Every Christmas, we do the Feast of 7 fishes. There really is no wrong or right way to have the feast of seven fishes as a Christmas Eve dinner. Italian-American families have modernized it in recent years. Every family has their own traditions, and this is one we keep annually. There are fish that are meant to be served, but we like to mix it up around here and go for the fish we enjoy most. After all, it’s important to enjoy what we are eating! Italian Americans all do it a bit differently, but for the most part we respect the simple Italian tradition of enjoying fresh fish for the holy holiday.
The History
In the 19th century, each geographic area in Italy had it’s own government. Southern Italy was in the poorest region and they could only afford fish, which is part of the origin of the 7 fishes. In the Roman Catholic church, meat is not eaten on the evening before a holiday and this includes Christmas day. The number of courses are determined by the fact that there are 7 deadly sins and sacraments in the Bible and in Catholicism. It all stems from the sacraments of the Catholic church and cooking fish dishes to stay away from meat. Italian-American households view this as an important main course series to be had and of course, there are many different ways to enjoy this spread on the dinner table.
Which Fish?
The feast of the seven fishes menu traditionally includes clams, mussels, halibut, shrimp, anchovy, calamari and scallops. It’s not totally necessary to have a ton of it, you can do tasting portions if you’d like. But having an entire fish including the head and tail signifies abundance, so a lot of people like to prepare these traditional dishes of seafood courses in large portions, but for the past few years I’ve been hosting Christmas Eve and love my way of serving these dishes as 7 courses. My family members look forward to a lot of seafood and while it takes days of creation and prep, it’s always worth it for the delicious food!
How to Serve It
I love splitting out the 7 fishes by courses. We don’t like putting different kinds of fish altogether on the table, nor count a seafood salad as 3 different fishes. Our family would rather split it up by making different seafood dishes such as shrimp cocktail, lobster tails, baked clams, mussels marinara and more rather than just a whole fish on the dining room table. An Italian meal is never complete without sides. While we focus on different types of fish, we do like to make dishes like fresh pasta and veggies.
What I’m Serving this Year
I don’t tend to go the traditional route, just because we have certain dishes we know we enjoy. For instance, we usually make dishes like mussels, crab cakes, clams. Now, a lot of things can be prepared in the form of an appetizer, while things like lobster tails can be the main attraction with something like a side of pasta or salad.
Here is my 7 course Christmas Eve Dinner:
Caviar
Tuna Tartare
Crab Cakes
Shrimp Cocktail
Lobster Tails
Scallops on 1/2 shell
Clams w/ linguini
My Menu:
This post was originally published December 23rd, 2022*
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24 thoughts on “The Feast of 7 Fishes My Way”
Ok first your outfits are so cute! Secondly, I’m not a big fish person so I really love your take on it! This is exactly how I’d enjoy this tradition too! Can I come over?
Absolutely!
Dang! Your photos make me so hungry! But that’s a good thing! Because it all looked amazing and the table scape was stunning too! Thank you for sharing these with us!
So glad you like it!
This looks like such a fancy seafood night, it all looks amazing!
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing your family’s tradition. The food looks absolutely delicious.
Thank you so much!
I like how you included crab cakes in your feast. And lobster is a great idea too!
So glad you enjoy!
Ah, I love this idea. I adore fish and seafood. It looks like I gonna eat alone because my husband and kids don’t like fish. Probably it is time for a feast with girlfriends.
Totally!
I like that you serve what everyone enjoys instead of going traditional. Some traditions are just not good for everyone. We go rogue too, unless everyone in the family is at our house, then we go back to traditional with some favorites of ours thrown in.
Yes, we can always adapt!
I love seeing different family traditions for Christmas! All of your meals looks so delicious!!
Thank you!
I have never heard of this tradition; it sounds very interesting! Your Christmas feast looks delicious.
It’s delicious!
This is interesting. Actually, this is the first time I have heard about it and we’d love to try serving this as well. Thank you for sharing the history as well as your planned menu. Will look into it for next year.
Enjoy!!
As a fish lover, I can’t wait to try this. Those lobsters are calling my name.
They are amazing!
You have such an amazing family picture and the outfits look good. And talking about the food, it look so yummy.
Thank you!!