Each Christmas Eve, Philadelphians of all ages gather around family dinner tables or crowd into tiny side street restaurants to commemorate the Feast of the Seven Fishes.
The massive, multi-course meal is largely celebrated by Italian-American families, and the tradition itself is based on the Roman Catholic practice of not eating meat on Christmas Eve. Though it's unclear where it originated, the first known mention of the holiday feast was included in a 1983 issue of the Inquirer, leading some to believe that the tradition was born in the city before moving to other parts of the country.
