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The Feast of the Seven Fishes is an Italian American holiday tradition where families gather to enjoy a seafood-centric meal that can stretch for hours, usually on Christmas Eve. The ritual is based on the Catholic church’s tradition of fasting from meat on the days before major feast days, like Christmas. Culinary Concepts chef Abel Tirado follows...

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Here in Philly, the Christmas Eve tradition of the Feast of the Seven Fishes — a massive, seafood-packed meal in honor of the holiday — is a well-known and oft-celebrated event for Italian American families. But when he was growing up in Brooklyn in the 1960s and ’70s, Blaise Tobia never heard of it. So, when he came to Philadelphia to work at Drex...

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Known as La Vigilia (the vigil) in southern Italy, the Feast of the Seven Fishes is a classically Italian way to celebrate Christmas Eve, first introduced to the northeast in the late 1800s by Italian immigrants. The meal’s roots come, ironically, from fasting. Catholic tradition dictates meatless fasts before major holidays — but in the American w...

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The Chef’s Pers-pective in December should be an easy column to write. The truth is that there are so many topics available in this last month of the year that it is not as easy as you might think. I considered topics ranging from what Christmas is like for a tourist visiting Italy to the artistry of the Nativity competitions that are widespread in...

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Join us on December 15 at 6pm for an enlightening evening as author Daniel Paterna discusses his photographic culinary memoir, Feast of the Seven Fishes: A Brooklyn-Italian’s Recipes Celebrating Food and Family. The event is $45 per person, and includes a holiday gift bag, including a signed copy of Feast of the Seven Fishes - perfect for the Chris...

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Gianna is offering the traditional Italian-American Christmas dinner, known as the “Feast of the Seven Fishes,” for two nights only – Wednesday, Dec. 15, at 7 p.m. and Wednesday, Dec. 22, at 7 p.m. Chef de Cuisine Jared Heider’s Feast of the Seven Fishes menu is available as a communal, family-style dinner. The price includes featured table wines t...

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Beth Talarico was a little kid with an urgent question that needed a straight answer after her family’s annual schlep up to Erie to her Italian grandmother’s house for Christmas Eve dinner. “I'm like, ‘Dad, I gotta talk to you,’” she said. Then she dropped the bomb: “Why does gram’s spaghetti sauce taste [funny]?” Her father Joe laughed and explain...

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In Italian-American households, the Feast of the Seven Fishes (also known as Festa dei Sette Pesci or La Vigilia) is celebrated on December 24. This Christmas Eve celebration kicks off the holiday festivities with a huge dinner consisting of seven courses of fish and seafood. This tradition stems from the Roman Catholic practice of abstaining from...

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Growing up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn in the 1960s and 70s, Daniel Paterna was well aware of the sweeping yet often inaccurate stereotype of his Italian-American enclave. “In my household, my parents frowned on the clichés of the Italian-American gangster or buffoon,” Paterna says. “It was an earnest way of life: no guns, no mafia, no dead bodies, no...

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Main Street Fairmont and unveiled the new Feast of the Seven Fishes Mural on Monroe Street Friday. Main Street Fairmont Executive Director Tim Liebrecht said the mural is a joint effort of Fairmont State University, the City of Fairmont, the Marion County Commission and the Allegheny Image Factory. “We just have some amazing partners in this and re...

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