Publix’s own newsroom quoted its seafood business development director, Guy Pizzuti, as saying, “Seafood has always been central to a lot of holidays.” The supermarket chain’s Dec. 1, 2023 post added that Italian Americans often celebrate Christmas Eve with the Feast of the 7 Fishes, a tradition that includes many kinds of fish and shellfish. Five facts about that Christmas Eve table follow.
Wikipedia describes the Feast of the Seven Fishes as an Italian American celebration of Christmas Eve with dishes of fish and other seafood. The facts below cover why fish is served, when the custom reached American cities, why the number is seven, what lands on the platters and what a busy fish market sees.
1. Fish Stood In for Meat on a Vigil Day
Christmas Eve is a vigil and fasting day, and Wikipedia says the abundance of seafood reflects the observance of abstinence from meat until the feast of Christmas Day itself. The custom stems from the Roman Catholic practice of skipping meat on the eve of a feast day. With no meat or animal fat allowed, observant Catholics ate fish instead, typically fried in oil. Wikipedia’s Christmas Eve entry adds that the meal was historically served after a 24-hour fasting period, and that although Christmas fasting is no longer a popular custom, some Italian-Americans still enjoy a meatless Christmas Eve feast.
The meal is also known as la Vigilia. It is described as a ritualized feast eaten over several hours rather than a quick dinner. CBS New York, reporting from a New Jersey fish market, put it simply: families abstain from eating meat until their Christmas night feast. For the sweet side of December, see 10 Christmas cookies families bake every December.
2. It Came With the Big Waves of Italian Immigration
As an Italian American celebration, the feast came along with the peak of immigration into the cities of the Northeast and the Upper Midwest, which Wikipedia dates from the 1880s to the 1930s. The broader cuisine has the same roots. Wikipedia’s entry on Italian-American cuisine says it was created primarily by Italian immigrants and is based mainly on the traditions of Southern Italian arrivals.
WHYY in Philadelphia, reporting from the city’s Italian Market, called the feast a Christmas Eve tradition started more than a century ago by Italian-Americans. For more on American customs, Frenz Hub has 20 odd American traditions that confuse the rest of the world.
3. The Number Seven Has No Agreed Meaning
The feast takes its name from seven different seafood dishes typically served, but nobody has pinned down why. Wikipedia says the number may come from the seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church, or the seven hills of Rome, or some other source, and that there is no general agreement.
The count is not even fixed. The meal usually includes seven or thirteen fish dishes, and in some Italian-American families there is no count at all. Wikipedia also notes that the claim that the tradition is unknown in Italy is erroneous, because a Christmas Eve meal of seven or thirteen fishes has been well documented in Calabria. The same entry says Nick Vadala, writing for The Philadelphia Inquirer, found the newspaper’s oldest reference to the feast in a 1983 article. For food customs elsewhere, see 12 laws and rules about food in other countries on Frenz Hub.
4. The Menu Is Flexible
A well-known dish is baccalà, which is salted cod. Fried smelts, calamari and other seafood have been added over the years. Wikipedia lists anchovies, whiting, lobster, sardines, smelts, eels, squid, octopus, shrimp, mussels and clams among possible components, and says the menu may also include pasta, vegetables, baked goods and wine. For baked goods on another holiday table, see 9 pies that show up on Thanksgiving tables across America.
Real tables vary. WHYY described a South Philadelphia host, Tracy Prioleau, whose menu included fried calamari, fried scallops, steamed crabs and mussels, baked and stuffed bluefish, and salmon. For another holiday-table angle, see 14 strange Thanksgiving traditions that everyone pretends aren’t weird.
5. For Fish Markets, It Is the Super Bowl
At Peter’s Fish Market in Midland Park, New Jersey, owner Steven Sclafani told CBS New York, “It’s the Super Bowl of the fish industry, so to speak.” The family-run market has been in business for 50 years, and Sclafani said his crew was in the Bronx at 1 a.m. to buy fish. He named cleaned squid as the most popular item, and said shrimp is probably the biggest seller, with scungilli another big one. “The old school traditions are fading a little,” he said.
Retailers see a seasonal lift too. In Publix’s post, Pizzuti said lobster, crab and shrimp are the chain’s best-selling seafood around Christmas and New Year’s. “Customers will splurge a little more on products like bigger shrimp,” he said.
A Table With Room to Improvise
Taken together, the five facts describe a tradition that is firm about the occasion and loose about almost everything else. The vigil gives it a reason, the immigration wave gives it an American setting, and the number seven gives it a name that families read in different ways. Thirteen dishes, no count or a handful of favorites all count as the same Christmas Eve table.
CBS New York’s report from a New Jersey fish market and WHYY’s report from Philadelphia’s Italian Market, from two different cities, both describe shoppers stocking up on seafood for the Christmas Eve meal. The tradition shows up in kitchens and markets alike, and nobody has to agree on the exact number of fishes for it to count.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Image: Joe Ross from Lansing, Michigan – CC BY-SA 2.0/Wikimedia Commons
