Feast of the Seven Fishes - The Comic Strip

We've talked about cookbooks before on the blog, but this is the first one we haven't actually cooked out of yet. Then again, it isn't often that a cookbook gets a jacket endorsement from Stan Lee. That's because while Feast of Seven Fishes does have recipes, it is primarily a short graphic novel.

Written by script writer and producer Bob Tinnell and inked by alt comic artist Ed Piskor and long-time DC and Marvel artist Alex Saviuk, Feast is a nostalgia piece about an Italian family's Christmas in small factory-town Pennsylvania in the 80's.



The centerpiece of the story is the feast itself - rooted in the Italian Catholic tradition of La Vigilia, a Christmas Eve celebration meal consisting of seven seafood dishes.

Originally run as an online comic, the strip is available in book form, and there are now plans for a movie. I can just imagine the pitch: "Think American Splendor meets A Christmas Story with a dose of Big Night thrown in the mix..."

At the end of the book is a section of recipes (provided by Tinnell's wife, Shannon) which represent the current state of their family's Seven Fishes tradition.

Although neither of us is Italian, La Vigilia has been an adopted tradition of ours for the past several years. Here are some pictures from last year's seven fish feast:



We're definitely planning on doing it again this year. I guess we'd better start thinking about the menu, since time is running out. Thanks to the Feast of the Seven Fishes book, we have a new source of recipe inspiration.

Update: here is the post on this year's feast: Feast of the Seven Fishes - Southeast Asian Style.