CIOPPINO

Cioppino emerged on fishing boats and wharves around San Francisco’s North Beach and Fisherman’s Wharf, where Italian (especially Ligurian/Genoese) fishermen cooked whatever seafood they had left at the end of the day. With no refrigeration, they relied on canned tomatoes, wine, aromatics, and the day’s catch to make a hearty communal stew.

A common story says that if a fisherman came back empty‑handed, he would walk the docks with a pot asking others to “chip in,” each adding a bit of seafood—eventually becoming the stew we know today.

Let us know what you think!