The Feast of Seven Fishes, a Christmas Eve tradition observed by many people of Italian descent, started out as anything but a feast.
It was likely born out of a tradition called cucina di magro—“lean food”—a menu adapted by Roman Catholics on Fridays or during religious observations such as Lent says food historian and author Fred Plotkin. During such times, people would eat modestly, in part out of piousness and because “fish is an expensive and precious item—it’s not something people had all the time,” he explained.
Further, Plotkin, the author of Italy for the Gourmet Traveler, notes the multi-course dinner as we know it, may not even mirror how Italians celebrate today.
“The feast of the seven fishes is an Italian-American, not an Italian tradition,” he says. “In America it became this opulent feast.”
Victor Rallo, a New Jersey restaurateur and host of the television show, Eat! Drink! Italy! agrees.
“It’s funny how a day of abstinence morphed into a party,” he said. Nonetheless, “If you get invited to a feast of seven fishes, go: you’ll remember it for a lifetime and your stomach, spirit and soul will be very happy you attended the party.”
That the feast is better known in eastern seaboard cities is of no surprise: states such as New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Connecticut boast the largest Italian populations, who have kept it alive.
Mark Pascal, who runs Catherine Lombardi, an Italian restaurant in New Brunswick, N.J., named for his Brooklyn grandmother of Neapolitan heritage, says, “I think the Christmas Eve [feast] is one of the [few] Italian traditions that has survived.” Keeping with tradition, his restaurant has served the same feast menu since they opened, based on family recipes.
Like the feast's origins, the number of courses is still up for debate.
Pascal says growing up, “We wanted to make sure we got them all in, so we always served eight fishes: You could skip one you didn’t like and still have your seven.”
Rallo says though seven is the most popular, “it is more likely to be 10, 12 or even 14 courses,” he said. Gianfranco Sorrentino, owner of three Italian restaurants in Manhattan, concurs. “It’s supposed to be seven dishes, but over time my mother used to prepare 11 or 12 dishes.” Part of that, he says, is the annual tradition of rotating and combining family recipes, and arguing about whose is better.
No matter the number, typically the meal showcases Italy’s vast culinary traditions from classic seafood salads and seafood-based pasta to baccala, branzino, anchovies and stuffed shellfish.
Says Sorrentino, “We give some choices within the courses, but we try not to repeat the same items. So the seafood salad might have clams and mussels, but in the risotto we might have lobster.”
For wines, certain varieties will stay the course (or courses) all throughout. Sommelier Michael Madrigale of Grand Cuvée, an online wine retailer, recommends going with a crispy white such as Fiano di Avellino from southern Italy.
“It’s a wine with great acidity and richness in texture with salty and smoky flavors that hold up to nearly all types of fish,” he says. “All of the Mediterranean sunlight and coastal influence go directly into the flavors and richness of the wine—which is to say, high acidity, saline, bitter herbs, blood orange, smoky—these are perfect with all types of fish.”
Seafood Salad
“There is no debate here: You just have to put a glass with bubbles in the hands of your guest to start at Christmas and then sit down with bubbles,” says Francis Schott, co-owner and wine director of Catherine Lombardi. Sorrentino says “a fresh, dry crisp white wine like Falanghina Greco” will play nice with the mixed seafood elements.
Branzino al Forno
Rallo advises, “Always drink a crisp, acidic white wine with this classic Mediterranean fish.”
New Jersey sommelier and chef-turned-wine-consultant John Foy (The Wine Odyssey) who counts Italian wine and cuisine among his specialties, chooses Verdicchio from the Marche region for this roasted showstopper. His pick: Umani Ronchi Vecchie Vigne Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi DOC Classico Superiore.
“This is a delicious, well-balanced wine from one of the best producers, perfect for branzino, and why not serve a wine with the name of Jesus on Christmas?” he said.
Lobster Fra Diavolo
A dry Lambrusco from Italy’s Reggio Emilia region will hold up to fleshier fishes as well as Lobster Fra Diavolo, the spicy seafood pasta dish. Foy also turns to Sicily for Arianna Occhipinti’s biodynamic Frappato. “The juicy strawberry and cherry flavors tame the spicy tomato sauce, allowing the lobster to reign,” he says. Rallo’s Sicilian pick for the same dish has a similar flavor profile: Terre Nere Rosso 2016.
Linguini with Clam Sauce (Vongole)
Schott looks to Italy’s northeast for a bright, crisp and mineral-driven pairing. “Soave is a region where there is a lot of plonk but there are very serious producers of pretty profound wines,” he says. The 2015 Gini Soave Classico “La Frosca” is a wine of “remarkable weight and complexity.” Chef Rallo likes Vermentino from Sardinia; his pick is the sustainably farmed Agricola Punica Samas 2017 from Sardinia.
Calamari
For as many ways as there are to prepare calamari, there’s a wine for that.
“Calamari stuffed with tentacles is not for the faint of heart,” says Schott. "This is not fried rings. This is truly for the seafood lover in you... and if there is not a seafood lover in you... get something else!" But for those who dare, he recommends Aglianico, a rustic red wine from southern Italy that stands up to the intense fish.
Rallo favors two preparations: fried (“like Italian popcorn” he says) and stuffed. For the former, he recommends Cantina Terlano Pinot Bianco 2017 from Alto Adige and for the second version—calamari tubes stuffed focaccia, pignoli nut, garlic and capers and cooked in a light tomato sauces—he goes with Elena Walch Clouds 2016 Chardonnay. Produced in the mountains of Alto Adige, it’s a crisp, mineral driven wine that cuts through the richness of the calamari and its stuffing.
