UPDATE: December 20, 4:21 p.m.
Fishtown Pickles announced on its Instagram account that it will be postponing the Feast of the Seven Pickles due to COVID-19 concerns.
Original story below
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — You’ve probably heard of the Italian Christmas tradition Feast of the Seven Fishes. But what about the Feast of the Seven Pickles?
A couple of local food entrepreneurs are hosting the latter at Fishtown Social on Tuesday.
Niki Toscani, co-founder of the Fishtown Pickle Project, describes it as a cocktail party focusing on seven pickle-centric dishes — meaning, you won’t be eating just cucumbers.
Toscani said the menu is kind of a charcuterie board of good food, which is all locally sourced.
“We’re trying to procure a lot of different cheeses from the neighborhood — of course, our pickles will be involved,” she said. “We have some local meats, so it’s just a lot of balanced flavor.”
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Pickling is a process, she said.
“Fermenting was the first and then came quick pickling, which is actually more vinegar-forward,” she explained. “Fermenting is when you let the produce item ferment and kind of grow mold, and then it has this good, delicious bacteria. You take the mold out and you add maybe a little bit of flavor if you want, and there, you have your pickle.”
Vanessa Wong with Fishtown Social said the food will be matched with delicious wines.
“Mural City Cellars is a community-supported winery, and we are offering three of their-community supported wines,” she said.
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The feast is $35, and $5 from each ticket goes toward Magee Rehabilitation to support people with disabilities. Wong said they decided to donate to Magee because of their partnership with chef Eli Kulp, who became paralyzed after an Amtrak crash. Kulp donated homegrown peppers to the dinner and introduced them to the cause.
Several more seats have been added to the event, and Toscani said they’re saving bar seats for walk-in customers.
Meanwhile, they’re already thinking of a theme for next year, in the hopes of making it an annual holiday dinner event.
“We already threw around the idea of sliders or burgers — something obviously that goes with pickles, goes with drink and is delicious,” she said.
For more on the Feast of the Seven Pickles, listen to the KYW Newsradio original podcast What’s Cooking on the Audacy app or in the audio player above.