IF YOU TALK with an Italian American New Orleanian about the Feast of the Seven Fishes, you’re likely to get an earful of stories of their favorite dishes at the traditional Christmas Eve fête. Pose the same question to an Italian or Sicilian, and the likely answer is that they’ve never heard of it. While the American tradition of Feast of the Seven Fishes is based on a similar meal still celebrated in Italy, immigrants took those customs and added their own spin.
The American version is an honest-to-goodness feast, while its Italian counterpart—a multicourse
