It’s that wonderful time of the year again! We had our first snow here in New England this past weekend with more on the way tonight, which always helps me get into the Holiday Spirit. Christmas Eve is only a few weeks away, so we need to start planning for a wonderful Feast! My family, like many other Italian families has always enjoyed the “Feast of the Seven Fishes” on Christmas Eve and it’s one of my favorite days of the year.
A little Background on the Feast of the Seven Fishes: For those of you not familiar with the Feast of the Seven Fishes, it’s an Italian tradition of preparing seven different types of fish for Christmas Eve dinner. To be clear, not all Italians recognize or follow this tradition and some have never even heard of it. It seems to be more of a southern Italian tradition that has grown within the Italian American community. (My mother’s side of the family followed a similar tradition which included 9 non-meat dishes when she was growing up in Calabria.)
Regardless of your religion or cultural traditions, I would like to invite you all to participate in the 2nd Annual “Seven Fishes Feast.” Last year I co-hosted with Maryann from “Finding La Dolce Vita” but as many of you know, Maryann has left the blogosphere (I still miss her wonderful recipes and creativity!) So this year I will have to host “da solo.”
So come join me for a wonderful fish feast. I’ll be accepting recipe’s until December 18th.
Like last year, I’ll be giving away some Italian Christmas treats to one participant chosen at random:
- A Box of Torrone
- A Panetone
- Bellagio Gourmet Hot Chocolate
- A jar of our homemade roasted red peppers
This is what you have to do to participate:
- Create a fish or shellfish dish and post it on your blog.
- Display the “Seven Fishes Feast” badge and link back to Italyville.
- Send your entry to me at joe (at) italyville (dot) com and put “Seven Fishes Feast” in the subject line.
- Tell me your name, blog name, url, the name of your recipe with a photo and a link to your post.
I’ll be choosing a winner at random on Saturday December 19th. Happy cooking and hope to see you at the Feast!
I’ll be sending you something for sure. We always do a big fish dinner on Christmas eve.
I remember Grandma and Aunt Fay making the seven fishes – lots of stuff we wouldn’t eat as kids. How silly we were! I will send something.
I don’t have a recipe, sorry, so whoever wins these delights, congratulations.
I just like to say that I love this tradition, and how great that it is being kept going, I would love to do this…:-)
Just last night I saw Bobby Flay do a Seven Feasts throwdown. I’ll see if I can come up with something.
Ooh… Your photos are making me hungry! I’m a sucker for good spaghetti con vongole, but don’t know if I can whip some up in time for your contest. I’ll be back to see what people entered, though. ~Tui
[...] to John’s Seven Fishes Festival. [...]
My Calabrese husband always have to have baccala prepared two ways for Christmas Eve…I love stuffed lobster tails
I’m sorry I didn’t read this earlier —I have been away and my computer was dead for awhile. I’ll check back to see the different entries non the less! It’s one of my favorite holiday meals!
PS: My husband’s nephew does a Pizza and Christmas lights tour in Brooklyn, NY and tomorrow he’ll be on the Travel Channel in the evening at 9 PM EST showing the Feast of The Seven Fishes in a Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, NY.
PSS I miss Mary Ann too! Hope she is doing well and will come back to blogging one day.
Oh, Joe! I feel terrible that I missed the feast this year. I would have definitely made something. This December has flown by, hasn’t it? Happy Holidays to you and your family. Cheers! Susan
Mannaggia! I was behind on blog reading and just now saw this, otherwise I’d have submitted my fish post. A day late and a euro short, I guess.
you too Susan!
So sorry I missed the feast! I was in the States over Thanksgiving and Christmas…I don’t know if I even read one blog post of anyone’s during my trip! Anyway, still delicious as always
Say, you got a nice blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Cool.