‘Fortune gnocchi’ on the 29th: what it is and where the tradition comes from

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The dish, today traditionally made with potatoes and flour, has Italian origins. Gnocchi Reproduction/TV Globo Legend has it that every 29th is the day to eat gnocchi. Despite its Italian origins (the name comes from gnocchi), eating gnocchi on the 29th of each month is a tradition that became stronger in South America, brought by immigrants who arrived, mainly, in Brazil and Argentina (hence the habit also is typical among our brotherly neighbors). 🍝 Called “fortune gnocchi”, the dish must be served, according to tradition, every 29th. In 2024, as it is a leap year, the custom can be done in the 12 months of the year. 🤔 And what is the origin of the tradition? Here, it is necessary to reinforce: this is a legend, a popular belief. This means that the story can have different variations and versions. The main one goes back to Saint Pantaleon, a Turkish doctor who lived as a pilgrim in the Veneto region, in northeastern Italy. The person who explains this is Simone Paratella, a chef from the Italian city of Alba — he has a restaurant in Brazil and his family is from Veneto. “Hungry, Saint Pantaleon arrived at the farmers’ house, who cooked gnocchi. Together with the group, he prayed for the prosperity of the harvest that year, ate and left. Afterwards, the house owner’s wife found gold coins under the dishes. ” 💰 The episode would have happened on the 29th. Therefore, the superstition was created, for those who believe, of placing a note or a coin under the gnocchi dish on the 29th of each month. There are also other variations of the legend, such as that you need to eat seven balls of gnocchi standing up (but always on the 29th). 🥔 👎 But, as Simone explains, potatoes were not the gnocchi that Pantaleon ate in the year 300 after Christ, since the tuber, considered a “new world” food, did not yet exist in Europe at the time and only many arrived years later. “At the time, there were no potatoes, it was flour gnocchi”, explains Simone. Where does it come from: potatoes ‘sleep’ for months and only your granddaughters go to the markets 🧑‍🍳 And what does a gnocchi recipe look like? The answer varies (a lot). There are pumpkin gnocchi, cassava gnocchi, semolina gnocchi, with egg in the dough, without egg in the dough, drizzled with red sauce or other types of sauce, etc. — it all depends on the region and local customs. But, in both Italy and Brazil, the most common version is the one made with potatoes. According to Simone, in Italy there is a saying that says “gnocchi si fanno con le patate vecchie” — “gnocchi is made with old potatoes”, in free translation from Italian. Archive image shows a dish of Eulâmpio Vianna Neto gnocchi “When the potato starts to wilt, it loses its water. Then it becomes easier, it takes up less flour. And then it becomes sweeter, less bitter and less hard.” But this, as Simone explains, is a wartime tradition, when potatoes needed to be stored in stock for a long time. And a version adopted by the most traditional cooks. The rule itself, which is non-negotiable for Simone, is that “gnocchi must always be eaten fresh”. “Prepare it, put it on the trays and then cook it. In Italian school they teach you that it has to be flour, potatoes, egg, salt, black pepper and a little parmigiano reggiano (a very noble type of cheese in Italy, a cousin of parmesan ) or grana padano, one of the two, no other type of cheese.” And, even in Italy, the recipe changes depending on the region. What Simone reinforces, however, is that the habit of always eating on the 29th became stronger even in South America, when Italians migrated here. “This question of tradition is just yours (the Latinos’).” 🤔 Fun fact… Pantaleon only lived 28 years and died decapitated on July 27, 305, after being tortured, according to the Argentine newspaper “El Clarin”. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, there is a temple in the Mataderos neighborhood where, since 1970, a part of a bone from the saint’s arm has been exposed.

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