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You can search through the full text of this book on the web at ittp//books.google.com4FISH FOOD FROM THE WATERS PROCEEDINGS OF THE OXFORD SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD AND COOKERY 1997 EDITED HARLAN WALKER B PROSPECT BOOKS 1998,FISH FOOD FROM THE WATERS PROCEEDINGS OF THE OXFORD SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD AND COOKERY 1997direvay GoogleFISH FOOD FROM THE WATERS PROCEEDINGS OF THE OXFORD SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD AND COOKERY 1997 EDITED HARLAN WALKER B PROSPECT BOOKS 1998ISBN 0907325890 ©1998 as a collection Prospect Books (but ©1997 in individual articles rests with the authors) Published in 1998 by Prospect Books, Allaleigh House, Blackawton, Totnes, Devon. TQ9 7DL, England Printed by Antony Rowe, Bumper’s Farm, Cl ippenham, Wilts SN14 6QA Designed and typeset by Tom Jaine. ‘The cover illustrations are taken from Ein new Kochbuch, Marx Rumpolt (1581). The title page illustration is one of a series of fish plates from Campania (around Naples) made in the fourth century sc. (Drawing by Philippa Stockley.)Contents Fish in Renaissance Dietary The0ty ....ncssnnnnnnnnnnnnnennnnnnnnnne 9 Ken Albala Pisesin Britannia. The Eating and Portrayal of Fish in Roman Britain 00-20 Joan P Alcook Fish up the Path 36 Rosemary Barron ‘The Fishing Industry of the Suisse Romande 39 A. Blake Sea Wars, a Saga of Aquaculture, Salmon, Sea Lice, and Lobsters 45 Fritz Blank Fish-Eating in Medieval England st Moira Buxton LotusEaters... Holly Chase for Caviar Robert Chenciner Fish, a Quintet of General Pints plas a Challenging Statement ‘on Calculating Cooking Times. : : Alan Davidson In the Beginning was Fish. Fish in the Ancient Near East Janny de Moor Fish as Food and Symbol in Ancient Rom Carol A. Déry Not Just on Fridays, Dorothy Duncan Meals Aboard Whaleships: Edible? Inedible? Incredible?.. K. Dun Gifford 116 120 Of Pike (and Pork) Wallowing in Galentine .... 150 Constance B. Hieatt From Lake and Sea. Goldfish and Mantis Shrimp Sushi 160 Richard Hosking A Fish sug in the UAE Desert 163 Philip Iddison Sea-Urchins: Ocean Hedgehogs. 183 ‘Mary Wallace Kelsey From Fresh Water to Salt Water. 188 Nicholas KurtiAnimal Fish and other Confusions Jenny Macarthur Pesce Cane. A Fish Recipe from the Martino Manuscript David S. McDonald ‘The Buoyant, Slippery Lipids of the Snake Mackerels and Orange Roughy.....205 Harold McGee Little Fish and Large Appetites. Victorian Whitebait Dinners at Blackwall, Gravesend and Greenwich... Valerie Mars ‘The Hassar, an Armoured Tropical Fish Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra Waterblommesjie, an Unusual Aquatic Food Plant, New Crop ‘and Cultural Symbol in the Cape of South Africa 223 Robert W. Pemberton Medieval Arab Fish: Fresh, Dried and Dyed 29 Charles Perry Poke. The Survival and Evolution of a Traditional Native Food in ‘a Changing, Multi-Cultural Society. Nancy Piianaia Fish in Att oss Gillian Riley A Carp Wearing Lipstick. The Role of Fish in Bengali Cuisine and Culture ....252 Joe Roberts and Colleen Taylor Sen 191 197 210 220 234 no 248 Fish in Afghanistan 259 Helen J. Saberi Fish and C! 264 Roy Shipperbottom Seafood on American Menus, Past and Present, Sacred and Profane .. Art Siemering Scandinavian Ways with Fish . Birgit Siesby ‘The Salmon of the River Wye Helen J. Simpson 274 oe 280 283, From Garum to Ketchup, A Spicy Tale of Two Fish Sauces... 299 Andrew F Smith Aquatic Ape Theory. How Early Did Fish Enter the Diet?. 307 Colin Spencer Shellfish for the Table, Farmed or Caught? ...n 315 Nick Turnbull Pondoland Oysters, South Africa’ Wild Coast Catch 320 Kathie Webber Fish on the Plate and in the Mind 324 John Wilkins and Shaun Hill Symposiasts 1997 332Introduction This volume of papers presented at the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery follows the pattern of previous collections. This Symposium on Fish was held in July 1997 at Saint Antony’s College, Oxford under the joint chairmanship of Alan Davidson and Dr Theodore Zeldin, As always, the staff of the College gave every possible help with all our extraordinary and ordinary needs. We could not have managed without the willing and imaginative help of them all, in particular the Head Porter, the Steward and the kitchen staff. The latter, led by the College Chef, Mark Walker, in particular prepared our excellent and interesting Fish Dinner. ‘Our Fish Dinner on Saturday evening had been planned by leading fish consultant William Black; he also arranged the supplies of fish and fish cake. The wines were generously supplied by Brown Brothers of Milawa, Victoria, Australia. Details of the dinner are given on the following page. On Sunday we enjoyed a magnificent Danish Fish Lunch organised for us by symposiast Birgit Siesby. Almost everything we ate came from Denmark from the following suppliers: Bornholms Konservesfabrik: smoked cod liver and fishballs, Abba Seafood: marinated herrings, two kinds of mussels and Arctic caviar. Schulstad Brod A/S: rughred. MD Foods amba: butter and cheese. Brewery Group Denmark AVS: beer. Danisco Destillers A/S: aquavit. We are very grateful to them all for their generous support and for the excellent products. We specially thank Birgit for her heroic efforts in arranging it al ‘As always we are dependent on fellow symposiasts, friends and relations for their help in big ways and with little details. Without their help the Symposium wouldnt happen. We thank them all Harlan Walker, June 1998,Fish Dinner Saint Antony’ College 19th July 1997 Seafood antipasto including Rock Oysters (Crassostrea gigas)from Loch Fyne (Pinot Noir & Chardonnay King Valley Brut NY, Brown Brothers) Spaghetti alla puttanesca using salted pilchards (Sardina pilchardus) from British Cured Pilchards, Newlyn, Cornwall (Farrango 1996, Brown Brothers) Fish baked in salt whole two-spot snapper (Lutjanus bohar) from the Red Sea baked in ! de Guérande Potatoes from the salt marshes Green salad (Riesling, King Valley 1995, Brown Brothers) Lampreia de ovas de isa traditional Portuguese sweet in the shape of a lamprey (Late Harves Orange Muszat & Flora 1996, Brown Brothers) Coffe Boulos de Ovos (Liqueur Muse, Brown Brothers)Fish in Renaissance Dietary Theory Ken Albala It is clear that the rising consumption of fish in recent decades can be ascribed in large measure to the favorable verdict of physicians and nutritionists. Fish offers a nutritional profile that fits in well with current dietary principles. Was this not also the case with past nutritional theory? Did the advice of physicians formerly dissuade ‘consumers from cating fish, so that a modern revival was required? This paper will attempt to answer that question by examining European nutritional theory from the invention of printing to the mid-seventeenth century to establish the possible origin of fish aversion. ‘The story, however, is not simply that past physicians banned fish from a healthy diet; the situation is far more complicated. In the past, as today, dietary principles were by no means static. Authorities frequently disagreed, basic theory was misinterpreted, simplified for a popular audience or adapted to local usage and ‘custom, Particular social connotations of rare and expensive items versus common foods frequently conditioned an author's estimation. Within dietary literature there are, in fact, few topics which have aroused so much disagreement as that of fish, and it appears that the origin of fish aversion can be traced specifically to the corruption and simplification of nutritional theory. A comparable situation in our own day would be the popular perception that all red meat is to be avoided. This is clearly a simplification of recent medical studies. Jn much the same way, the standard medical opinion of various varieties of fish was simplified in the first centuries of printing into a general fear of fish This fish aversion is not altogether surprising, given that the basic tenets of humoral physiology are prejudiced against all watery foods: fruits, vegetables and fish in particular. The idea that substances most similar to our own bodies are most easily broken down and converted into our flesh is one of the cornerstones of this theory and tends to favor meat as the ideal aliment, As Petrus Castellanus explains in his book on meat-cating: there is more nourishment in meat than anything else, and those who eat it hold off hunger much longer than those who fill up on fish or vegetables. Furthermore, the qualities of fish were believed to be much like the element in which they live: watery. Not only do they offer only thin and watery sustenance, but they predominate in cold and moist humors and therefore tend to increase phlegmatic humors in the consumer. In terms of humoral theory, this is particularly dangerous for individuals of a phlegmatic complexion, or to anyone in cold and moist seasons. A humoral imbalance of phlegm, caused by excessive consumption of fish can lead to rheums, catarrh and in extreme cases paralysis The cold and moist nature of fish also makes them difficult to concoct or break down by means of heat within the stomach.But by far the most persuasive argument against fish was based on its corruptibility both outside the human body and within. If not properly and thoroughly concocted in the stomach, the putrefying fish is nonetheless distributed through the body via, blood and is assimilated into the flesh thereby subverting the entire system. This fear of corruption within the body underlies many specific dietary recommendations ‘concerning fish: most importantly that they be caught only in clear, moving and unpolluted waters. Following the Greek medical authority Galen, most nutritionists stridently condemn fish caught near cities. Duchesne warns that fish which feed on ‘garbage and human waste are the worst ofall” Having absorbed the noxious qualities of pollution, they naturally pass them on to the consumer. ‘Avoiding digestive putrefaction is the primary concern of physicians; it informs their recommended cooking procedures as well as specific guidelines such as avoiding ‘covering fish after cooking lest the superfluous humidity drip down and be reabsorbed by the fish. These superfiuities would ultimately putrefy within the body, causing fluxes, nausea and vomiting* Eating fish after it has become cold is also condemned for similar reasons; Benedict of Nursia pronounces it venomous,’ as is exercise or labor after eating fish which can cause the undigested food to be prematurely distributed throughout the body in crude form where it then decays. Fish is also usually prohibited at the end of the meal because of its susceptibility to corruption as it rests in the uppermost part of the stomach. Following this logic Thomas Cogan criticizes the sixteenth-century custom in Oxford of eating crayfish after flesh on festival days.