If you happen to hail from southern Italy — or somewhere in the northeast U.S. — a fish-filled feast may be a harbinger of holiday joy. Though its origins can be traced back to the old country, the Feast of the Seven Fishes is a tradition that crystallizes and defines the Italian-American holiday ethos.
As Stacy Adimando notes in Saveur, "a complete lack of familiarity with the Seven Fishes tradition is actually not uncommon among Italian cooks." The Denver Public Library echoes this finding, stating that "for starters, the Feast of Seven Fishes is a term that has become more common in recent years, but isn't a codified tradition in Italy or even in Italian-American families. 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."
