through with just a fork, but it added a nice crunch to the creamy inside.

As I ate it I could hear the difference in consistency; I heard the crunch from the crust, and silence from the rice. The texture was wonderful, not to squishy, not dry, not rock hard, but perfect for arancini. The combination of fried breadcrumbs and soft rice balanced each other out, showing just how much attention to detail was put into designing the recipe, and preparing the dish.

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This was a classic, simple dish that was executed, in my opinion, perfectly. I would definitely go back to Arà è Sicilia again and try the other arancini flavors. I thought that the simple arancini dish overshined the colorful pastry I tried. That shows that just because something appears to be extravagant, does not mean it will taste that way, and just because something looks simple, does not mean it will taste simple.

I really liked this food because It reminded me a lot of home. Although I never had arancini before, or a mixture of ingredients that tasted this way, eggplant, tomato, and rice were common in my household. Eating the arancini in my living room with Joji made me feel like I was back in Medford Massachusetts. This food made me feel comfortable, relaxed, and satisfied. I am glad that I decided to try the arancini because it is a food that I will definitely be having again, because for only three euros, and a flavor this good, who wouldn’t?