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Feast of the Seven Fishes: A Brooklyn Italian's Recipes Celebrating Food and Family
Daniel Paterna's Feast of the Seven Fishes: A Brooklyn-Italian's Recipes Celebrating Food and Family is a timely reminder that a shared memory of food draws upon and enriches our souls.
In Feast of the Seven Fishes: A Brooklyn Italian's Recipes Celebrating Food and Family, Daniel Paterna takes you on magical journey into a hidden world. Through recipes handed down in his family, stunning photos taken by the author himself, and three-generations of memories, Paterna reveals the soulful, humorous, and always delicious history of Italian-Americans in Brooklyn.
Paterna is the real deal, a second-generation Italian-American, whose family has preserved their culture from the shores of Naples to the streets of Bensonhurst. He'll show you how to make long-forgotten recipes like stuffed calamari and he'll take you to the stores, restaurants, and bakeries where artisans are still doing things the old way.
This is an intensely personal book that powerfully illustrates the essence of the American experience: the ways food, family, and memory are preserved and changed by the immigrants who brought them to our shores, and the children of those immigrants who keepthe flame alive.
In Feast of the Seven Fishes: A Brooklyn Italian's Recipes Celebrating Food and Family, Daniel Paterna takes you on magical journey into a hidden world. Through recipes handed down in his family, stunning photos taken by the author himself, and three-generations of memories, Paterna reveals the soulful, humorous, and always delicious history of Italian-Americans in Brooklyn.
Paterna is the real deal, a second-generation Italian-American, whose family has preserved their culture from the shores of Naples to the streets of Bensonhurst. He'll show you how to make long-forgotten recipes like stuffed calamari and he'll take you to the stores, restaurants, and bakeries where artisans are still doing things the old way.
This is an intensely personal book that powerfully illustrates the essence of the American experience: the ways food, family, and memory are preserved and changed by the immigrants who brought them to our shores, and the children of those immigrants who keepthe flame alive.
- GenresCookbooks
256 pages, Hardcover
Published November 5, 2019
1 person is currently reading
60 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 27, 2022
Even though we’re not even halfway through the year yet I’m absolutely positive that this is going to go down as the most beautiful book I read this year. It was just unbelievably touching! It wasn’t till I traveled to Italy that I realized that the food we have in America is not really “Italian food" but rather it was the food traditions brought with the immigrants from Calabria, Sicily, and Naples areas primarily. I think these days, in California at least, we can differentiate between Tuscan and Venetian foods (one of my first jobs in LA was working at a Venetian restaurant)...
So, this book is a celebration of this particular tradition of Italian-American foods--specifically, the traditions of his neighborhood in Brooklyn.
And let me say, I regret not making an effort to get to Brooklyn when I was recently in NYC. Brooklyn has always had an allure for me as a place of traditions that you can't find elsewhere. And Paterna's book is a perfect example...
The photographs are treasures... family lore and pictures from many of the neighborhood shops. Like Faicco's pork store. Can a place like that really still exist? The photo is one of my favorites in the book showing the two brothers and their white aprons standing together holding a framed portrait of their grandfather--with all the dried sausage and sopprassara hanging behind them.
Bensonhurst? Never heard of it... but now, I am putting it on my list of must-see places.
Looking at the recipes, they are pared down --and it makes you realize how the immigrants, like my own great grandparents from Calabria, had to "make do" with ingredients that were available to them in their new land. The recipes reflect that.
One almost miracle was how the tradition of the "feast of the seven fishes" evolved in America. I think (??) they have something similar in Marseilles on Christmas Eve (or Christmas Day) where they eat a feast of fish on a table with a white tablecloth. I had planned to try and make a meal like that... it is something I have long wanted to try. First to get a white tablecloth (lace?) and second to learn to make a feast of fish that is not Japanese style... but Italian (or French Marseilles).
Despite my own Calabrese heritage, I had never heard of “The gravy” and what is braciole?
Beautiful book!!!!!!!
So, this book is a celebration of this particular tradition of Italian-American foods--specifically, the traditions of his neighborhood in Brooklyn.
And let me say, I regret not making an effort to get to Brooklyn when I was recently in NYC. Brooklyn has always had an allure for me as a place of traditions that you can't find elsewhere. And Paterna's book is a perfect example...
The photographs are treasures... family lore and pictures from many of the neighborhood shops. Like Faicco's pork store. Can a place like that really still exist? The photo is one of my favorites in the book showing the two brothers and their white aprons standing together holding a framed portrait of their grandfather--with all the dried sausage and sopprassara hanging behind them.
Bensonhurst? Never heard of it... but now, I am putting it on my list of must-see places.
Looking at the recipes, they are pared down --and it makes you realize how the immigrants, like my own great grandparents from Calabria, had to "make do" with ingredients that were available to them in their new land. The recipes reflect that.
One almost miracle was how the tradition of the "feast of the seven fishes" evolved in America. I think (??) they have something similar in Marseilles on Christmas Eve (or Christmas Day) where they eat a feast of fish on a table with a white tablecloth. I had planned to try and make a meal like that... it is something I have long wanted to try. First to get a white tablecloth (lace?) and second to learn to make a feast of fish that is not Japanese style... but Italian (or French Marseilles).
Despite my own Calabrese heritage, I had never heard of “The gravy” and what is braciole?
Beautiful book!!!!!!!
November 5, 2019
This fun cookbook that’s not just a cookbook features beautiful photography and mouth-watering images of delicious food, filled with the kind of nostalgia that helps keep family traditions alive, such as the Christmas Eve tradition the book borrows its title from, the Feast of the Seven Fishes. This memoir/cookbook is surely one not to miss!
February 21, 2020
“This is not a cookbook in the classic sense,” writes author Daniel Paterna in what may be the understatement of the year. The Feast of the Seven Fishes is a delightful, personal tour of Italian American cooking, based on Paterna’s Brooklyn family. Weaving memories, recipes, and profiles of Bensonhurst bakers and butchers, this is a visually intoxicating love letter to an era, a way of life, and above all a cuisine. Make the Eggplant Parmigiana tonight.
2020 CODES List Winners Announced
2020 CODES List Winners Announced
October 29, 2019
A beautiful and one-of-a-kind cookbook that weaves the author's personal family history and photos in with authentic, handed-down recipes and an exploration of Brooklyn's Bensonhurst neighborhood and the Italian community there. For anyone with New York-Italian heritage, like me, this book feels like home!
March 23, 2020
Though my family was not quite as steeped in food and tradition as Daniel Paterna’s, reading this book reminded me of my childhood. I enjoyed the photos, comments, and especially seeing his family’s recipe cards. I found the typeface a little hard on my eyes, especially on pages with white type on a dark background. Now I just want to cook all the food!
April 26, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. We visited the Tenement museum while in NYC. The stories and pictures are heartwarming. And I can't wait to try the recipes, and to visit these places in Brooklyn.
July 30, 2020
Beautiful photography!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews