Food has always been a big part of my family's gatherings, but when a holiday rolls around, we take it to a whole new level. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. It is a great day to get together with immediate family, but for an Italian-American, Christmas Eve is the main event. Many Italian-Americans eat what's known as the Feast of th...
READ MOREMark LoRusso clearly remembers celebrating the Feast of the Seven Fishes when he was young. “For people who grew up back East, in Italian-American families, Christmas Eve was always like no meat, lots of fish and pastas,” said LoRusso, executive chef of Costa di Mare at Wynn Las Vegas. LoRusso’s is one of a number of Las Vegas restaurants, large an...
READ MOREOn the night before Christmas, an array of seafood begins appearing on some dinner tables as a symbolic way to ring in the sacred holiday. The tradition of abstaining from meat and eating fish before a holiday began centuries ago as a Roman Catholic practice in many parts of Italy, where the type and number of fish and the preparation vary by regio...
READ MOREOn Christmas Eve morning, a few things were usually certain in and around Westbury, where I grew up: For one, there was a line at the bakery (in this case, Cardinali Bakery in Carle Place) for Italian bread and semolina rolls. A few miles away at the fish market, there was also a line, one that had snaked out the door since early morning as people...
READ MOREChristmas Eve means seafood for those subscribing to the Italian American tradition of The Feast of The Seven Fishes. The the origins of the annual festive meal are murky, the withstanding tradition is certainly delicious. Some prefer to indulge in seven types of seafood in seven courses, while others may focus on one or two types and prepare it se...
READ MOREFeast of the Seven Fishes is, in my opinion, the best Italian tradition that isn’t Italian. Like eggplant parm and peas in your carbonara, it’s a delicious Italian-American adaptation based on the Catholic tradition of eating fish (a leaner meal) the night before a holiday or feast. So, yes, a pre-feast feast. It’s become a custom for many northeas...
READ MORESaturday December 14 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm. I AM BOOKS, 189 NORTH STREET, BOSTON, MA 02113. Daniel Paterna’s Feast of the Seven Fishes: A Brooklyn Memoir on Food and Family celebrates the rich culinary bounty Italian immigrants brought to Brooklyn. A powerful meditative reflection in photographs and interviews on the emotional connections—food, famil...
READ MOREBranzino Italian Ristorante in Rittenhouse is hosting a Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner on Christmas Eve, beginning at 5 p.m. The Italian-American tradition gathers friends and family together for a seafood feast. At Branzino, guests will dine on sea bass crudo with blood orange and watermelon radish; shrimp with burrata and tomato broth; char-gr...
READ MOREThe Feast of the Seven Fishes is a Christmas Eve tradition with roots in Italy that marks the holiday with a bounty of seafood. While the feast typically takes place on December 24, restaurants around DC are offering special menus before and after the holiday. All-Purpose Pizzeria 79 Potomac Ave., SE. Head to the Navy Yard location for a six-cours...
READ MOREIf you’re making an independent film, the chances of it also being a Christmas movie are probably fairly slim. Filmmaking is hard enough as it is; only the truly bold add a seasonal angle on top of all that. Which is what makes Feast of the Seven Fishes such an endearing diversion in a holiday movie season chock full of cheesy Hallmark romances and...
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