What is the traditional Italian Christmas Eve meal?

In Italy, Christmas Eve dinner is traditionally lighter with no meat and a lot of seafood, while the Italian-American meal has evolved into much more of a feast. Bring on the sword fish, tuna, salmon, octopus salad, smelts, calamari, spaghetti with clam sauce and the famous Italian classic—salted cod, known as baccalà.

What do Italian Catholics eat Christmas Eve?

fish
Christmas Eve being one of the designated days on which to abstain, most good Catholics would eat fish, typically cooked in oil….Italian Catholics typically ate one of several different fish on this day, including:

  • Baccala.
  • Cod fish balls.
  • Fried smelts.
  • Fried calamari.
  • Marinated eel.
  • Fried cod.
  • Fried shrimp.

What should I make for an Italian Christmas dinner?

Here our cutest Italian Christmas dinner ideas

  1. Neapolitani Struffoli.
  2. Mozzarella in Carrozza.
  3. Marinated Shrimp Tartare With Dandelion Sauce.
  4. Christmas Veal with Tuna Sauce (Vitello Tonnato)
  5. Potato and Cod Croquettes.
  6. Stuffed Eggs.
  7. Winter Russian Salad with Balsamic Vinegar Sauce.
  8. Cartellate with Pomegranate Syrup.

What are some Christmas Eve traditions in Italy?

One old Italian custom is that children go out Carol singing and playing songs on shepherds pipes, wearing shepherds sandals and hats. On Christmas Eve, it’s common that no meat (and also sometimes no dairy) is eaten. Often a light seafood meal is eaten and then people go to the Midnight Mass service.

Is lasagna a traditional Christmas dinner?

Lasagna is a classic holiday-time meal. Also great to serve at a holiday buffet party. Holiday Lasagna was a traditional Christmas Eve dinner when I was growing up. My mother always made turkey for Christmas Dinner and used to serve lasagna the night before because it was so radically different from turkey!

Do Italian eat meat on Christmas Eve?

1. La Vigilia di Natale (Christmas Eve) Catholic tradition prohibits the consumption of meat on the evenings before religious holidays. Most Italians, therefore, eat a fishy feast on Christmas Eve, one so abundant that the lack of animal flesh is hardly noticed.

Are you allowed to eat meat on Christmas Eve in Italy?

Every region (or even every town!) has its own customs, but if there’s one tradition that everyone in Italy can agree on, it’s not eating meat on Christmas Eve. December 24 is the time for fish or cheese dishes to shine.

What is a traditional Sicilian Christmas dinner?

Feast of the Seven Fishes, also known as La Vigilia (The Vigil), is a Sicilian-American traditional dinner on Christmas Eve. Like many Italian traditions, the origin and rules are debated.

What is the Italian Christmas feast?

Italians, particularly in Southern Italy have a tradition on Christmas Eve called the Feast of Seven Fishes. That’s because they eat seafood on Christmas Eve and save meat for Christmas Day. For those of us having a hot summer the feast of seven fishes suits our Australian love of seafood at Christmas.

Why do Italians have lasagna on Christmas?

For many families Lasagna is a Christmas day tradition. It is an interlude from Christmas Eve dinner of fish and Santo Stefano, the 26th, of Abbacchio or Cappone. Abbacchio is lamb and Cappone is a castrated rooster.