® Apart from corruptibility, the phlegmatic humors of fish were also believed to ‘cause lassitude, laziness and indifference, essentially because the spirits distilled in the heart from cold elements move slowly through the body and brain, much as a cold gas moves more slowly than a hot one. Interestingly, this is particularly dangerous for scholars whose wits are dependent on the rapid movement of spirits through the brain. It is for this reason that the philosopher Marsilio Ficino recommends that his readers eat very sparingly of phlegmatic foods such as fish.” In sum, the qualities of fish according to humoral physiology were one major strike against them, yet pethaps just as important was the substance of fish, its viscous ‘gummy texture, which suggested that only with great difficulty could it pass through the human body. Consider, for example, how Melchior Sebizius describes the tench and its German name Schleie derived from ‘lime’ (Sctleim) or worse the Schnotfisch. Both are consigned to be eaten only by the poor and desperate.* According to standard theory, it is especially the viscosity or agglutination that makes food and on this basis some authors commend fish's Sticking’ power,” but the stickies of fish can cause clogs or oppilations within the body’ narrowest passages. This is certainly the case with the toughest and most trass'of fish, which although the mos difficult to digest, also offer the greatest nutritional value. This is why many dietary writers consign rays, squid and octopus to plebeians and the laboring classes. Their well-exercised bodies and powerfully hot digestive systems are the only ones capable of breaking down the toughest of sea creatures.” A similar logic holds for herrings which Thomas Moffett contends offer defective nourishment ‘Saving toFISH IN RENAISSANCE DIETARY THEORY u ploughmen, silers, souldiers, mariners, or laboring persons." In weaker systems such tough or slimy foods would engender an infinity of diseases. ‘The last major argument used against fish is the association of rare and exotic seafood with sybaritic luxury and gluttony. Ancient sources offered a panoply of ‘examples: Lucullus’ mad search for the largest shrimp, or the grotesque banquets of Vitellius and Heliogabalus. Stories such as these were frequently cited to argue that fish-cating, along with numerous courses and deticate desserts, are a sign of luxury and weakness and lead ultimately to the downfall of empites."” The message, of ‘course, is that courtiers who spend their fortunes buying costly sturgeon or porpoises ‘or subverting their digestive systems with lampreys, ae similarly contributing to the decay of their own civilization. In fact, in this entire dietary genre, only one author stands out in favor of fish- ‘eating peoples as healthier, more sober and longer-lived."” This is the transplanted Spaniard Ludovico Nufiez (Nonnius) who, as will be shown, is the only major promoter of fish in these centuries and stands in sharp contrast to most of his ‘contemporaries. iven these numerous arguments against fish, do many authors take a definite stand condemning all fish as unfit for consumption” Practically none go this far, though there is found an occasional statement such as Yyshes for the moste parte are not holesome, of they are of smale and ill nourishment and leave manye superfluities in the body and are easilie corrupted.""' Guliermo Grataroli merely recommends that wwe ‘abstain from them.’ Thomas Vaughan suggests that we eat sturgeon only in moderation ‘which rule I wish to be followed in all fish meales."" Thomas Elyot includes ‘all fyshe’ among foods engendering phlegm.’ Rarely do physicians make a blanket condemnation, but it seems to be the case that their readers did indeed interpret their warnings this way. Luigi Cornaro, the most celebrated centenarian health-nut of his day, attributed his longevity to his abstaining from fruit and fish."” Apparently many believed that merely keeping the body dry would increase the life span, and avoiding fish would certainly achieve that end, According to Nonnius, many people believed fish to be unhealthy and many ‘modern innovators, such as Leonard Fuchs, ad persuaded people never to eat fish in spring."* The majority of dietary writers, however, prefer certain fish above others or use slightly different criteria in judging the properties of fish. Their opinions are conditioned by several variables: the years they are writing and, ultimately, which ancient authorities are in vogue: their country of origin; and, most interestingly after the 1520s, their For physicians in the later fifteenth century, the most important ancient authorities ‘on diet were of the Arabic school including (in the Latin forms of theit names) Avicenna, Averries, Rhasis and Isaac Judacus, as well as the available writings of Galen. This has an interesting effect on their evaluation of fish, the most important criteria being taste. The sweetest most pleasant-tasting fish were considered the most nutritious, for as Avicenna said (in Latin translation), quod sapit nutrit.” There is also a preference for scaled fish. Scales were considered a sign of superfluous humidity12 ALBALA expelled to the exterior of the fish." Agreeing, Symphorien-Champier in the early sixteenth century traces this opinion back to Isaac Judaeus,”” which is not surprising ‘considering the Mosaic prohibition of unscaled fish. Other fifteenth-century authors quote the opinion of Rhasis, directly or indirectly, who claimed that all fish are difficult to digest; because of their coldness and viscosity they generate cold blood and rheums (ic. ‘colds’. Platina repeats this in Book X of De hones voluptate. After the 1520s and a general revivial of Galenic medicine in its entirety, along with other ‘hellenic’ authorities Aetius, Oribasius, Paulus of Aegina, the taste criterion no longer applies. There are many fish, although sweet to the taste, which are nonetheless forbidden on account of their tough texture, polluted origin, or fatness Eels become the prime example of a fish that tastes good but is dangerous.” On the other hand, Galen makes no general condemnation of fish as food, and his mid- sixteenth-century followers usually concur. It is only in the later sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that heated arguments ‘on the topic of fish begin to divide physicians. In many cases they ignore ancient ‘opinions in favor of local custom, asin the case of Thomas Cogan who favors British fish, healthier for being tossed in the wind, waves and deep running waters." There is also his countryman Thomas Moffett who denies that al fish are cold and moist? ‘The most interesting point of division is whether fish can be safely eaten in late winter and early spring as is prescribed by the Roman Catholic church during Lent, Theoretically, cold and moist fish should only be eaten in hot and dry seasons to ‘counteract their harmful qualities, but most Catholic authors are reluctant to point this out. Protestant authors do not hesitate: ‘weither should we need to imitate Gregory the Lent-maker, perswading men to eat only fish at that time, when itis most ‘out of season, most hardly gotten, and most hurtfull to the bodies of most men.”* Moffett the author of these lines, also refers to sprats as one of Jack-a-lents principle pages’ and a queasy, corruptible and aguish food, especially harmful when smoked ‘or fried. William Vaughan also criticizes papists who abstain from flesh only to feed ‘on fish and sugar-sops which stir up lust and defeat the whole purpose of Lent.2* Similarly, Melchior Sebizius of Strassburg criticizes the Carthusians’ year-round diet of fish which makes them phlegmatic, somnolent, fat, even obese, oblivious, slow of body and mind, and white-fleshed.”*They also suffer innumerable diseases as a result of their fish diet. I is only the Catholic Nonnius who claims that fish are tempered. and lightly nourishing and are the ideal food for spring and Lent.” ‘While these writers’ general estimation of fish is determined by when and where they wrote, and perhaps by a confessional bias their appraisal of individual species is even more varied and contentious, and will illustrate how easily confusion or corruption of theory could arise among readers ‘One interesting example is salmon. Apparently litle was written about it by ancient authorities, so nutritionists were free to judge for themselves. Hugo Fridaevallis in Flanders decided that salmon is difficult to concoct, caused flatulence and generated crass juice (the concocted fluid transformed into blood in the liver)" ‘The French commentator of Platina, however, decided that salmon had a taste closest to flesh of any fish and praised the sweet red salmon caught in the Garonne, althoughFISH IN RENAISSANCE DIETARY THEORY 13 he still admitted that it is difficult to digest.” Nonnius praised the salted and smoked salmon that was shipped from Belgium all around Europe, extolling the superiority of those caught in the Rhine, Alessandro Petronio, on the receiving end of all that shipping, said that they lose all their goodness en route and are eaten only by the poor.” Clearly the diversity of opinion would only confuse the matter for the reader. Equally confusing are the various opinions about oysters, particularly over their supposed aphrodisiac potency. Fiftcenth-century authors usually claim that they either stimulate dulled passions or actually ‘augment the material of coitus” which probably refers to the textural similarities and ease of conversion from nourishing food to sperm, Other authors also point out that oysters are frequently used to ‘excite the appetite of Venus.” How this actually happens was a matter for debate though. Petronio contends that while many people believe that similarity of substance causes ‘oysters to increase seed, it can only possibly be the actual nourishment they offer, because, as all people know, sperm (and milk) is nothing more than an excess ot plethora of nourishment unused by the body.” In his Erreurs populaires, however, Laurent Joubert contends that since oysters are cold and not very nourishing, there ‘must be some other cause. Perhaps itis their saltiness which can stimulate by itching the interior parts." But that lust wanteth sufficiency, because it cometh not from plently of natural sced, but from an itching quality which is unnatural.” Ifsalt were the cause, then all salty foods would also be aphrodisiacs. Another solution would be that they cause ‘entosity’ or excessive wind within the body, and this can travel through the body's passages artificially distending the genitals. Albeit this can in no way increase fecundity. Following this logic, beans would also then be aphrodisiac. ‘The third possible solution would be the action of heat, and while oysters are themselves cold, they are frequently eaten with pepper and aromatic spices which do heat the body.” In the end, the topic is never resolved, nor does any author deny oysters’ aphrodisiac properties. Authors are equally divided on what kind of nourishment they offer: salty and pituitous, crass and tough, temperate and restorative. One point in agreement is that they be eaten only in months with an ‘R’, for ‘vain amore, et perde i sapore.”” Another instructive example of ambivalence among dietary writers is the properties of eels and various related species (anguilla, murena, lampreda). The major fear originates from the idea that these fish spontaneously generate from excrudescences of the ocean floor. Thus, like truffles and fungi and all insects, they are born from the heat of putrefaction and rotting organic matter rather than from ‘generation. Thus, they bear all the noxious qualities of their origin. What, however, ‘was difficult to explain was their sweet, delicious taste. Among the fifteenth-century authors, Benedict is ambivalent, pointing out their harmful properties, while admitting that they are among the most esteemed and expensive of fish.”