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chiacchiere

carnival fritters

They are a treat for carnival time, the descendants of the frictilia made in ancient Rome for Saturnalia. Every country in Europe seems to have a different name for them, and they go under more than forty names in Italy alone. chiacchiere in a popular name in much of south. The name translates as 'chatty' and the Neapolitans like to say it's because they were invented for a party for Queen Margherita. Here they are are often accompanied by a sanguinaccio sauce.

In other parts of Italy, they can be bugie, busie, cioffe, cróstoli, gale, gasse, gróstoli, sfrappe, frappe, sfrappole, cenci, fiocchetti, guanti, maraviglias, merveilles, cunchiell, sfinci or stracci and on and on.

Whatever the name, it's a simple strip of flat, light dough, deep-fried and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

In the U.S. they might be called 'angel wings', or chrusciki, their name in Polish.

Sweet Stuff

Text © Dana Facaros & Michael Pauls

Image by Błażej Pieczyński