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AN t/ O*-L 1AM IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA ITIS CHRISTMAS EVE INTHE EARLY DECADES OF THE 20TH CENTURY. ITALIANIMMIGRANTS THROUGHOUT SOUTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA ARE GATHERING THEIR FAMILIESFOR V1GILIA,THE CHRISTMAS EVE MEAL. PART 1: CHRISTMAS EVE CASSANDRA VIVIAN Inthe rough and tumble coal patch ofOliver, deep inthe "Klondike"region ofFayette County, Giovanni and Caterina Mele and their 11 children sit down to a seven-course fish dinner cele- brating the heritage of Campania (around Naples in southern Italy), ,'c Inthe booming steel town of Monessen, tucked in a bend of the Monongahela River in Westmoreland County, Nazza- reno and Carolina Parigi and their daughter Elizabeth are joined by cousins Geno and Sand- rina Pelini and their children Arnold, Bobby, and Vivian from New Castle for a Tuscan-style Christmas Eve. (Traditions in the Parigi household are known firsthand, for the Parigis are the author's grandparents, and Elizabeth is her mother!) >[« Along the swarming flatland on the eastern shore of the Allegheny River before it joins the Monongahela indowntown Pittsburgh, Guiseppe and Giovanna Balestreire Camarda and their five children celebrate not only their hometown of Santa Elia, but the family occupation as fishermen along the western Sicilian coast. They willcook and eat an orgy ofSicilian fish dishes. Sj- The Christmas Eve meals the Mele,Par- igi,and Camarda families are enjoying offer telling clues to each family's heritage and dispel the myth that allItalian food is the same. While the holiday celebrates their religion, the food choices and preparations celebrate their native regions inItaly. Combined, the two points herald a very simple but overlooked truth: Italian American food does not stem from a single foodway. 5j- FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY BY TOM GIGLIOTTI The provinces ofItaly were not unit- allofItaly's provinces, immigrated to ed as a single nation until 1861. The REGIONALISM America. In one instance in1901, the independent regions that Giuseppe Mayor ofMoliterno insouthern Italy Garabaldi brought together had a history and culture described the situation in his town when he wel- uniquely independent of each other. Each also had a comed the Prime Minister by saying: "Igreet you inthe distinct geography. All of these elements had a tre- name of 8,000 fellow citizens, 3,000 of whom are inAm- mendous impact on the food supply. In the Mez- erica, and the other 5,000 preparing to follow them." zogiorno, the semi-arid, mountainous region south of Most of the immigrants to America had already Rome, olives, olive oil, lemons, fish and goats were arrived before the concept of a united Italy had time the major products of the land. Garnished by ore- to develop. Immigrants brought their distinct re- gano, meats were grilled in Arab and Greek fashion gional differences and food traditions to America. or baked as the Norman invaders liked to do. That uniqueness not only separated them from other Further north, olive oil was combined with or nationalities, itisolated them from other Italians, too. replaced by butter and the cooking methods reflected In fact, few regarded themselves as Italian. They were a different mix of invaders and traders. Tuscany had Abruzzese, Piemontese, Siciliani, Toscani.... As they an Etruscan influence. The lush farmland of both worked and lived in the coal patches and steel towns Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna produced beef, veal, of southwestern Pennsylvania, most could only nod and pork that were garnished with local herbs such to other "Italians" because they could not speak with as sage, rosemary, and thyme. one another. The dialects were actually separate Ro- In the far north, the variety of food was similar mance languages — as many as 6,000 of them, by to central Italy, but the influences were distinct. In some estimates. A Romagnoli calls a fish stew brod- Piedmont, Veneto, Lorn- etto. To a Tuscan, brodetto bard, Trentino-Alto Adige, 7 i means a soup with bread, and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, eggs, and lemon. In Tusca- traditional recipes were in- ny, soprassata means head- fluenced by the Austro- cheese, but inCalabria itis Hungarian Empire to which a salami. they once belonged. InLom- The Christmas Eve feast bard, heavily influenced keeps the ancient tradi- by France, pasta was rarely tions intact. As their home- seen on the menu. Friuli- land marched toward uni- Venezia Giulia had a Sla- fication, Italian Americans vie influence. In the Alto marched in the opposite Adige, the influence was predominantly Austrian, so direction, maintaining their regional identities. If a the foods reflect strudels, pork, and rich desserts like person does not understand these basic concepts about kastanientorte, a puree of chestnuts mixed with but- Italian Americans, he or she will never understand ter, flour, sugar, and eggs. what constitutes Italian-American food and trad- Beginning in about 1870, and continuing until itions in the United States. Itis not pasta. It is not the mid-1920s, some 4 million people, from nearly pizza. It can never be that simple. 