Food Tours and Local Guides in Sicily

Many people ask about food tours and my take is...why not take every advantage to visit markets on your own and try out whatever looks good? It's free and it gives you an opportunity to practice some Italian. Find out where and which day of the week each place has a market (Catania's will be very obvious) and just pop in and look around, people are friendly! You can have a great informal experience in Siracusa, for example, by visiting his marvelous sandwich place (see link below, it's called Caseificno Borderi) which I didn't even know existed prior to my trip. I looked it up upon my return...it was an absolutely terrific market shop and every sandwich was made with lots of love and the best, freshest ingredients. I'm sorry I can't help with either local guides or food tours, since my trip was a do-it-yourself-everything kind of trip. Best of luck - I'm sure others will chime in.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187891-d2441975-Reviews-Caseificio_Borderi-Syracuse_Province_of_Syracuse_Sicily.html

You didn't ask about food tours in Palermo but these people (http://www.streatpalermo.it/en/infotour-2/) also run a food tour in Catania. Their food tour in Palermo was wonderful and unusual-street food! We were provided a lot of wonderful food and information and it was a whole lot of fun. I highly recommend the company--but I can only speak to the food tour we experienced in Palermo.

Agnes is right about frequenting the local markets, but I wouldn't mind adding a food tour or cooking class. When we did a food tour in Rome a few years ago, we learned a lot about different foods, bakeries, cheeses... with samples of all! We went to the Jewish sector, and got a history lesson along with our fried artichokes, and finally learned how to eat them! History, economy, culture ... we had insights to all of these that we would not have had had we not taken the tour.

We're hoping to find food tours in cities we'll be in this summer, especially Milan and Padua.

If you don't find enough food-related experiences online before your trip, stop at the tourist office in each city/town, look around for flyers, and ask. Food tours are popping up everywhere these days.

I'm in the planning stage for a Sicily trip. As with every other trip, I begin with tours like these. They have been great intro to many cities I have visited. The guides may offer or recommend other tours.

http://www.personalguidesicily.com/tours/palermo-free-walking-tour.html

http://www.hermes-sicily.com/freetour/

I love markets for many reasons, and always research for them. As a solo traveler, I have found food tours can be quite rewarding. In addition to having dining companions, I get to share and sample multiple dishes. Something I miss when dining alone.