Street Food: Le Sgagliozze

Yellow and golden like the sun that shines on our country

Sometimes we think we have nothing in common with our buddy from the North, but there we are wrong again!
The sgagliozze are nothing more than squares of polenta fried in boiling oil...yet they have the power to unite two parts of Italy.

The most curious question about the sgagliozze is definitely the name.
They are called Sgagliozze (Bari pronunciation) or Scagliozzi (Foggia pronunciation), named for their "flaky" shape.
At that time, however, money was also called "flake," so it is thought that the name was also given because of the color that resembled the gold of coins.
Think how much importance is given to this meal, to compare it straight to gold coins.

Imagine a golden trunk full of sgagliozze? Think of the fragrance

History of Bari's ancient street food

The Sgagliozze have been fried since the early 1900.
One of the first according to narratives was a man who, with his small frying stand, positioned himself near the prefecture of Bari, inebriating the baresi of that area with a constant fried smell.
Especially in the run-up to the holiday of St. Nicholas (the patron saint of Bari) on December 6, many different foods are eaten on the streets of the city, including in particular the sgagliozze. In addition, the Christmas atmosphere makes everything magical!

All of us Baresi know the Sgagliozze ladies even today! They are amazing women who try their hand at the art of "frying sgagliozze on the street", it could even become a sport said so, don't you think?

In short, stand in the center of old Bari, perhaps at the time of St. Nicholas, close your eyes and listen closely to the sound of the oil sizzling... Follow the magical sound and you will surely find yourself in front of the "Lady of the Sgagliozze“.

You stand there quietly and wait your turn, meanwhile noticing how artfully she turns those slices of polenta in the bubbling cauldron, almost like a magician intent on creating a magic potion. With a swift gesture she pulls them out of the oil and puts them in a paper bag, seasoning them with a handful of salt and then shaking the whole thing to make the salt stick. (The technical sound of the bag would be "scrack scrack scrack“)