Feast of the Seven Fishes is celebrated on Christmas Eve with a combination of fish and shellfish dishes. Here you’ll find a compilation of our favorite seafood dishes for your Christmas Eve menu consideration.
Mussels with Tomato and White Wine
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. But before we can get to Christmas, there is Christmas EVE. With that, a very special feast comes. The Feast of the Seven Fishes or Festa dei Sette Pesci, is celebrated on Christmas Eve and it is indeed a FEAST. It can also be referred to as La Viglia, La Viglia di Natale, The Vigil.
WHY IS IT CALLED FEAST OF THE SEVEN FISHES?
The feast is a meatless meal that consists of, you guessed it, SEVEN different seafood dishes, that can be fish or shellfish. The meal is celebrated as a commemoration of The Vigil, for the midnight birth of baby Jesus. Although SEVEN is just the minimum number, some families go wild with up to 13 different dishes, my kind of people.
WHY ARE THERE SEVEN DISHES?
Why the magic number of SEVEN dishes? Who knows, but here are a few hypothesis: Some say the number seven represents the number of Sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church. Others say that seven is for the number which represents perfection. Lucky number seven.
Eating seafood on Christmas Eve dates back to well forever, yes that is a technical term. Roman Catholics refrained from the consumption of meat on Fridays and especially on holy days. In comes seafood. Lots and lots of seafood.
Now for the hard part – deciding which of these seafood dishes you’d like to try.
- Scallops Coquilles St. Jacques
- Lobster fra Diavolo
- Seafood Linguine
- Baked Scallops
- Balsamic Glazed Salmon
- Swordfish with Brown Butter Sauce
- Smoked Salmon
- Pan Seared Salmon
- Herb Crusted Baked Cod
- Seared Scallops with Whiskey Cream Sauce
Mussels with Hazelnut Gremolata
- Lobster Spaghetti
- Stuffed Mussels
- Lobster Risotto
- Drunken Mussels
- Mussels with Hazelnut Gremolata
- Scallops Francaise
- Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes
- Cherry Tomato Crab Bites
- Seared Sea Scallops in Saffron Cream Sauce
- Alaska Cod with Lemon Butter
Seared Scallops with Creamy Bacon Vinaigrette
I hope that your holiday is filled with an abundance of food and is enjoyed with the people that you love!
It makes our day when you recreate any of our recipes. If you do, please consider leaving a star rating on this recipe, take a photo and TAG me on Instagram with #bellalimento.
We would love to see them!
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Ethan says
Wow, I’d heard about the Feast of the Seven Fishes, but leave it to you to actually make it, shoot it, write it and post it!
I have no idea which one I want to eat first which I think is an indication of how amazing each one looks! If I start driving now, can I make it to NC by Christmas eve? hmmm;)
Happy holidays Paula!
Paula says
Grazie Ethan, if you hurry you just might make it ; )
Heather (Heather's Dish) says
i think i would be in fish foodie heaven if i ever got to experience the feast of the seven fishes! it all looks and sounds so incredible!
Paula says
It’s definitely a seafood lovers dream menu! Merry Christmas Heather!
Christine @ Fresh Local and Best says
One of these days I will have to convince my family to celebrate Christmas con Festa dei Sette Pesci. These dishes look beautiful!
Paula says
I don’t think you’d have to twist their arms to much ; ) Merry Merry Christmas Christine!
Lora @cakeduchess says
My favorite part of Natale is all the wonderful seafood:) I’m sure your dinner will be amazing! Buon Natale cara amica mia. un bacione!
Paula says
Grazie Cara! Sono proprio felice che ci siamo incontrati sta anno! Auguri a te e la tua famiglia! xoxo
ciaochowlinda says
Forget Christmas dinner. This is the meal we all look forward to. Any of your dishes would be scrumptious, but that capesanto al forno is going to be in my future.
Paula says
Thanks Linda! It comes together in a snap! Scallops are just scrumptious aren’t they! Merry Christmas to you and yours!
lisa bailey says
I am of Italian heritage but have not celebrated the Natale. Oddly enough I spoke with someone about it yesterday and began to think I should really begin something like this with my own family. I think I will plan this for next year but making each of these dishes this year for practice.
Merry Christmas to Paula, her family and all of the friends of Bell’alimento.
The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
Paula says
So I’m thinking next year we should just celebrate together, what say you ; ) Merry CHRISTmas to the Baileys, lurve you ALL!xoxo
Fuji Mama says
Ok, I’ve heard of the Feast of the Seven Fishes, but didn’t really know what it was about. Love this post–not only did I learn a lot, but what a lineup of fabulous looking food! Merry Christmas my friend! XOXO
Paula says
Mwah! Merry Christmas to you my sweet friend and of course to the rest of the Fuji Family! xoxo
Chris says
Oh thanks for this. While I always mention it at this time of year, its usually in passing. Reading this makes me reminisce & miss the days of old when my grandparents, great aunts, and everyone else would get together for Natale. My only regret from that time was that I shunned fish as a kid. Silly me. If only…
Thanks again! Happy, happy holidays to you!!
Paula says
I think we all shunned things as as kid that we ended up adoring later on! So true, “if we only knew then what we know now”… Buon Natale Cara!
Suzanne says
Wow, this is the ultimate post! I’ll be trying ALL!
Rossella says
Fish is the traditional food of the dinner of La Vigilia di Natale here in Rome. I’m going to do octopus with wine tonight with Polenta from Friuli.
Merry Xmas Paola
marla {family fresh cooking} says
Paula, not only do you cook up the most amazing dishes – but you teach me so much too (and you keep it brief which I love 😉
Seafood is my favorite choice for protein – all of these dishes look like masterpieces that I must try.
Think I might be meeting you for reals at BlogHer Food in May!! Happy Holidays to you and your family. XO
diane stanley says
I want to be Italian on Christmas Eve…just once! I guess I’ll have to settle for traveling to Italy some year soon.
Amelia from Z Tasty Life says
che meraviglia (soprattutto le capesante al forno!)… noi abbiamo mangiato linguine con le vongole (una tradizione della vigilia a casa mia)…e tantissimi dolci 🙂
Buon Natale Paula!
Dana says
feast of seven fishes? i got to say that this is the first time i am hearing of it. it is surely worth trying out. thanks and Merry Christmas!
Lana says
It’s been some years since I walked down the stairs of the University of Belgrade language Department with my diploma in Italian Language and Literature. And it has been some years since I wanted to go all the way for the Festa dei Sette Pesci.
We are traditionally Orthodox Christans, and Christmas Eve is supposed to be meat and dairy-free.
I have missed the opportunity this year (again!!!), but you have inspired me to strive for the next year. The Italian in me must prevail:) And we love seafood so much.
All of your dishes look fantastic. I have read that there is a dish of salted cod that is a must in this feast. How “cemented” in the tradition would it be?
Maureen C. Berry says
Paula, what beautiful, mouth-watering photographs! Lobster spaghetti is my favorite.
I found you on my Google+ feed-this is my first visit to your site and I’m not disappointed.
Happy Christmas Eve and The Feast of The Seven Fishes to you and your seafood-loving family.
Paula says
Hi Maureen! So glad you found us. Welcome and Merry Christmas to you!