156 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | WINTER 1999 It was not "Italianism" that linked Italians, CATHOLICISM but Catholicism. The church unified people & FISH long before Guiseppe Garibaldi united the provinces to form the Italian state. The Cath- olic Church decreed the eve before a holiday as a mangiare di ntagro, a time of "eating lean," and in the most Catholic of countries, surrounded on three sides by water, fish is the food of ritual for Christmas Eve. The ingredients that dance with the fish are regional: fish with pasta, and insoups and stews; fish boiled, fried, baked, and grilled; fish combined with onions or leeks, or with olives, pine nuts, and raisins. We simmer fishinrich red tomatoes or inpure white milk. Andeach ingredient carries the history of an entire region.Ithas a story to tell. Catholicism also gave us a system of mystical numbers for Christmas. Three is the number of the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. It is also the number of wisemen in the nativity story. So, either were honored when a family served three fishes on Christmas Eve.— In the Italian region of Abruzzi, the sacred number for Christmas Eve is seven for the seven virtues or the seven sacraments. Seven can also mean the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, or the seven champions of Christendom. There are also the seven winds of Italy, the seven hills of Rome, the seven days of creation, and even the seven wonders of the world or the seven veils of Salome. Some Abruzzi families prepare nine dishes on Christmas Eve: the nine months that Mary carried Jesus, or the Trinity times three. In the Marches, the number is nine for an all-vegetable Christmas Day meal including cabbage, turnips, asparagus, anise, and stuffed artichokes. An Apulian family may prepare 13 dishes symbolizing Jesus Christ and his 12 disciples. In Calabria, the number is nine or 13 or even 24 or 25, the latter for the days of the Christmas season. Ifyou ask a Tuscan American how many dishes he or —she prepares, they may look at you strangely. They do not fix a set number of dishes most northern Italian Americans do not. In fact, most have never heard of the tradition. The custom is stronger among southern Italian American families, though many do not know why or what the numbers represent. They continue the tradition because the family has always done it. Itis one of the mysteries of the Christmas season. The number of dishes, the type of dishes, and the meaning behind each preparation is lost ineach family's Medieval past. AN ITALIAN AMERICAN CHRISTMAS 157 AV E 111 H0 NAPLES A QU 1 L A The Mele family of Fayette Whether inNaples or inOli- County hails from Sala di THE FEAST ANTIPASTI ver, Florence or Aliquippa, Serino, Province of Avellino, Palermo or Pittsburgh, the in the hills of the Campania countryside high above typical Italian-inspired holiday meal begins with an Naples. Christmas Eve dominates their holiday cele- antipasto, an appetizer. bration. Rita Mele maintains seven was always the Rose Marie Boniello, a Floridian who is editor of number of dishes prepared in their family. But if you the charming cookbook Preserving our Italian Heri- count the dishes on the Meles' holiday table, they tage, published by the Sons of Italy Florida Founda- ! number far more. tion (with many Western Pennsylvania transplants), The Meles serve their Christmas Eve meal as a serves the traditional deep-fried Sicilian zeppole on buffet, and leave the remainder of the feast out after Christmas Eve but breaks up her gigantic meal into everyone has eaten. This is tradition, too. In Parma, two meals. Anchovy-filled zeppole begin a noontime Emilia-Romagna, leftovers are for the souls of the meal that includes a cod fish soup called zuppa dead; in Calabria, food remains on the table awaiting di baccala (escarole, cauliflower, pignoli a visit from the Madonna. The Meles keep their table [pine nuts], figs, and raisins). On through Christmas Day and replenish itas new guests the buffet in the evening, the arrived. During Christmas week inParma, Rita Mele zeppole appear again, only remembers, "the dining room table always had a large this time as a dessert A bowl of fresh fruit and a bottle of wine on it so that covered with honey visitors could be offered something immediately when and filled with they came to visit." It stilldoes. raisins and David Ruggerio, a Neapolitan American chef and pignoli. restaurant owner who grew up inNew York City, is author of the celebrated Little Italy Cookbook; he agrees with the Meles' hospitality: "Every Italian family makes twice what they can eat because it's the day everybody goes visiting.