® Mid- sixteenth-century writers such as Pictorius (in his dialogues on how to conserve health) tend to condemn eels outright despite their popularity.” Grataroli suggests that ‘it were best for suche persons as in this treatise are ment to forbeare them altogether,’ but he does mention that ‘broyled” they are rid of much of their Vicious and naughtie humours,’ and that Yo cormerauntes and Epicures they seme to g04 ALBALA down their throate pleasuntlie."* Later in the sixteenth century, as Cogan relates, their corrupt origin remains a problem for they are ‘engendred of the verie Earth, ‘or Myre without generation, or spaune,” but taste so pleasant that ‘nature seemeth to have done yll, in giving such sweetnesse to such yll fishes."! Moffett agrees and adds that they had caused the death ‘not onely ... of King Henry the first, but also ‘of many brave men and captains." In the seventeenth century Sebizius points out that they are sweet, a delicacy, and by several authors even considered healthy, but all true physicians teach that they are dangerous. Nonetheless, gourmets can hardly abstain, and roasted with aromatics and wine, they can be significantly improved.” It appears that, perhaps precisely because of these warnings, eels are thought of as a delicious but dangerous indulgence, all the more prized in cating as an act of transgression. It is for similar reasons that melons are highly treasured in European ‘courts, and perhaps why many unhealthy foods are so sought after in our own day. ‘On the topic of salted or preserved fish there is even more equivocation among dietary writers. Ostensibly the basic humoral qualities of fish change entirely under these processes, rendering them hot and dry and in the case of salting a cutting, abstersive and appetite-stimulating virtue is obtained. Yet the social connotations of these fish are generally so strong that an unbiased appraisal is rare. Eobanus Hessus and his commentator Placotomus mention that salted fish have the power to heat and attenuate crass humors, that is, they aid the passage of fluids through the body.** and this is orthodox physiology. Duchesne concurs that herrings and sardines can ‘lean the stomach of mucus and stimulate the appetite by puckering the mouth of the stomach.** For most authors, however, they are a food fit only for the poor. As William Vaughan says take heed of salt herrings and slimy fish, as a meate fitter for labourers, then for tender natures.’46 Joacobus Sylvius consigns herrings to the more vulgar sort as a food fit for famine times, along with frogs and earthworms.” ‘Similar prejudice surrounds stockfish. Alessandro Petronio mentions that some refer to it as Ssporeo’ or filthy and that itis never served on the tables of the rich.** Erasmus in one of his colloquies claimed that it nourishes no more than a stock of ‘wood. Only the most talented of chefs can render it palatable for ‘a good Cooke can make you good meate of a whetstone.” How the average reader was to assess these fish remains problematic. Exactly the opposite social connotations are attached to large, rare and expensive ‘fishes’ such as whale, porpoise and tuna which are usually condemned as t00 gross and excrementous, despite the fact that they are highly sought after by curious epicures. There is more disagreement over sturgeon, much of it generated over ‘etymological confusion, but no one could deny that this was considered the ideal dish for lavish banquetting,”* Pisanclii admits that itis the most praised and most precious, but its fat viscous flesh made it slow and difficult to digest." Caviar proves equally difficult to assess. Opinions range from approval ~ as in Platina, who describes how to prepare it®*— to Pictorius whose speaker admits many love to eat fish, but I more willingly eat fish eggs, though they are reproached by physicians.’ To which his interlocutor replies, ‘of course they offer terrible nourishment and ageravate the stomach.” ‘The most scathing accusation hails fromFISH IN RENAISSANCE DIETARY THEORY 15 Mofiett who repeats the Italian proverb ‘chi mangia di caviare mangia moschi, merdi, et salae."* (whoever eats caviar eats flies, sit and salt.) ‘Similarly diverse estimations of crustaceans and molluscs abound in literature. Shrimp, crab and lobsters, by the authority of Galen, were difficult to digest but nonetheless nourishing. Rondelet, undoubtedly the fish expert among natural historians of the sixteenth century, claimed that their soft humid flesh offered little nourishment.** Many authors, such as Domenico Romoli, side with Galen; others, such as Thomas Elyot, include shellfish among those that engender il iuyce’ with the exception of ‘erevyse deau doulce.’ ** Others contend that because difficult to digest, molluscs in particular despite their soft human-like flesh, cause horrible dreams.” Others similarly reject Galen, as Moffett does when he claims that cuttlefish and calamari must have been commended on hearsay for their flesh is as brawny as any ploughmans though their skins be soft as any womans.’ * To dispel the possible impression that all fish were condemned by Renaissance physicians, it should be noted that some fish do emerge with consistently high ratings. ‘These are usually the lighter — in color and texture ~ smaller and more friable or flaky fish. Sole or (partridge of the sea’ is usually commended, as is carp which by some was believed to eat gold, hence its coloring. Mullet and pike are usually praised, especially by the orthodox followers of Galen, and, late in this survey, especially among northern writers, trout is singled out as praiseworthy. Yet even beyond these few species, there was hope for those fond of fish. The harmful qualities of fish could always be corrected in the kitchen, The most fascinating details in this entire genre, especially for the food historian, are the recommendations that physicians make in order to correct or counteract the harmful qualities of fish. The logic of these corrections explains to a great extent the seemingly odd or jarring combinations of flavors frequently encountered among Renaissance recipes and may also be the origin of many of our present foodways and taste preferences. In general, tondiments’ or correctives are used to counteract either the humoral ‘qualities of a food or to mitigate the effects of their potentially harmful substance. That is, to cold and phlegmatic fish the appropriate addition would be hot and drying, herbs and cooking methods which temper’ or Season’ the dish as a whole, For crass fish, methods which render the food more passable and help to break it down or make its texture more subtle are called for. ‘Combining fish with sour flavors serves precisely this purpose. Vinegar, verjus or Jemon cut through the viscous substance of many fish. Take, for example, Pisanellis suggestion that mullet should be cooked over a grill, constantly bathed in oil and (sour) orange juice.” Platina’s recipes for fish consistently include verjus or orange. Mustard, especially because itis hot and volatile, is an equally effective corrective for the more viscous fish.®° As Romoli advises unctuous fish are difficult to digest ‘whence they ought not to be eaten if not, as is necessary, with mustard and similar things." As condiments, pepper and hot and dry herbs such as oregano and parsley are the most common recommended to correct fishes’ cold qualities; sometimes sugar16 ALBALA or honey are suggested, mostly in the fifteenth century: Among some authors aromatic spices are appropriate as well, as in Fridaevallis' emendation of cantharo (black sea bream) with pepper, cinnamon, ginger and aromatics." His contemporary Menapius in Diisseldorf suggests that all fish, especially soft and fat ones, should be condite with wine or vinegar and ginger, cloves, cinnamon, saflron, pepper or, presumably for the less-well-off, onion, leek, parsley, rosemary, hyssop, ete.“ Following Galen, lecks and dill are also proposed as the sauce albo jure. The prefered cooking methods were seething (i.e. poaching) for the drier and tougher fish, and roasting, grilling or baking for the moist ones, Both correct the fishes’ natural faults. This logic seems to inform Petronio’s recipe for tuna in which it iscut into pieces, sated and roasted on a spit with oil, vinegar, coriander and fennel or rosemary.