From time to time, Frank Tropiano will drive past the tiny structure he called home after he and his parents, three sisters and his grandparents arrived in this country in 1966, a structure that was attached to the rear of the house on 7311 Susquehanna St. in Homewood, PA. "Our address was literally 7311 Susquehanna Rear," he explained. The humble...

Growing up in a household where both parents were children of Italian immigrants, you would think we'd know about the feast of the seven fishes. My mom and grandmothers never made such a thing. As a matter of fact, we really never heard of it until I was an adult and read about it in a magazine. I was in my late 20s, a new homeowner and wanted to i...

Although Christmas Eve is when children ’round the world wait for the big guy in red to freefall down the chimney, back in the days of old in Southern Italy, December 24 was a time of commemorative waiting for the birth of Jesus Christ. This more holy vigil, or La Vigilia, was observed by abstaining from meat and indulging in what was plentiful in...

The Feast of the Seven Fishes is an Italian American tradition as steeped in lore as it is in the saline taste of the sea. And, in classically literal Italian fashion (see also: tomato sauce; meatballs), it is also exactly what it sounds like. But, while the reasons your family partakes might differ from the reasons our family celebrates, or even t...

What is the Feast of Seven Fishes? It’s all in the name. Simply put, it’s the Italian American tradition of eating fish in place of meat on Christmas Eve day. It’s comparable to Thanksgiving in its dinner party grandeur and features, you guessed it, seven different kinds of seafood. Maybe the dinner consists of one fish prepared seven ways or a sev...

December 2024 The #ItalianAmerican community and social media, metaverse and artificial intelligence  

While in 2024 We the Italians took its first steps into the metaverse and the use of artificial intelligence, one of the innovations of 2025 for us will be a more effective and comprehensive approach to social media. We look at new technologies and the future with curiosity, interest and confidence. There is one person in the Italian American commu...

The Italians take their holidays very seriously. We live in California, so winter isn’t really tangible; we pretend we’re freezing when it’s 60 degrees out. For food, the Italians always would prepare the Feast of the Seven Fishes. But since my grandma and dad are gone, we’ve shied away from a lot of the tradition; it’s a really heavy load to make...

The Feast of the Seven Fishes is an Italian seafood-centric feast that dates back to the 1900s. This year’s feast at Bar Enza features staples from executive chef Tony Susi. For Susi, an Italian American, the feast carries profound meaning. It’s something he enjoys sharing with Bostonians and those who flock to the area this time of year. In some r...

“There's degrees of messiness,” The Bear’s prop master Laura Roeper tells me over the phone from Chicago. “Chris [Storer, the series creator] is like, ‘no, [it has to be] chaotic craziness’... So we’re in the kitchen, and we got to throw spaghetti sauce over everything, because the mess wasn’t big enough for Chris. He goes, ‘no, way more’,” Roeper...