What Are The Seven Fishes

December 16, 2017

What you find on the plate in one city may not be the same in the next. The seven fishes are really up to you.

Feast Of The 7 Fishes Italiarail

The Feast of Seven Fishes can be traced back to many many years ago.

What are the seven fishes. In my family we were always told that the number comes from the seven sacraments but we almost always had more. This holiday dinner is intensely regional. Italian families do not adhere to the title of one of the most popular feasts.

The Feast of the Seven Fishes is a traditional Italian celebration that takes place on Christmas Eve. What this Christmas Eve tradition really is why you should cook it this year and new seven fishes recipes from. An Eye-Opening Look at the Feast of the Seven Fishes.

There are not always seven fishes but there are always at least seven. For Italian-American families this is one of the most cherished holiday traditions out of the entire year. The Feast of Seven Fishes is an Italian-American Christmas Eve tradition celebrated with seven seafood dishes or seven kinds of seafood but sometimes more because why not celebrate with.

Swordfish a la Siciliana. The meal has roots in the Roman Catholic tradition of abstaining from eating meat on Christmas Eve and. There are much debate and a bit of mystery surrounding the Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes.

Seven Fishes Seven Dishes La Viglias favored dishes may vary from family to family but you will likely find an array of seafood that includes the freshest catch of the day as well as clams oysters mussels squid shrimp and lobster. Flash forward to the early 1900s when the official Feast of the Seven Fishes first emerged. Italian-American families rekindled the Old Countrys Christmas Eve tradition by preparing a seven-course seafood meal hence the name of the newly found tradition that both made them feel close to their homes while celebrating the sea a major connection in Italy.

An elaborate dinner complete with seven full fish courses prepared and cooked sometimes days in advance is nothing to shake a stick at. Another thing you need to know is that there is no traditional set of seven fishes to be used for this particular occasion. The Feast of the Seven Fishes is open to modifications in the type of seafood on the table but a few dishes have been known to make recurrent appearances.

Some people say seven fishes for the seven days in a week while others may refer to the seven fish feast as representing the seven different sacraments within the Catholic religion. More often the types of fish typically used for the said feast are simply seven or more of the following fishesseafood. The Feast of the Seven Fishes is an Italian-American tradition that originated in the early 1900s says McKee.

There are no hard-and-fast rules about the preparation of the Feast of the Seven Fishes. The meaning of the number seven is different depending on family tradition. In Italy its also known as La Vigilia which is short for Vigilia di Natale the vigil that was held until the midnight hour when baby Jesus was born.

Some of the most traditional are choices are calamari mussels eel clams anchovies and cod. For Italian-Americans the Feast of the Seven Fishesa nostalgia-fueled hours-long dinner consisting of at least seven different types of seafoodis the defining Christmas Eve tradition. Most families have a traditional lineup of dishes and stick to that but if youre trying out the feast for the first time you can incorporate any type of seafood into your menu.

For starters the Feast of Seven Fishes is a term that has become more common in recent years but isnt a codified tradition in Italy or even in Italian-American families. This traditional meal dates back to Biblical times and has a lot of significance to different people. In researching this article we found no formal definitions for the Feast and almost no one agrees on which seven fishes should actually be included.

What Types of Seafood Are Served for the Feast of the Seven Fishes. The Seven or So Fishes. Grilled Fish served with pasta or vegetables Baked Fish Seafood Pasta Fish Soup Wild Sea Bass Cudo di Pesce Pesce in Umido Sauted Anchovies.

What exactly is the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Typical fishes include baccalà salt cod frutti di mare shellfish capitone eel calamari squid scungilli conch meat and vongole clams. Calamari salt cod octopus shrimp sea snails or whelks clams and smelt or whiting are some of the most universally beloved seafood for serving as part of Festa dei sette pesci on Christmas Eve.

But there is plenty of debate over its origin and how to celebrate this Italian and Italian-American tradition.

Feast Of The Seven Fishes An Italian American Christmas Eve Legacy