®* He advises to turn frequently to prevent burning. Frying is almost always decried because it seals in the noxious humors, and burned or even browned fish is also sometimes condemned for increasing choler and melancholy.” Interestingly, the most abominable thought among these writers is consumption of raw fish (with the exception of oysters). The most popular story is of Diogenes the Cynic who apparently killed himself by eating araw octopus. Moffett relates a story of one Woolmar who as a party trick at court would consume iron, glass, raw fish and fruit, among other horrible things.” Lastly, the universally preferred corrective for fish was to drink wine with it. As the saying went: [poisson sans vin est poison.” Wine, hot and among the subtlest of substances, promotes the concoction and digestion of fish. Contrariwise, milk (cold and phlegmatic itself) taken with fish would be venomous,” though not all authors agree on the reason for this. Manfredi says that it becomes poison through some ‘occult (unseen) cause.” ‘To return to this paper’ original premise: if a people’ dietary preferences can be significantly swayed by medical opinion, especially when that opinion is fraught with ‘contention and prone to simplification, then can early modern physicians have, even if inadvertently, caused a general fear of fish in Europe? Even for those unable to read Latin or any of these professional or popular texts, can their physician’ warnings have stirred up serious suspicion among potential fish-eaters? It seems clear the answer is yes.FISH IN RENAISSANCE DIETARY THEORY ” REFERENCES * Petrus Castellanus, Krephaga, sive ext carmium (Antwerp: Hieronymus Verdussius, 1626), p. 17. ‘Plus etiam alimenti ess in came quam in alio manifestum est, quod js ses ila reecerent setius {ames oboriatur, quam is qui se piseibus aut oleribusexpleverunt." Hugo Fridaealis, De muenda sanitare Antwerp: Christopher Plantn, 1568), p. 172 * Joseph Duschesne [Quercetanus}, Le pourrait dela sons [Diveteticon Polyhistoricon} (Pars: Claude More, 1606), p. 452. poisons...qui sont peschez la rive proche des vills, ou on ite les Jmmondices, oubien ou on bast des reraits poor la commodité publique: comme ill advient en plusiers eux... els possons sont les pres de tous” * Antonius Gazius, Corona florida madicnae Venice: loannes and Gregorius de Greporis, 1491), fol. i, * Benedictus de Nursia, Opus ad sanitats canzrvatianan (Bologna: Domenico de Lapis, 1477), fol MS". Soe also Guliermo Grataroli, De regimine iter agenrium (Base Nichols Bringer, 1561), p10. In this work the author warns travellers to be wary of innkeepers who serve cold or reheated fish to guests "Thomas Cogan, The haven of health (London: Thomas Orwin, 1589), p. 148. » MarsilioFicino, The dee books ot life, od. Carol V. Kaske and John R. Clarke (Binghamton: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1989), p. 179. Also see Gulielmo Menapius, De ratione virus slubris (Basel: Bartolomew Westheimer, 1541), p. 612. * Melchiore Sebizius, De alimentonum facltaibus Aegentinae [Strassburg]: Joann Philippi Mulbit & Josie Sedelii, 1650), p. 1,001 under the entry for tinea, ‘Pond pisisignobilis iis & ppauperiorum cibus' and p. 1,008, under food ft only for plebeians, is ‘Sohnayich * Girolamo Manfredi. Opera nova initulaailperche (Venetia: Zorgi di Rusconi, 1512). The frst edition isenttled Libro de Hamine, 1474. On the topic of fish: pur 8 viscoso e fa via nutritura” 5 Alessandro Potronio, Dl viver deli Romani et di consrver la nit, translated by M. Basilio Paravicino (Rome: Domenico Basa, 1592), p. 16. This author consigns many fish tothe poor: his ‘comments on the oreo (conrina or spiny shack) ae typical: Si suol mangire a pena dalla pi vil plebe. "Thomas Moffet, Heals Improvement, corected and enlarged by Christopher Bennet (London: ‘Thomas Newcomb, 1655), p. 153. This text was fst compiled in the late sixteenth century. See also his comments on tench: & viscous stopping, unwholesome, unclean and damnable nourish ‘ment’, that can engender palsies stop the lungs, purify in the stomach, encreasingsimy ‘nourishment, and bring a man that eats them to infinite diseases. (p. 187) " Duchesne, pp. 245-251. Among luxurious excesses he includes tives: salads fruits, cooked and av. and many diverse fish, and meats salted oF not. and an infinity of pasties” Ludovieus Nonnius [Alvares Nuc], Diaaaicon, sve ve cibaria (Antwerp: Petri Beller, 1645), p 306. The first edition ofthis work was 1627. Nonnius was als the author of an fhyophagia, 1616 On the topic of fish-eating peoples ‘Oceurent pluresnationes, que sls piscibus,sluberrime ‘etter egerunt... ean Bruyerin Champier, De re cibaia (Lyon: Sebsst, Honoratum, 1560) also suggests that Provencals(Narbonensis) ae a moral, sober fish-eting people p. 68 (Frankfurt ed, 1600), * Guliermo Gratarli, A diresion forthe health of magierates and sudents, ransated by Thomas Newton (London: William How for Abraham Veale, 1574), fl. KA "= William Vaughan, Directions for heath beth natural and artifical (London: Printed by TS. for Roger lckson, 1617), p. 68, ° Sir Thomas Elyot, The Casle of Hatha, 1541. (Reprint N.Y: Scholars Fasimiles and Reprints, 1937), p. 9% "Luigi Comnaro, Teaie-on tomperance [Vita Sobria, translated by George Herbert. In Leonard Lessius, Hygatiaan (Cambridge, 1634), p. 29 Nonnius,p. 310 ° Gazius fol Ji’ Also on the topic of taste as criterion: ‘omnes ciborum quanto longior a spittate tanto minus delectabils et minus conveniens humanis natris" Fol {i18 ALBALA » symphorien-Champie, Rox Gallia (Pais: doco Baio, 1518) f0L LX 2 Charles Etienne (Carolus Stephanus), Deatrimens (Pars Rob. Stephanus, 1880), p. 4S. “Murean et lcertus marinvs...quorum postremus, Yeneno potus, quam aimento ese censetue” But be alio admits on page 50 that anguilla are delicious. Copan. . 140. » Moffat, p. 33. He inclades mult, crabs, peiwinkes and cockles among dry foods, tockfish and sale fish as dry in the thi degree * Moffat, p. 142 ® Vaughan, p. 108 » Sebisvs, p13. Nonnius,p. 311 » Fridacvall,p. 202 Bartolomeo Suchi, Pain), Dehmesa vlptte. translated and emended a Le grand asinior de. Plaine de Cranonne by M. Desdier Christo (Paris Jean Rule, 1586). 233. 'Nonnius,p 366. Inter praccipuss nos sec avtiss, locum obtinet timo’ and ‘guotannis ex Beli in acters Europac regione avchitur” Peon, p. 193. Condottada andra sata, perche ha perduto laa prima Bont, eeibo solamente delle plebe." Benedict, fol. N2. 2 Nicholas Abraham, Le ganeriomantnéesiredchacun por vivre onsen en santé (Pacis: Mare Onry, 1608), p49. On eytrs: “Les bon compagnons ies font cuir su le gril dans leurs esl, y adjoustans du beurte et quelque pe de poy, pour excite Tuppetit de Venus” He alo finds them Aiticalt to diges and melancho > Peonio p. 166 > Laurent Joubert, Eur populaires book Il (Rouen: George Lays, 1587), . 195, » Moti, p47 ™ Sebizus, p 1038. Osta ad venreos amplenashomines stimula praesetim sii aldatur Piper aldasarePisineli, Taare dela natura decibel bre. (Venice: Giorgio Abert, 1386), pp 10-11 > Benedict, fol. NI Lamprede quidem magi esters excellant pissin crore pretio qua nobilitas noteiment. > Geoegius Pictorus, Dialog. dl mao ded consrvarela std ansated by Pamphilivs Fri. bene (Venice: VineonoValpris. 1550), p35. Anguile.pesie sopra ttt are eaten only for the sake of gluttony in dieegad for health, Also see Estenne p45, and note 21 above * Graal fl Lt Cogan. p14. © Motte, p. 181 © Sbisius,p. 994, NostatesApci ab angi minime abstinent He offers a proof that els generate spontaneously by the fact that a dead hors thrown in water wil soon be covered by Jnnumerabl els (p. 998) ‘"EivsEnbanos Hess, De uonda bona vleudin, commentary by ToannesPlacotoms Bret- schneider] (Frankfurt Heis of Christ, Egenll, 1356), p. 64 © Duchesne, p. 459, ‘Vaughan, p- 258. Also Cogan, p. 146, comments that they ae cheap bu not very wholesome, but poor folks eat them anyway ‘"ounnes Syvus, Dear ae dro viu bal in an Liebalt, Phares snitatis para fc (aris 1577), p. 23. Haleesor asthe vlga elit suvdis usally cooked with wine, vnega, st, bute, verjue a Yulaiter para consuevit” * Petro p. 154: Salpa. ignobile pes, & plebeo,riftato nee tale dich, om bugiado,e Senza spore” Cogan, p 150 * Nonnius,p. 347, surgeon: “inter opipars as lutiores eibos ee, emo et qui nee and 372, hac sett lastioes mensae in summis iis haben... convvisinfetu”FISH IN RENAISSANCE DIETARY THEORY 19 Pisanell, pp. 94-5. © Platina, De henaa valuptate (Venice: L. De Aquila, 1475), book X, ch. tonditum: quod exviare vocant.” Pictorus, p. 35, to mi ditto molto di mangiar pesie, ma piu volontieri mangio Tova de pesci se bene sone biasmati da medici” » Moffet., p. 172. ‘Abraham, p. 50. He sides with Galen over Rondel. % Domenico Romoli, La singlare dttrina. al efficio dao xaleo (Venice, Michele Tramezzno, 1560), p- 245; Elyt, p15. > Fridacvalli,p. 194. % Motte, p. 152 » Pisanell,p. 96-7, Gazius, fol ix Romo, p. 242", ‘Ondenon devono ess mangiti se non per necesita'con senape, & simi © Ficino, p. 179. He suggests that honey goes well with both milk and fish. Combining sugar with fish is far more common in the middle ages, but the corrective logic isthe same. © Fridacvallis,p. 198. ™ Menapius . 538, Fridsevallis also prefers Galen albo jure ’A optimus est ad concoctionem is apparatus, qui albo jure confit. (p. 183)"The sauce includes water, ol cil and leoks. © Petronio,p. 150, “ Pictorus, p. 36, tose nella padell.. sono di pessimo nutrimento, & fanno colera la quale per {estimonio de medici,e oecasione di pesime malate” © Andrew Borde, A compendiaus egyment (London: Robert Wer, 1542, reprint edited by FJ Furnivall, Landon: ETS, 1870), p. 48 Nonnius,p. 380. © Motte, p. 273 ™ Cogan, p. 144 Joubert, question #57: ‘Si est bien dit, lait & poison, est poison, & apres le poison, la noix est contrepoison." Joubert never answers the question. Presumably th latter idea isa folk remedy; I hhave not encountered it anywhere in the dietary literature. See also Menapius,p. S64, who traces the prohibition of milk with fish back to Avicenna, ” Manfredi, p. 11, qualita occulta che resulta dale permistone el late eum el pescie over con cose ‘acetose da aguel corruptione precede singue putrido ecorrupto.”Pisces in Britannia. The Eating and Portrayal of Fish in Roman Britain Joan P. Alcock In Britain recent archacological excavations have concentrated on the exploration of, the whole site, This includes the environmental evidence, especially that relating to animal bone. Recovery has also included fish bones and scales. This has produced such statements as ‘it is reasonable to assume that fish played an important part in the Roman Londoner's diet’ (Bird 1996, 225) and that the waters of the Thames ‘contained fish in abundance’ (Milne 1985, 87). Fragments of fish bones found at Doncaster, according to Buckland and Magilton (1986, 207), ‘indicate that fish had a significant place in the inhabitants’ diet.” Gallant, however, takes a different view. His book A Fisherman’sTale (1985) has for its thesis that the role of fish in Antiquity has been vastly overrated and that the role of fishing in the diet and in the economy would have been, on the whole, subordinate and supplementary. Ovid in the first century aD implied (Fas 6 171— 174) that at one time the Romans were not overfond of fish: Fish swam with no fear of being snared by people’. Nevertheless, his statement that oysters were safe in their shells’ was certainly not true in Roman Britain. Curtis (1991) also notes that as the Romans lacked modern means of refrigeration, transferring fresh fish over long distances was difficult, although the product may have been sent over short distances from one town to another or from the coast to inland areas. At Silchester, for example, as well as local river fish, bones of grey mullet, herring and sea bream were found, which, as Boon remarks (1974, 287), Show that there was a market for the produce of coastal fisheries far inland’. In other words, any trade in fresh fish would be local, apart from fish preserved by such methods as salting o bring them a long distance. The Romano-British dict could be monotonous (Alcock 1996, 74) and hunger ‘would make repetitive meals more acceptable. Fish, no matter how small in quantity, ‘would add variety to the diet. It provides an excellent diet of protein, Vitamins A and B and iodine; calcium can be gained from eating the bones and fluorine helps to prevent tooth decay. Herring, mackerel, flounder and cod make