The Feast of Seven Fishes is a hallmark Christmas Eve tradition in Pittsburgh’s Italian-American households. The celebration took root in many regions of the United States in the late 1800s and early 1900s as Italians began to immigrate en masse to the country and share their culinary heritage.

“We can’t go back and say it comes from one person or one place. The Feast of the Seven Fishes is an amalgamation of many different regional Italian traditions into something that is an Italian-American culinary tradition,” says Melissa E. Marinaro, director of Italian American program at the Senator John Heinz History Center.