What You May Not Know About Christmas Eve Oyster Stew
Published in
Dec 21, 2022
Oyster stew on Christmas Eve was an Ellis household tradition. It’s also a classic in many households in the United States.
Traditions are traditions that we don’t usually question because….
As Tevya from “Fiddler On The Roof” sang, “It’s TRADITION!”
Being a curious sort of bloke, I decided to find out why.
Turns out…
Many Irish Catholic immigrants fleeing the Great Irish Famine came to the United States in the mid- 1800s. One of the customs on Christmas Eve was abstinence from meat.
Instead, they ate a stew made of dried ling fish, milk, butter, and pepper. In America, without Irish ling fish, they substituted oysters because of its same salty flavor.
And there you have it!
Do you have a Christmas Eve traditional meal?