an excellent meal. Fatty, oily fish, such as herring and mackerel, is useful because the assimilation of fat delays the onset of hunger (MeGee 1986, 530). Less oily fish like flounder and cod make good reserve food when dried and in this form they can be kept indefinitely Even so, fish might be considered a luxury item and both quantity and quality would ‘change with the seasons, 20PISCES IN BRITANNIA 21 Sea fish London, on the tidal’ Thames, which housed a large community, being engaged both in importing and exporting, has produced evidence of saltwater fish, including mackerel, eel, cod, herring, smelt, plaice, flounder and dace, as well as river fish — perch, pike and roach (Sheldon 1978, 32-33; Tyers 1984, 373). At Colchester (Essex), ‘where most of the evidence comes from waste and cesspits, cod, plaice, flounder, sole, grey mullet, mackerel and herring could be caught in estuarine and coastal waters. Nevertheless, excavations at York, where large quantities of fish might have been ‘expected and the evidence for which was present in the Anglo-Danish period, have produced bones mainly of smelt, which spawns in fresh water after making its way from the sea (Buckland 1970, 33). This may imply that the tidal range of the Humber and the Ouse was such that some sea fish could reach the town by swimming up river in what was then relatively unpolluted water. Smelt usually spawn from March to May, when they move upstream; a finely-meshed net is needed to catch them, ‘An unusual fish noted at Bishopstone (Sussex) was the firm fleshed meagre, found in late summer in the English Channel but also caught in shallow estuarine waters. Another fish, not popular today, but favoured by the Romans was wrasse, Teeth of a large wrasse (family Labridae) were found at Waddon Hill fort (Dorset); a bony fish, it may have been mistaken for the Parrot Wrasse, which was highly prized. Better ‘quality was found in red sea-bream; the bones of a large specimen were found in a fourth-century context on the temple site of Uley (Gloucestershire). Asthe fish would have been unlikely to have been caught in shallow estuarine waters, it must have been transported, probably in a preserved form, from some distance away. They may have offered this as a gastronomic treat to the deity or even to the priests. Bones of sea fish are found in some inland towns, which may seem to indicate an cfficient transportation system. Once fish have been gutted and decapitated, they can be dried, and, although they lose 50 per cent oftheir weight, they will keep for along time. Smoking is useful in that it can contain phenolic compounds and some toxic substances which inhibit bacterial activity and retard fat oxidation. It also imparts a characteristic flavour to the product. The smoke of birch wood, which grew in abundance in Britain and was easily coppiced, gives a most acceptable flavour; so also does that of dried seaweed and beech, which is used today for smoking herring. Fish can be pickled by being packed between layers of salt in barrels, where they are pressed down with a heavy weight, allowing brine to form. The brine has to be cleared every 25~30 days on atleast five occasions. To achieve the correct preservation might take up to five months but a shorter time would be considered appropriate. Fish might be put into amphoras filled with sea water and salt so that they could be taken more quickly to market. Gallant (1985, 37) mentions one kilo of salt to 2.75 kilos of fish. Salt was easily prepared on the coast as is proved by the many saltern sites discovered in Essex (De Brisay and Evans 1975), Salt was also obtained in the Cheshire region; this was the rough rock salt that is better for preserving fish as refined salt tends to seal only the surface tissue. Curtis (1991, 67) has pointed out the different terms, used for salting fish and fish products in the Ancient World2 ALCOCK Cess pits at Dorchester (Dorset) have produced bones of sea bream, wrasse, plaice, ‘conger eel, red and grey mullet and garfsh. Sea bream and bass are the most common, both providing excellent food value. Small quantities of fish bones have been excavated at some towns such as Silehester (Berkshire) and Verulamium (Hertfordshire), and a fortson the coast, as for example Caernarfon and Maryport (Cumbria), and further inland at Corbridge (Northumberland) and Brecon. Some villa sites ike Gorhambury (Hertfordshire) received supplies of herring, mackerel and plaice; the inhabitants, probably got these supplies from the nearby market in Verulamium, but trout and salmon would have been caught locally At Skeleton Green (Hertfordshire), believed to be a trading post, bones of plaice, flounder, and Spanish mackerel, afish local to the Bay of Biscay, were found in a well dated to the later Iron Age to early Roman period. Plaice and flounder as well as the mackerel had to be transported from the coast. In the case of the Spanish mackerel, it could have been caught on one of its rare visits to Britain or be evidence of long distance trade in fish. This fish decomposes very rapidly so it would have to be pickled in brine soon after capture. Among the salmon and pike bones found at Dragonby (Lincolnshire) was a unique find, a bone fragment from a Nile catfish (May 1996, vol. I, 164), So unusual an object suggests that its owner probably brought it into Britain as a talisman or curio. ‘At Brancaster fort (Norfolk), where the first Cohort of Aquitanians was stationed, three out of six fragments of whale bones had chop marks on them. Whale bones were also found at the fort of Valkenburg at the mouth of the Rhine, the garrison of the third cavalry cohort of Gaulsin the second century. It might seem that auxiliary troops from Gaul had a fondness for whale meat. Similar chop marks were found on vertebrae dated to the Iron Age at Bishopstone settlement (East Sussex). Whales were sometimes hunted (O ppian Halieutica 5 92 349) but this would be rare, Whalemeat cannot be eaten safely from a dead whale washed onshore, but is ‘excellent if the flesh is fresh. Both whalemeat and porpoise flesh provide a significant food source because of the fat which they contain. Whalemeat is important nutritionally to people who eat very little lean meat or who survive on a minimum diet. In the Life of St. Brendan a dead whale provided meals for three days for the saint and his companions when they were on their travels (Severin 1978, 261). Juvenal (Satires 10 14) refers to puny dolphins being beside a British whale (balaena Britannica). Procopius mentions a whale being stranded at Constantinople (Historia 729 9-16), which had annoyed the city for ten years eluding Justinian’ attempt to catch it. River fish River fish would be easier to catch, Bede, in the eighth century ap, was to write (I 1 26) that Britain produces various sea creatures’ and that ‘it abounds in springs and waters full of fish’. William of Malmsbury commented in De Gestae Pontificum Anglorum, written in the twelfth century, that there was such a wealth of fish in the Fens ‘sto cause astonishment to strangers. The same was probably true in the RomanPISCES IN BRITANNIA 2B period, but evidence for the eating of fish can be summed up in brief comments such, as that by Cunliffe (1975 426) regarding his excavations at Portchester (Hampshire) ‘afew marsh birds such as mallard, may have been caught locally, as presumably were fish. A lead net weight, a netting needle and a fish hook may be taken as reasonable evidence for this. Admittedly, there is more evidence for the eating of fresh water fish in that the bones of tench, perch, roach, chub, eel and salmon have been found on a variety of sites. Bones of small fish, such as sticklebacks, probably came from the stomachs of other fish. Some bones are so small that they must have passed through the human gut, Bede mentioned that salmon and eel were found in profusion (I 1 19). Eels can be speared or caught in cel-bucks, basket-like traps which face upstream. Eels prefer clean water so eel catchers often stirred up the water to choke their breathing passages with mud. In medieval England osier baskets with funnel-shaped entrances were used, baited with other fish. At Roman Colchester, where large ‘quantities of eel bones were excavated, the eels had probably been trapped in the River Colne as they migrated seaward. Eels, more easily caught in winter months, are best ‘eaten fresh but can be smoked. After eels, salmon were probably the most prolific. The Celtshad prized the salmon as the form adopted by some Celtic gods. It was also the source of otherworld wisdom as witnessed by the story of the Irish hero, Finn, who went to learn poetry from Finneces. The latter had spent seven years by the side of the Boyne watching for the salmon of Fee’s Pool for whoever ate it would have knowledge of all things, When the salmon was at last caught, Finn was ordered to cook it, but on no account to eat any of it. The lad, however, burned his thumb and stuck it in his mouth, thereby tasting the flesh and gaining wisdom (Cross and Slover 1936, 365). Another Irish Jegend puts a salmon of wisdom in the well of Segais, the source of inspiration, into which sacred hazelnuts fell. Eating the nuts or the salmon would bring wisclom to that person (Rees & Rees 1961, 161). Pliny commented that salmon were preferred to all other fish in Aquitania (Natural History 9 32 68) and these might be the Atlantic fish mentioned by Athenacus, (Deipnosphistae4 1514-1522) quoting Poseidonius' views on the Celts: Their food consists of a small number of bread loaves together with a large amount of meat roasted either on charcoal or on spits... those Celts who live besides rivers or near the inner sea [Mediterranean] or the outer seas [Atlantic] eat fish in addition, boiled fish that is, with the addition of salt, vinegar and cummin’. ‘The River Severn seems always to have been prolific in salmon. At Lydney (Gloucestershire) on a promontory overlooking the river, a temple site, dedicated to the god, Nodens, was established in the fourth century aD. There was also a guest house where worshippers could stay the night. On one mosaic are two dolphins, their ‘entwined tails ended in dragon-headed eels. By the side isa smaller fish that resembles salmon. Lydney was excavated in the early 1930s (Wheeler and Wheeler 1932) when ‘environmental evidence was not sampled so that it is not known whether fish formed. part of the provisions of the guest house.24 ALCOCK Fishing as industry and sport Fishing is labour intensive and not necessarily a systematic occupation, but is a gathering of food by men who are sustained by a precarious existence. The fishermen's ‘chorus in Plautus’ comedy Rudens (290-305) gives a vivid picture of men who have never had a job or learned a trade. Ifthey do not catch any fish, they are the ones who are ‘washed and salted and go to bed hungry without any supper’. Fish can be difficult to