La Festa dei sette pesci -"Feast of Seven Fishes"

This article originally appeared on suite101.com on 11/29/11. 

 

 

Feast of the Seven Fishes - an Italian Christmas Tradition

 

There’s one meal my entire family looks forward to all year long, and that is the Italian Christmas Eve dinner known as the “Feast of the Seven Fishes” or “La Festa dei Sette Pesci”.  Google the English phrase and you will find as many different theories on the origin of the tradition as type of dishes involved. Whether the significance of seven is due to the days in which God created the world, the number of Sacraments, or the days journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, the Roman Catholic tradition is meant to commemorate the birth of the baby Jesus.  The one commonality is that the meal involves only seafood and lots of it (due to abstinence from meat on a holy day).  

 Apparently, the tradition is celebrated only in southern regions of Italy, and relatively unheard of north of Rome.  Our tradition focuses more on the celebration of family, friends and food.  It’s the one time of year my immediate family (Napoletana side) is together at one time, in one place.  My Sicilian side did not celebrate this (contrary to a theory this is a Sicilian tradition)!

The number of diners at our table varies from year to year, depending on how many significant others and non-family friends join our celebration.  It’s possible the number even varies throughout the night, as guests come and go.  For this reason, large quantities of food are purchased so no belly will be unfed.  I was able to experience the buying of the fish firsthand.  Being from a prominent family and with no expense too high, my Grandmother would enter the seafood market proudly, and the vendors would practically bow in her presence.  I may be the only family member who was allowed to witness the exchange of ridiculous amounts of money but I was not allowed to hear the negotiation.    

Although the seven types of fish varies between families, our meal consists of linguini with crab sauce, crab legs, lobster tails, calamari salad and scungilli salad (combined with chopped onion, garlic, celery and hot cherry tomatoes), bacala, fried smelts and the piece de resistance: colossal shrimp (approximately 5 inches long, 1 ½ inches wide) filled with a delectable mixture of butter, bread crumbs, chopped parsley and the secret ingredient only divulged when the tradition passed on, Chicken in a Biscuit.  With first course starting at 7pm and dessert wrapping up at 10:30, it is a gastronomic feast.   Bloated and exhausted, we head to midnight mass and then get a quick nap before it is time for the Christmas Day meal.

Then we count 364 days.

Anthony Bourdain Needs No Reservation

UPDATED ON 4/27/2015- SEE LAST PARAGRAPH

This article was written for suite101.com and appeared on 8/15/11.   This content is not current.

Now in its seventh season on the Travel Channel, No Reservations, like a good wine, continues to improve with age.  The photography, editing, locations and adventures are more entertaining than ever. The title of the show is a play on words: chef and author Anthony Bourdain travels the entire world eight months out of the year looking for the perfect meal, whether it be in a remote jungle, a floating market in Vietnam or a street food stand in Cuba.  The title also suggests the general lack of filter Bourdain uses in his expression of opinions about food, the culinary arts, or any other subject he might be contemplating at the moment. 

Anthony Bourdain began his career as a dishwasher, graduated from the Culinary Institute of Arts in New York, worked himself up to professional chef and became a household word when a book he wrote about the realities of working in the culinary world, Kitchen Confidential became a bestseller.  Part memoir, part magnifying glass into the world behind the restaurant dining room wall previously inaccessible to the average diner, Bourdain admits that he wrote the book not for general public consumption, but rather for the brotherhood of professional chefs everywhere.  The success and notoriety that resulted from this book, and others that followed, led Anthony Bourdain from the kitchen burners of Les Halles in New York to the world of reality television.   Whatever you do, do not call him a celebrity chef.

Over the years, Bourdain has ruminated over his disdain for the Food Network Channel and what he considers an absurd public fascination with the “celebrity chef”, a concept he feels is detached from the reality of being a professional chef.  In his book The Nasty Bits, Bourdain takes no prisoners as he opines about chefs Bobby Flay, Rocco Di Spirito and Emeril Lagasse, catchwords (ie, BAM!), corporate evildoers, the raw food movement, vegetarians, etc.  But throughout the many television episodes and the multitude of books authored, this has become part of his allure and charm.  Bourdain truly has the gift of the written word.  His thirty years of experience in the culinary industry, and knowledge of food translates into fascinating reading.  The style and voice of his writing is uniquely his own, and at many times, the brutal honesty and unabashed nature of his words can send you into gut-wrenching, hysterical laughter.  His passion for food, people and culture and the incredible journeys he takes has made him an ambassador into a world that many of us will only dream of. In his book, A Chef’s Tour, we even get a heart-touching glimpse into a softer side of Bourdain, to his youth, as he reconnects with his younger brother on a visit to their childhood vacation home in France.  

 If you cannot get enough of Anthony Bourdain you are in luck.  This fall, he will be launching a new show on the Travel Channel called The Layover. Each episode will cover a 24-48 hour period when Bourdain is between flights; exploring cuisine and cultural opportunities in airport hub cities.  Viewers may find these journeys more accessible and easier to recreate themselves.  The show will air beginning Monday, November 21 at 9pm.  No Reservations is currently airing on Mondays at 9pm.

Follow Tony's Blog or learn more information at the Travel Channel.


UPDATE 2015!!!!!
The Layover only aired 20 episodes.  Anthony Bourdain can now be seen in Parts Unknown on CNN.  Parts Unknown is now in its 5th season, and airs on Sundays at 9pm ET/PT. 

Follow Anthony at these current sites:
http://anthonybourdain.tumblr.com/rss
http://www.cnn.com/shows/anthony-bourdain-parts-unknown