Tuna and zucchini fritters - Italian Christmas tradition
As Christmas draws near I wanted to use my next few blog post recipes to explore what other culture’s Christmas table looks like. In Australia, prawns, ham, BBQ and the humble Pavlova commonly fill people’s Christmas table. However for other countries, traditions differ. The Japanese celebrate Christmas with KFC and the Dutch make a biscuit called banketletter (meaning letter cake), which is made from marzipan or pastry and made in the shape of the first letter of people’s name that attend a family’s Christmas party. I was intrigued by the Italian tradition of eating fish on Christmas Eve. Drawing on the Roman Catholic tradition of abstinence, which in this case refers to not eating meat or milk products, the Italian-American community took this tradition one step further with the Feast of the Seven Fishes. This feast involves families coming together and sharing seven fish and seafood based dishes. The first course is often something snack-like, sinc...