catch. They can be caught with single hooks, although with hand-lining many hooks can be used in open water. The scoop net could be more effective. Plutarch (Moralia 977e) describes this and other methods. One man can use the hand casting net with heavily weighted edges and two holding lines. A beach seine, where one man rows out then swings round to bring the net back to shore, has to be pulled in by several men. It sweeps along the sea bed but, as Plutarch remarked, fish will avoid it by hammering out a hollow on the bottom of the sea. Most techniques would have to be shore-based, on asmall scale, unlikely to catch more than a few kilos a day. The deep water drift net was not used until the ninth century ap (Hodges 1982, 143). ‘These methods would be sufficient for coastal settlements and those that were on tidal rivers in Britain. Marsden (1994) infers that fishing vessels worked the Thames ‘estuary and may have ventured further afield to bring in quantities of fish to London. Sprats were caught with a fine-meshed net, Plaice, cod and bass could be caught in the mouth of the Thames but black sea bream, a somewhat rare fish, was fished from deeper waters, Sea fish have to be caught with a strong hook such as those found at the Richborough fort (Kent) and in London. unique find comes from Guernsey harbour (Rule and Monaghan 1993). A vessel trading in wine between Gaul and Britain caught fire, when at anchor, and sank. On deck there had been a hearth and an oven with a domed roof; several fishhooks were found in the wreck and it is possible to imagine the fishermen having the means to ‘cook the fish that they had caught. This veers towards fishing more for sport than as an industry. Soldiers had to have the permission of their commanding officer to go cither hunting or fishing; if they ignored this, they could be tried under military law. Angling was, however, regarded as recreational. Augustus took up fishing as a relaxation after the Civil War (Suetonius Augustus83) and the poet Martial (Epigrams 5 18) reveals a knowledge of angling when he speaks of the greedy sea bream being deceived by the fly he has gorged’. ‘The younger Pliny sums up the sporting instinct when he writes to his friend ‘Caninus Rufus (Episolae?2 8), ‘Are you reading, hunting or fishing, or doing all three? ‘You can do all three together on Lake Como for there is plenty of fish inthe lake, game in the woods and every opportunity to study in the depths of your retreat’. Fishhooks found at the Fishbourne (West Sussex) and Keynsham (Somerset) villas the settlement of Stockton (Wiltshire) and the forts of Wroxeter (Shropshire) and Corbridge may indicate local anglers. Oppian, however, considered that fishing is inferior to hunting: how can fighting deadly wild beasts in the hills be equal to drawing a writhing fish from the depths (Cynegetica 1 53): “The hunter with his hounds hunts the bear; the angler hooks the bream,’ is his contemptuous comment.PISCES IN BRITANNIA 25 Lydney has provided a pictorial piece of evidence for fishing in Britain. On astrip ‘of bronze two fishermen, wearing pointed caps, are depicted standing with legs braced in the river hauling on rod and line. One has caught a large fish resembling a salmon; unfortunately the bronze is broken s0 it is impossible to say ifthe other fisherman ‘was lucky. This is how Oppian envisages his angler (Cynegetica 1 56), who sits on the rock and with curving rod and deadly hook catches at his ease fish of varied sheen, Fishing with rod and line is often depicted on Greek vases (Sparkes 1995, 152) The reel had not yet been invented s0 playing a salmon was out of the question. Instead considerable strength was needed to land the fish, although salmon can be gaffed and speared with a trident. Ausonius in his poem, Masella (85-150) details fourteen fish, including salmon, which swim in the Moselle. He deseribes fishing with seine nets and pictures a boy fishing from the rocks, plucking his catch from the water and swinging it sideways with a hissing stroke, so bringing his dripping catch to flounder on land (240-270). Plutarch’s M oralia (977e) says horschair was used for the line and O ppian in his second century poem, Halieutica (On Fishing), confirms this in some detail adding also that finely woven flax could be used (Butler 1930, 135). At Chester a broken relief provides a second example of fishing (Wright 1955, no 143, pl. xxxvi). A winged amorino is seated on a rock dangling a fish by its tail over ‘what may be the top half of a lobster. A dolphin leaps over another fish to dive into the depths. Amorini, performing a variety of roles ~ goldsmiths, gladiators, vintners ~ are part of decorative arts in the Classical period. Fishing would be part of their playful activities. Symbolism Symbolism attached itself to the dolphin. The Romans did kill and eat dolphins but were delighted by their friendliness and the way they sported round ships. Pliny (Natural History 9 9 29) tells of dolphins helping to round up fish for a group of fishermen, certain that they would give them part ofthe catch as their reward. Toynbee (1950a 212) commented that portrayals of fish symbolised the living dead in pagan religion. As dolphins can represent speed, so the soul speeds towards its final destination. Dolphins carved on tombstones are therefore symbolic of the journey to the other world (Toynbee 1971, 38). Artistic depictions of the boy on adolphin portray the mammal’ friendly attitude towards men. Pliny records (Natural Hiory9 8 24) that in Augustus time, adolphin in the Lucrine Lake would carry the boy on his back to school at Puteoli. When the boy died, the dolphin pined away with grief. Cupids also ride dolphins; Galatea’ ‘message to Polyphemus was delivered in this manner. The central panel of a mosaic at the Fishbourne villa depicts a cupid brandishing a trident while riding a dolphin (Cunliffe 1971, 99). Dolphins in the north east and south west corners may represent the journey to the other-world or take up the theme of the nearby sea More expressive symbolism may be seen when both fish and dolphins swim round a cantharus on a mosaic at Fifehead Neville villa (Dorset) (Smith 1969, pl. 3 30). In26 ALCOCK pagan iconography, the cantharus represents the mystic communion between Dionysus/Bacchus and his followers and hence refreshment in the next life: in Christian iconography it is symbolic of the Eucharistic chalice, as the wine itself is symbolic of Christ's blood. On one panel of a mosaic at Verulamium (Neal 1981, pl. 73) the cantharus has two jets of water spouting upwards so that it becomes a representation of the fountain of life; two dolphins, their tails entwined in the handles and acting as supporters, enhance the symbolic meaning. ‘Several spoons dated to the first and second centuries ap found in Britain have a fish design on them. In London, some have been found in what was once the bed of the Walbrook (Jones and Sherlock 1996). One portrayal has been identified asa red mullet flanked by two salmon, both gourmet fish. Tentative identifications of the others suggest carp, bream and gumnard. One design is a skeleton of a ed mullet. AS the bowls of the spoons were so flat as to preclude being used to gather up liquid, they ‘may have been used to consume a fish paste such as allec. On the other hand the fact that the fish is symbolic in Christian iconography cannot be dismissed (Cabrol and Lecleroq 1903-54, vol 13, sx. Poisson), Most of the fish which are portrayed on British mosaics are merely represented ‘conventionally and are not specifically recognisable. Unlike mosaics at Pompeii and, in North Africa, where many of the fish created in mosaics are recognisable and representative of them gathered at the bottom of a tank or strewn on the fishmonger’ floor, fish in Romano-British mosaics are merely decorative. A mosaic in the Great Witcombe villa (Gloucestershire), now lost and represented only by a coloured drawing, is in this tradition: marine animals, fish and eels play in an aquatic pool (Rainey 1973, pl. 15B). Both this one and a mosaic at Rudston (Yorkshire) (Neal 1981, pL.67) of dolphins and fish playing round the head of Neptune, whose hair is ‘created from fish claws, were found in bathhouses and were thus appropriate for their setting, Another at Hemsworthy (Dorset) created for an apse shows Venus in her capacity as Aphrodite, goddess of the sea; fishes, dolphins and shellfish play on the border (Rainey 1973, 93) ‘One mosaic at Cirencester (Gloucestershire) (Neal 1981, pl. 34), has a cantharus in the centre and a dolphin in two rectangles placed opposite each other, but there is also a fish, which does resemble a salmon, Whereas, however, in the second century ap, plants and animals on mosaics were naturalistically drawn, by the fourth century, when #0 many mosaics were created in Britain, representations had become stylised ‘An octagonal mosaic at the Lufton (Somerset) villa (Hayward 1952, pl. 7.9) had border of 29 fish swimming between two parallel bands of overlapping Iyre patterns. It was suggested that they represented salmon, trout snapping at flies, pike chasing trout and sturgeon but they are not so obviously recognisable, Many of the fish blow bubbles from their noses. Two eels, each entwined about the body of a fish, are recognisable, but itis not certain whether these are from the sea or the river. Their lively appearance equals those on mosaics from Zilten, North Africa (AurigemmaPISCES IN BRITANNIA 7 1926, figs. 130-132). There is an awkward join in the border at the point where the guilloche goes in opposite directions, which possibly suggests that the panels were made elsewhere before being assembled on the site. On a mosaic found on the Aventine in Rome, designs of fish skeletons may represent the discarding ofthe bones, ‘on the floor after the fish have been eaten and waiting to be swept up by the slaves, (L Orange and Nordhagen 1966, pl. 13) ‘Though the fish are created from a variety of coloured tesserae and are portrayed apparently twisting and turning as if in the water, there are no exact parallels; they are certainly not local river fish, but part ofa craftsman’ s stylistic repertoire. Toynbee (1950b) has suggested the possibility that cartoons and pattern books were handed down from one generation to the next as part of some mosaicists stock in trade, which ‘could account for resulting similarities of shape, style and form, Throughout the Roman empire, mosticists emphasised fish native to the Mediterranean shore (Levi 1947, 597). These appear to greatest effect in Pompeian mosaics lke that in the House of the Fawn (Pernice 1938, pl. 530). There is almost no evidence that mosaicists ‘envisaged fish peculiar to the local area although occasionally alocal craftsman might have attempted to do this. Mosaicists are more interested in subject and motif than accuracy. Aquatic creatures are realised as patterns often