Feast of the Seven Fishes

Book excerpt: Daniel Paterna's Feast of the Seven Fishes: A Brooklyn-Italian's Recipes Celebrating Food and Family is a timely reminder that a shared memory of food draws upon and enriches our souls. In Feast of the Seven Fishes: A Brooklyn Italian's Recipes Celebrating Food and Family, Daniel Paterna takes you on magical journey into a hidden world. Through recipes handed down in his family, stunning photos taken by the author himself, and three-generations of memories, Paterna reveals the soulful, humorous, and always delicious history of Italian-Americans in Brooklyn. Paterna is the real deal, a second-generation Italian-American, whose family has preserved their culture from the shores of Naples to the streets of Bensonhurst. He'll show you how to make long-forgotten recipes like stuffed calamari and he'll take you to the stores, restaurants, and bakeries where artisans are still doing things the old way. This is an intensely personal book that powerfully illustrates the essence of the American experience: the ways food, family, and memory are preserved and changed by the immigrants who brought them to our shores, and the children of those immigrants who keepthe flame alive.