La “Panarda” et la “Table de Saint-Joseph” ou bien le luxe de l’abondance

Abstract

The Panarda and Saint-Joseph’s Table are collective Italian rituals at the crossroads of religion and food that originated respectively in the Abruzzes and in Sicily. For centuries, these two regions shared extremely frugal food habits and daily sobriety born out of penury, which nevertheless was interrupted on particular feast days when abundance replaces the usual constraints. Both the Abruzzian panarda and the Sicilian Saint-Joseph’s Table were celebrated in the context of religious ceremonies and exceptionally copious meals that were shared with guests that had been invited to the banquet. The tradition of Saint-Joseph’s Table, in particular, was exported and maintained by Sicilian immigrants to the United States where, every year on March 19 th, they offer rich banquets to indigent guests, as many Italian-American authors have attested in their memoirs and recipes.