complemented by the head ‘of Neptune, tritons or sea horses. Assplendid mosaic at the Rudston villa (Yorkshire) not surprisingly occupied the apodyterium of a bathhouse (Stead 1980, 136). Sea creatures include a dolphin and an open mussel or oyster shell round a central feature, now destroyed but possibly a representation of Neptune, as can be seen on mosaics at Vienne and Ostia. At the Frampton villa (Dorset) (Smith 1969, pl.3) dolphins play round Neptune's head, while at Withington (Gloucestershire), two dolphins laze on either side of a bearded head and two others flow out horizontally from his face, their tails hooked in his beard (Lysons 1817, pl. XX). Bivalves are interspersed with dolphins in a mosaic depicting Bellerophon killing the Chimaera at Lallingstone villa (Kent). These may be mussels, with the two valves, ‘opened and connected by thick hinges. Similar ones appear in North African mosaics at Dougga, Tunisia. The aquatic motifs can allude to Bellerophon’s role as an aquatic hero (Toynbee 1982, 201, pl. 228). Shellfish Ifevidence for eating fish in Roman Britain is lacking, there is ample evidence for the cating of shellfish. Mussels, whelks, cockles, scallops, winkles and sea limpets formed part of the regular diet. Carpet shells are only occasionally found; they provide good ‘eating but are far more popular in Belgium and France today than in Britain. Oys- ters were prolific. The excavators of the Longthorpe fort (Cambridgeshire) commented that it is certain that the garrison was in regular receipt of oysters’ (Dannell and Wild 1987, 69). Charles Green, the excavator of Caistor-on-Sea (Norfolk) in the 1950s, ‘counted to 10,000 shells before desisting (Darling 1993, 239). At Chanctonbury Ring (West Sussex), Hayling Island (West Sussex) and Stanwick (Northamptonshire),28 ALCOCK identified as religious sites, large deposits of oyster shells may be either evidence of ritual practice, such as the eating of meals, or, more likely, the detritus of snacks pur- ‘chased from nearly stalls. When, however, they are found, with fish bones, in what ‘was agricultural land, they may have been part of organic manure, as near to Colches- ter where seaweed was mixed with crushed shells before being spread on the land. Oysters provide excellent nutritional value as they are a source of animal protein and they contain vitamins A, B,, B,, C and D. Desire for them may represent psychological need and they are regarded as an aphrodisiac. Some people prefer oysters ‘cooked to make them palatable; placing the open shell in abed of coals ean do this. Shells at the Halstock villa (Dorset) were found in a corn drying oven as if cooking had taken place here. Although oysters could be eaten raw, the Romans preferred not to eat them ‘au natur’, but covered with a dressing. Martial (13.86) describes them as thirsting for a noble garum’, Apicius gives two recipes. One (9 6) creates a ‘mayonnaise from pepper, lovage, parsley, yolk of egg, vinegar, liquamen, oil and wine with a sweetener of honey. The second (9 7) isa kind of vinaigrette: pepper, lovage, parsley, mint, cumin, liquamen, vinegar and honey with malabrathum and abay leaf if required. This sauce can also be used for all kinds of shellfish. Malabathrum was a species of cinnamon which could also be used as a herbal to reduce eye infections (Gunther 1959, 13; Laufer 1918). Cultivated and natural oysters have been found together on several sitesin Britain but the most effective evidence comes from London. Milne (1985) draws attention to two large deposits of oyster shells, One, dating to the first century ap, was composed of shells of varying quality and sizes, as if they had been collected from natural habitats. The other, dating to the second century, contained larger shells with deep ‘cups, indicating thicker edible meat. The heels of the left valves were attached to ‘cultch, a material used to entice oyster spat to establish itself during breeding. Milne suggests that ‘a deliberate attempt had been made to catch spat from an already breeding population’. The oyster shells had been opened more carefully either because of better awareness of the technique or because of greater appreciation of the contents. ‘The evidence seemed to show that oyster cultivation introduced to Britain by the Romans, as Gunther suggested (1897, 360), was now an important industry satisfying both home consumption and an export trade. Beds were probably established along the south coast and northwards as far as Essex; probably the Fenland region was also a suitable area, Several timber-lined tanks at Wickford (Essex), 1-2 metres deep, may have been for oyster storage before transportation. Pliny indicates (Natural History9 79 169) that the British exported ‘oysters to Rome in the first century ap, although he inserts the disparaging comment that those of Cyzicus were fresher. Juvenal pinpoints their place of origin to Richborough (Satires 4 142), where there was a prolific supply. The trade seems to have continued because Macrobius comments that in the fourth century oysters were sent from Richborough to the Roman Pontiff (Milne 1985, 92), Juvenal, who may have been a prefect commanding the auxiliary unit, the First Cohort of Dalmatians, stationed at Maryport (Cumbria) about ap 90 (Jarrett 1966, 36), could have tasted the British oysters during his term of office.PISCES IN BRITANNIA 29 Pliny’s enthusiasm for oysters extends to a pacon of praise: they settle the stomach, restore a lost appetite, act asa gentle laxative, clean an ulcerated bladder and clear up ‘colds. Crushed shells cure sores, stop itching, smooth rough skin, sooth burns and, if mixed with vinegar, can act as a dentifrice (Natural Hisory 32.21 64). Celsus De ‘Medicina 2 29 4) also considers them to be a laxative and an easily digestible food. It is therefore no wonder that they were consumed in shops at Caerwent (Gwent) and ‘Verulamium and by soldiers relaxing in the fortress baths at Caerleon (Gwent). Infact, a range of shellfish — mussels, scallops, cockles, impets, razorshells — were available to soldiers stationed in forts throughout Britain (Davies 1971, 128-129). Diocletian's edict of ap 301 (Frank 1940, 328) priced 100 oysters at 100 den: while sea mussels were 100 for 50 denarii. On a comparative basis the cost of 100 oysters equalled two days’ wages for craftsmen, a baker or ablacksmith, and four days! ‘wages for a sewer cleaner. O ysters were valued as presents. Ausonius (Epistulae 15 27) acknowledges a gift of 30 oysters, but wrapped his appreciation in such elaborately ‘contrived language that one feels he did not regard this asa sufficient number. Apicius sent fresh oysters to Trajan on his Parthian campaign in packing especially devised by himself (Athenaeus Deipnesophistae 74). A writing tablet from Vindolanda on Hadrian’ s Wall in alist of supplies, acknowledges a gift of oysters from Cordonovi (Bowman and Thomas 1983, 135-136). This could be either Cordanum, an island at the mouth of the Gironde River in Gaul or Cordonouvia (Bowman and Thomas 1994, 273), possibly situated in the Thames estuary. In cither case transportation had to be carefully arranged. Mussel, winkle and oyster shells found at the site, however, may have been used for making lime or mortar, especially as skeletons of bryozoan ‘colonies inside the oyster shells indicate that they were dead on arrival. Fish breeding ‘The Romans farmed fish; Columella (De Re Rustica 8 16 6), Pliny (Natural History 9.80 170) and Varro (De Re Rustica 3 17 2) give instructions on keeping them in both fresh and salt water. Cereals, fruit and animal farming led to promotion of cash crops; ‘Varro says aviaries and fishponds are other possibilities and Martial (Epigrams 3 58) speaks of Faustinus’ Baian villa where every possible commodity is exploited including fish. There is no reason to feel that Romano-British villas did not exploit natural resources when they could, although it isto be hoped that their owners did not follow the repulsive habit of Vedius Pollio who, according to Seneca (De Clementis | 18 2), fed mutinous slaves to his fish, Excavations at two villa sites may have revealed fishponds (Branigan 1989). One wwasa large pond at Lynch Farm near Water Newton (Cambridgeshire). The other site ‘was at Shakenoak (Oxfordshire), where the villa owner had three ponds dug in the carly second century, one with a feeder stream leading into it. Ifall three ponds had been in use at the same time, and they lasted for about 60 years, they could have provided a fish-breeding complex with separation of spawning, young and adult fish, ‘The excavators of Shakenoak proposed that trout were kept here. Nevertheless, trout need constant cooled water. Modern trout ponds are not less than 90 em deep, which30 ALCOCK is three times the depth of the Shakenoak ponds. They would, however, have been suitable for coarse fish, which would breed quite happily in the shallow water. Coarse fish do not require frequent changes of water as often as trout. ‘Trout farming today is extremely profitable; a large pond the size of Shakenoak ‘can produce approximately 11,400 kilos of fish. Roman fish farming would not reach this level, but even if the figure is reduced by two-thirds, a respectable total of about 3,800 kilos could be bred in the largest pond. Diocletian’ price edict indicated that the best river fish could be sold for 12 denarii an Italian pound (equivalent to a pound of good pork in the Diocletian edict) and 8 denarii for the second best quality (equivalent to a pound of beef or mutton). The Shakenoak ponds may therefore have provided a marketable commodity which was the equivalent of 130 pigs and sixty beef cattle (Branigan 1989, 47), certainly enough to make fish farming economically viable, possibly as a luxury item. The fish could be sent to markets at the nearby settlements of Wilcote and Asthall and probably further afield to the towns of Aloester (Warwickshire) and Dorchester-on-Thames (Oxfordshire). Another area where fish farming may have taken place on an economic basis for both sea fish and shellfish, was along the Essex coast, where villages and settlements were in a position to exploit their positions. The towns of Colchester, Chelmsford and Great Chesterford would provide markets for local trade (Dunnett 1975,123) Liquamen ‘The Romans ‘did not waste any part of the fish, but used everything such as the tail, stomach, neck and head! (Curtis 1991,7). Parts normally considered refuse were made into fish sauce of which there were four kinds, iquamen, garum, muria and allec. OF these four, allec can be the most precisely identified by being the thick sediment left after any liquid has been drawn off. Pliny (Natural History 31 44 95) calls it the sediment of garum. Liquamen and garum may have been distinct products, but the names seem to have become almos interchangeable, Muria seems to have meant both garum and a liquid used for