La Cucina Italiana - De Italiaanse Keuken - The Italian Kitchen

Italians know how to celebrate Christmas Eve! Tradition holds that no meat should be consumed on Christmas Eve (vigilia di Natale), so Italians eat seafood.

Via Mariano Pallottini

In Le Marche, La Vigilia on 24th December has an equal importance to Christmas, and is celebrated with a huge feast of at least 7 courses that usually includes fish. A typical Vigila dinner begins with antipasti of different fish dishes such as smoked salmon, lumache (snails in a tomato sauce), seafood and marinated anchovies.

The first course (primo piatto) consists of pasta or risotto with a fish sauce for example. Fish is also the order of the day for the main course or Il secondo, baked trout, langoustines, or baccalá (dried salt-cured cod). Plus either eels, red mullet, or, fried whitebait. Then comes...

Via Mariano Pallottini