'It's Rooted In Tradition:' Uncle Giuseppe's Prepares For Feast Of The Seven Fishes

MASSAPEQUA, NY. — While something smelling fishy is usually cause for alarm, it's quite the opposite in Italian-American households on Christmas Eve. In houses that celebrate, the briny scent is a telltale sign that the traditional “Feast of the Seven Fishes” has arrived once more.

For Vincent Olivieri, culinary & deli director at Massapequa’s Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace, the tradition is an important reminder of a family’s Italian heritage. While specific menus and origin stories vary from household to household, prevailing logic surrounding the Seven Fishes says the feast sprung out of Catholic doctrine, which forbade eating meat on certain holy days. On Fridays during Lent, Ash Wednesday and Christmas Eve, Catholics around the country opt for fish en masse.

“It's rooted in tradition. Some would say it was Catholic Americans giving up eating meat as a sacrifice on Christmas Eve, originally rooted in South Italy, in the Puglia region and Sicily,” Olivieri said of the holiday tradition. “It’s really like a vigil that represents the seven sacraments, which translated into 7 fishes. So, it's like, ‘give up meat for Christmas Eve to show your sacrifice,’ and a lot of menus and traditions grew off of that.”

On the business side of things, Olivieri said Uncle Giuseppe’s sees more approachable, conventional fish like calamari, clams, mussels and shrimp selling well as families prepare for their feasts. But the biggest movers in the leadup to Christmas eve, Olivieri said, are salted cod and snail — baccala and scungilli, when you’re shopping at Uncle Giuseppe’s.

“We do a good amount of salted cod, which is the baccala. It's like the one time a year that people do go for that,” Olivieri said. “Scungilli is another one. The majority of our sales for scungilli during the year are really funneled into these next two weeks leading up to Christmas.”

While baccala and scungilli are two of the biggest needle-movers for Seven Fishes menus, Olivieri has one item at the top of his wish list whenever he starts thinking about the menu in his own home.

“It might not be a traditional item, or something that you have to have for the Feast of the Seven Fishes, but [on] Christmas Eve, if I don't have baked clams, I kind of feel — do you ever get to feeling like you have to sneeze and you can't get it out? If I don't have baked clams on Christmas Eve, I don't sleep well on the night of Christmas Eve,” Olivieri said. “So I have to have baked clams. It's one of those things. Any given time of the year that I think about baked clams, if I mention it, if I think about it, I have to have it. I will be doing baked clams here for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I bulk prep them, so I have them for both days. That's the item for me.”

For home cooks looking for a quicker, easier entry in the Seven Fishes menu, Olivieri said sautéed mussels make for a simple crowd-pleaser.

“I'm sure that people would probably be intimidated by them at some point or another, but in terms of just getting them clean and getting a sauté pan ripping hot, whether you want it with garlic and oil or marinara, it's something that comes together within like, five to 10 minutes,” Olivieri said. “You put it on the table, if it's garnished right with chopped parsley and lemon wedges, anybody can do that. I think that's a super simple, easy recipe, with some nice toasted bread alongside, that a lot of people probably don't do on their own, but could, and don't realize how easy it is.”

Olivieri added that he’s a strong believer in education in the kitchen, highlighting recipe cards available on Uncle Giuseppe’s website and instructional material on the store's instagram that can help less-experienced cooks get through the busy day.

As time passes and younger generations take on a greater share of the cooking, it might seem natural to have some shifts in the kinds of fish families buy for such a feast. According to Olivieri, however, almost the opposite has occurred: As younger generations get into the kitchen, traditional items like baccala and scungilli have had their place at the table reaffirmed.

“We do cater to a younger demographic now, and I believe that the younger demographic tries to appease their relatives and gets all the classics that they grew up having,” Olivieri said.

When asked about the importance of that return to tradition, Olivieri said it’s important to keep customs like the Feast of the Seven Fishes in tact. While it's fish in the name, Olivieri said it’s family that makes nights like these special.

“As the global climate changes and people are working more and family time becomes secondary to other priorities, I think it's the traditions that keep everybody together. It keeps family together. It keeps young children involved. I have two young children myself, and, you know, they look forward to this as well, and I can't imagine a world where you grow up to be an adult and you didn't get to experience these traditions,” Olivieri said. “I think it's part of what maintains Italian-American culture and heritage, and, for me, in my family, and for what we do at Uncle Giuseppe's marketplaces, it's very important to all of us that we maintain our traditions. I wouldn't want anybody to live in a world without them. Who knows what it would be without having these kind of things to look forward to.”