@article{9613,
  author = {M. di Giovine},
  title = {La Vigilia Italo-Americana: revitalizing the Italian-American family through the christmas eve "feast of the seven fishes".},
  abstract = {This article ethnographically examines the symbolic importance of seafood and its ritualized consumption in demarcating ideals of "authenticity" and "intangible heritage" in the famed Italian-American Christmas Eve feast, La Vigilia. The Vigilia is a rite of intensification intended to revitalize a community in a climate of schism and "acculturation," and a rite of incorporation for inte- grating American spouses into the family s heritage. While contin- ually transforming as participants entertain new culinary under- standings, cultivate "Americanized" tastes, and integrate spouses into the ritual, the practices of selecting, preparing, and ritually consuming the Vigilia s food serve to maintain traditional gender roles, reinforce ethnic bonds through commensality, and denote "authenticity" through taste preferences. Suggesting that authenticity is conveyed not through a particular object or its taste, but rather through intangible processes, the author argues that the Vigilia feast becomes a central means of negotiating the antithetical pressures of maintaining tradition and embracing social transformation.},
  volume = {18},
  number = {4},
  pages = {181-208},
  issn = {07409710 (ISSN)},
  url = {https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-78649954058&doi=10.1080%2f07409710.2010.529012&partnerID=40&md5=978c9386a25107786e098b95511a5c2b},
  doi = {10.1080/07409710.2010.529012},
}