Year at the table
Italian Food Calendar
Every date an Italian-American family cooks for, in order, with what actually goes on the table — from Super Bowl sausage to the Seven Fishes.
Short answer: the four dates that matter most are Christmas Eve (Feast of the Seven Fishes), St. Joseph’s Day on March 19, the Feast of San Gennaro in September, and New Year’s, when cotechino and lentils are non-negotiable.
January · January 1
New Year's Day (Capodanno)
Cotechino e lenticchie — lentils for coins, sausage for fat in the new year.
- Cotechino simmered two hours, sliced over brothy lentils
- Leftover gravy over rigatoni
February · First Sunday
Super Bowl Sunday
The biggest sausage-and-peppers day on the American calendar.
- Two sheet pans of sausage and peppers
- Arancini
- A hero tray built at halftime
February · Shrove Tuesday
Martedì Grasso (Carnevale)
Fried dough season: chiacchiere, zeppole, castagnole.
- Chiacchiere dusted heavy with powdered sugar
- A pot of something rich before Lent
March · March 19
St. Joseph's Day (San Giuseppe)
The big one for Sicilian-American families: the St. Joseph's table, zeppole di San Giuseppe, pasta con le sarde with breadcrumbs standing in for cheese.
- Zeppole di San Giuseppe filled with pastry cream
- Pasta con le sarde
- Mudica — toasted breadcrumbs, the 'sawdust of St. Joseph the carpenter'
April · Easter Sunday
Pasqua
Lamb, artichokes, and the savory pies that use up the eggs.
- Pizza rustica or casatiello
- Roast lamb with rosemary and potatoes
- Colomba on the table all afternoon
May · Late May
Start of grilling season
The first warm Sunday the grill comes out and the sausage coil goes on.
- Grilled salsiccia coil
- Peppers blistered whole over the fire
June · June 24
Feast of St. John (San Giovanni)
Bonfires in Italy, snails in Rome, and the first real tomatoes.
- Tomato salad with nothing but oil, salt and basil
- Grilled sausage and early peppers
July · All month
Peak pepper and tomato season
The three months when sausage and peppers costs the least and tastes the most.
- Sausage and peppers on the grill
- Sauce made for the freezer
August · August 15
Ferragosto
Italy shuts down and eats outside. Grilled everything, cold wine, nobody in a hurry.
- Grilled salsiccia and vegetables
- Cold melon and prosciutto
- Anything that does not need an oven
September · September 19, eleven days
Feast of San Gennaro
Mulberry Street, New York: the sausage-and-pepper hero's home ground.
- The hero, built properly
- Zeppole in a paper bag
- Braciole if you have the afternoon
October · All month
Harvest and sagra season
Chestnuts, mushrooms, new olive oil, and the year's grape harvest.
- Sausage with mushrooms and polenta
- New oil on grilled bread, nothing else
November · Fourth Thursday
Thanksgiving, Italian-American style
Two dinners in one: the lasagna course, then the turkey.
- Sausage and bread stuffing
- A tray of lasagna before the bird
- Struffoli starts appearing
December · December 24
Feast of the Seven Fishes (La Vigilia)
The biggest cooking night of the Italian-American year: seven seafood courses, no meat.
- Baccalà salad
- Fried calamari
- Linguine with clams
- Whole roasted branzino
December · December 31
New Year's Eve (San Silvestro)
Zampone or cotechino at midnight, lentils on every plate.
- Zampone with lentils
- Struffoli
- Prosecco, obviously
Questions people ask
- What is the biggest Italian-American food holiday?
- Christmas Eve — the Feast of the Seven Fishes — is the biggest cooking night of the year, followed by St. Joseph's Day on March 19 for Sicilian-American families.
- What do Italians eat on New Year's?
- Cotechino or zampone with lentils. The lentils look like coins and the pork stands for abundance, so the plate is a wish for a prosperous year.
- What is St. Joseph's Day food?
- Zeppole di San Giuseppe, pasta con le sarde, and toasted breadcrumbs called mudica sprinkled over pasta in place of cheese, in honor of St. Joseph the carpenter's sawdust.
- When is the Feast of San Gennaro?
- September 19 in Naples, and an eleven-day street festival on Mulberry Street in New York's Little Italy around that date — the spiritual home of the sausage-and-pepper hero.
- When are peppers cheapest for sausage and peppers?
- July through September in the northern hemisphere. In January the same peppers can cost three times as much.