The correct pronunciation in Sicilian dialect is “pani c’a mìævusa“, with an elongated first “i”, for one of the most beloved symbols of Palermo street food: pani câ meusa.

It is a sandwich, usually a round vastella, sprinkled with sesame seeds, whose filling is a mix of offal including the spleen, in Palermo dialect: mievusa.

Spleen, lung and sometimes trachea of veal, previously boiled or steamed whole, are then sliced thinly and slowly fried in lard.

The origin dates back to the Middle Ages, when the Palermitan Jews involved in slaughtering meat, not being able to be paid because of religious precepts, kept the offal as compensation: intestines, lung, spleen and heart (not the liver because it had a higher economic value and was sold separately) which they resold as a filling together with bread and cheese.

The vastedda (the roll) can be served “schetta”, which literally means unmarried, therefore not accompanied by other ingredients except salt and lemon, or “maritata”, that is stuffed with the offal and added with thinly sliced caciocavallo and fresh sheep ricotta.

The mevusaru (the street vendor) uses a tilted pot, with the hot lard at the bottom, while the slices of offal wait above to be fried at the moment of sale.

A two-pronged fork is used to extract the slices from the cooking fat, which are drained and placed in the roll after removing excess crumb.

A small skimmer is used to pick up the smaller pieces and to perform an additional draining of the cooking fat by quickly squeezing the sandwich, sometimes with the help of absorbent paper.