La Vigilia Italo-Americana: revitalizing the Italian-American family through the christmas eve "feast of the seven fishes".

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.