CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER/LA VIGILIA DI NATALE

Christmas is Italy was a religion holiday. There was always good food. For Catholics there is no meat before the religious days. Thus the tradition of having seafood and fish on Christmas Eve while everyone waited for the birth of the baby Jesus. My mother would cook a variety of dishes. Apparently according to some research I did, eel is the most popular delicacy. We never had eel because no one liked it. The meal also is called the Feast of the Seven Fishes or Festa dei Sette Pesci. Coming to Canada when I was 9, we started to acquire Canadian customs such as a Christmas tree and exchanging presents on December 25th. The one important Italian tradition maintained in not only our home but other families of Italian descent was the Christmas Eve seafood dinner. For many Southern Italians not just those from the Ciociaria area, baccala-salted cod fish was the basic staple for the meal as it was very affordable to the poor. Today baccala continues to be eaten in a soup, fried or baked in the oven. There are several dishes to make for this festive meal. Over the next weeks, I will post a dish or two at a time. Years ago when my mother was alive, she would make the Christmas Eve dinner and Barb would make the Canadian Christmas dinner- a real blend of two cultures. Our children love seafood too. During the year both Barb and I try to enjoy a meal from the sea as was apparent from our trip to the St. Lawrence Marked last summer when we bought some fresh PEI mussels. Canada is home to a variety of fish and seafood. Just ask any Maritimer about the great lobster. Once a meal for the poor, anyone who purchases fresh fish and seafood knows it is actually a very costly endeavour.

#ChristmasEvedinner#\italiantraditiononChrismasEve#theprescipio#feastofthesevendishes#festadeisettepesci#lavigiliadinatale