This is a St. Lucy’s “eye pie.”  St. Lucy is the patron Saint of eye ailments and blindness and even though her Feast Day is December 13, the pies appear on St. Joseph’s altars (yesterday was St. Joseph’s Day) because she is a Sicilian Saint.  The ancestors of Sicilian immigrants who settled in New Orleans in the 1800’s are vibrant and St. Joseph’s Day is a big deal, celebrated with meatless dishes and many symbolic cookies, cakes and breads.  The St. Lucy’s Eye Pie is fig-filled, and, if made traditionally, has a chick pea flour crust.  People with eye ailments are said to abstain from wheat as homage to St. Lucy.

Filed Under: Cool Stuff, Culinary History