To begin, Happy holidays to all! You'll find Hanukah recipes here and Christmas recipes here. The latter also includes a discussion of the "seven fish dinner," which I have never encountered in Tuscany or other parts of Northern Italy -- Christmas Eve is a meatless vigil, so the meal is fish-based, but the number of dishes and exactly what they are depends upon the number of people partaking and what's available. I had assumed the same likely held true in the South from talking to people and reading a number of books that discuss Christmas meals, the most interesting of which is Caròla Francesconi's La Cucina Napoletana (Newton Compton Editori). However, Carmelita just sent a note mentioning that Carol Field talks, "in her wonderful book, Celebrating Italy, of Naples as the region where the pre Christmas celebrations were taken most seriously - 4 days of them [Ms. Francesconi mentions only three]. She also mentions enormous fish dinners in Abruzzo consisting of:
7 courses- the 7 virtues and the 7 sacraments
9 courses - 3 times the Trinity

"Finally, she [Carol Field] writes of 13 types of fruit and nuts to be offered at the end of the meal - 13 for Jesus and the Apostles - in regions of Italy that were once part of Magna Grecia."

As I said, none of this happens in Tuscany or other parts of Italy where I have celebrated Christmas. However, I have never celebrated it in the South. Someday. In any case, the season here, like almost everywhere else, has become tremendously commercial, a far cry from what it was when I was here in 1969 and all my classmates were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Befana, the witch who brings children stockings full of toys and candy on Epiphany. Then most Florentines didn't have trees, which are a more northern tradition, but instead set up crèches, and Christmas Day was a low-key family thing. Now the streets are decorated and the stores are gaudy, and there's usually a chilly looking pony attached to a sleigh, with an equally chilly looking Santa, in Florence's Via dei Calzaiuoli (between the Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio). Kids go to have their pictures taken and continue on to the stores with their parents. We don't yet have Warner Brothers, but there is a Disney shop on Via dei Calzaiuoli that's doing quite well.

This year (1999) many of the boys (and fathers) will likely be looking into video games of one sort or another. With misgivings on the part of mothers, educators, and now health personnel as well. We've all heard about how video games can incite violence, and bring about epileptic attacks. They can also do more: Last month the papers were full a story about a 16-year-old who played all night 5 nights running, and was then found wandering the streets at 4 in the morning by the police. He identified himself as Ken and told them his mission was to fight evil. The doctors in the psychiatric ward of the hospital spent a month bringing him back to his real identity, and later told reporters they'd never seen anything like it. This is an extreme case, and one wonders where the parents were, but like all extreme cases it serves as a warning bell. You do have to come up for air every now and then, and read a book, take a walk, or do something else.

One option is to read restaurant guides. Not exciting, you say, but it can be interesting. This year Gualtiero Marchesi, long considered Italy's leading chef, was dropped from one of the more influential guides (I think L'Espresso's though I tossed the clipping). In any case, not by a star or two, but completely. "He's settled on his laurels," the editor said, adding that the removal was an agonizing group decision. As one might expect, a wave rippled through the food community and battle lines have been drawn up. The muck is still flying, and now Luigi Veronelli, dean of Italian food critics, has announced that Gianfranco Vissani, an Umbrian chef many are indicating as Gualtiero Marchesi's successor, knows nothing about cooking because he said he prefers olio di semi -- oil extracted from a variety of seeds -- for frying. So Veronelli is going to drop him. Vissani is unperturbed. And to be honest, I'm not that surprised that Gualtiero Marchesi slipped, though I am surprised how far. Last year's Gambero Rosso review was distinctly unenthusiastic, citing uneven quality of food, lackluster service, and a wine list with evident failings. They expected considerably more.

In case you were wondering about Veronelli's comment, he probably expected Vissani to say he used olive oil for frying. Few realize it has about the highest smoke point of any oil, and is consequently an excellent choice for frying.

Not interested in video games or restaurant guides? A number of calendars have recently come out featuring starlets in varying states of undress (sales are high, in the millions, with much of the profit going to charity), and some of the stars of the A-league soccer teams have also done one with carefully posed locker room photos, again donating the profits to charity. Today's lunchtime news said that the marble quarriers of Carrara, not to be left out, have put out a calendar in which they appear in their underwear. One wonders what will be next.

Thoughts on Italian food
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