packing fish products for transportation. Curtis (1991, 14) proposes that garum was the clear liquid, liquamen was weaker in salinity and colour and muria was the solution drawn off afte salting the fish; allec was the mushy substance containing bone and other parts that did not rot. Detailed aecounts of both production and trade have been published (Curtis 1991; Ponsich and Tarradell 1965; Grimal and Monod 1952). Merchants brought the ‘commodity to Britain almost as soon as the invasion had taken place. Spanish amphoras containing wine and fish sauce reached Colchester soon after ap 43, Merchants and traders at London stored liquamen in amphoras on the waterfront; large quantities were sent to Canterbury and Gloucester. One amphora with the painted inscription on the neck o(aai) 1m c(oNcn) gives a quantity of 13.13 litres. Another at Southwark, London, records that Lucius Tettius Africanus finest fish sauce had been imported from Antipolis (Antibes) in Gaul. The find suggests that another supply route was from the Mediterranean along the Rhone, through Gaul and thence across the Channel, following the route taken by the wine trade.PISCES IN BRITANNIA 31 Army supply lines ensured that liquamen reached forts throughout Britain even as far as Hadrian’ s Wall. At Vindolanda, muria was named as one of the supplies disbursed to soldiers over a period of several daysin lune, sometime at the end of the second century AD, possibly for a religious festival (Bowman and Thomas 1994, no 190). On another tablet, (Bowman and Thomas 1994, no 302) a slave of Julius Verecundus, Prefect of the First Cohort of Tungrians about an 100, received orders to obtain foodstufis: bruised beans, 100 apples- if decent onescan be obtained, 100 ‘or 200 eggs — if they are for sale at a fair price, and eight sextari (two litres) of fish sauce. Obviously care had to be taken in securing provisions. Martial (Epigrams 13 103) considers muria as an inferior product, made of the entrails of other fish than mackerel. Diocletian’ s price edict gives two qualities of liquamen; second quality sold for 12 denarii an Italian pint, the first quality sold for 16 denarii (Frank 1940, 323), ‘Spanish garum was transported along the Atlantic sea border, skirting the coasts ‘of Spain and Gaul. A more indirect route used the Gaulish rivers. The trade declined in the early second century, being replaced by African products. By this time, the product was such a part of the Romano-British diet that certain towns were making their own. At London remains forming a 7.6 em layer of between 3500 and 6000 herring and 800-1500 sprats, dating to the third century ab, have been found on the waterfront in a wooden trough (Bateman and Locker 1982); the layout suggested a Jocal industry. In York a huge quantity of fish debris, similarly 7.6 cm deep, containing 35 per cent herring and 25 per cent sprats, may be the remains of another production site (O° Connor 1988, 129) Lincoln waterfront excavations (Dobney eal. n.d.) revealed large deposit of sand els, This could be fishmongers’ waste from the gutting of marine predators such as ‘cod and haddock. As the River Witham was navigable as far as Lincoln, gutting would have taken place here. But the vast quantity seems to have been produced with another purpose, that of creating alle. Pliny notes that allec was made from very small fish ‘or marine animals, who would otherwise be regarded as useless. If these were local processing industries, the waterfronts may have been dominated by a strong putrid smell. In alate Byzantine text, the smell is linked to that of very ripe cheese. Seneca (Epistulae 95 25) was not very complimentary to liquamen imported from the provinces for he asks if it burns up the stomach with salted putrefaction’ which suggests it was not of good quality Conclusion ‘The evidence presented here for the consumption of fish may seem considerable but taken as a whole does not justify the claims for fish made by the authors quoted. Admittedly evidence for eating fish is harder to gather than eating of meat. Excavators rely on sieving of soil samples, especially in cesspits, to find bones and scales, and on ‘careful searching of sites to discover fish hooks and identify netting needles and lead sinkers, Unlike animal bones, many fish bones are eaten and often digested. The ‘excavators at York concluded that the distribution of chub and barbel bones proved. that they had gone through the human gut. Amphoras provide evidence for the importance of fish sauce and mention has been made of three sites that may be32 ALCOCK suggested {0 be linked to processing industries. Fish sauce, serving as a food and a medicinal product, may have provided some salt needed for a healthy diet. Fish also needs greater care before consumption or transportation. It isa cash crop that has to be distributed quickly to obtain a return on its value. Growth of bacteria means that it deteriorates rapidly becoming both smelly and dangerous to health, Fastidious eaters would avoid it and even those who were short of food would be wary of its nausea- producing effects, Several classical authors warn against eating fish which is anything other than fresh. Davies (1971, 130) draws attention to its danger quoting a case in the second century ab. Terentianus, a soldier stationed at Alexandria, wrote to his father apologising for not mecting him. He, with almost all the garrison, was unable to leave the camp for several days because of ‘30 violent and dreadful an attack of fish poisoning’. Preserved fish, however, will keep for about a year to be consumed during late winter and early spring, when food was scarce, or as a short term response to famine. Salted fish would also bring a reasonable amount of money, 6 denarii a pound according to Diocletian’ edict (Frank 1940, 328). ‘Another factor difficult (0 determine is the value individuals place on a product. Partly this is linked to demand and availability, as well as keeping quality. Even in medieval York, the only fish that seem to have been eaten in great quantities were herring and cod. Partly a liking for this food is dependent on wealth. Scarcity of fish implies higher prices. Gallant states that the nutritional value of fish is only two-thirds, that of grain; more energy and satisfaction can be obtained from meat and bread. Fish is not a filler’. Today it wins approval for its vitamin content and its value in adiet, Many people in Roman Britain were more concerned with staving off hunger oily fish would have given satisfaction in this context. Some of Apicius’ recipes (9 11; 9 12) indicate that fish was eaten covered with heavy sauces and treated in the same way as meat. Sometimes meat was disguised as fish, equating with the Roman preference for eating one product masquerading as another. One Apician entrée (9 13 1) was shaped like a fish, tasted like a fish, but was in reality wellsalted liver. ‘There is only one excavated example of a crustacean fragments of crab at York. Shellfish, however, especially oysters, are very popular. Cultivation meant that beds ‘could be laid down along the south and east coasts; they were not overfished and the ‘oysters were gathered from unpolluted waters. Nor was their enemy the slipper limpet present in Britain at that time. An extra bonus was the pearls that could be obtained, ‘Tacitus, in the first century, said that in Britain they could be collected as they were thrown up on the shore (Agricola 12). Caesar invaded Britain in the hope of finding them (Suetonius fulius47) and succeeded so well that he could dedicate a breastplate ‘covered with small British pearls to the goddess, Venus Genetrix, in her temple at Rome (Pliny Natural Hixory9 57 116). The shells themselves might have been used asormaments. On some sites, such as Stonea (Cambridgeshire) they have small holes deliberately drilled in them so that they could be threaded together as a necklace or fastened to a garment. Oysters were seemingly the most valuable marine product in Britain both for food and decoration, and, ifthey had the reputation as an aphrodisiac, so much the better.PISCES IN BRITANNIA 33 BIBLIOGRAPHY Aloock, JP, Lifein Reman Britain. London: Basford, 1996. ‘Aurigemma, S.J Masi di Zilten. 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London: Thames and Hudson, 1950, Toynbee, JM.C., ‘Some notes on artists in the Roman Worl, Part 3, Mosaics, Callasions Latemus, 9, 1950b, 295-302. ‘Toynbee, JM.C., Death and Burial in the Roman World. London: Thames and Hudson, 1971 ‘Toynbee, JM.C., Artin Raman Britain. London: Phaidon Press, 1982. ‘Tyors, P, An assemblage of eoramics from London’, London Archaeogs 4.14, 1984, 367-374, Whecler, REM. and Wheeler T.V., Report ofthe Proistric. Roman and Pos- Roman Sit at Lydney Park, Gloucestershire. Report ofthe Rewarch Committe ofthe Soieyof Aniquariesof London No 9, Oxford: Oxford University Pres, 1932,PISCES IN BRITANNIA 35 Wilkins. J, Harvey, D. and Dobson, M. (es), Food in Antiquity, Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1995, Weiedt, RP, Catalog ofthe Roman Insribed and Sculptured Senesin the Grosenor Mussum, (Chester. Chester: Chester and N. Wales Arch. Soc., 1955,Fish up the Path Rosemary Barron Isit possible that a dish of old fish holds the secret to our future good health? ... En route to an archeological dig in eastern Crete, 1964 There was no mass tourism on Crete in the 1960s just afew intrepid travellers who braved the twelve-hour ferry and a hike up a dusty Iraklion hill to the office of the chronically disorganized Greek tour operator. The east-west road linking Hania, Iraklion and Aghios Nikolas was yet to be finished and the only road into the mountains was the one built by the Germans for their control of the island. Crete .was, however, cris-crossed by busroutes, although anyone relying on abustimetable, if one should exist for that particular route, soon realised that it was a figment of some office-worker'simagination. The Cretan bus drivers, though, were truly protected by the gods ~ not only were there few tarmacked miles on the island, but the dry, ‘gravelly dirt tracks the buses had to travel provided, for those passengers who could bear to look, some of the most spectactular scenery in the world. At every ghastly mountain bend the entire bus population would cross itself and there would be a massive sigh of relief if a priest should enter the bus. From Iraklion, it took four days by five buses and half a day by foot to reach the beautiful valley where I spent six weeks scraping away soil at the bottom of a three- foot deep trench. I was searching for Minoan pots. «In the mountain foothills of eastern Crete, 1964 It was just as impossible for an inland villager (and those on the dig) to eat fresh fish in 1964 asit was for the ancients 3,500 years before, whose way of life we were trying to understand, There was no electricity in the hills and the roads were dirt tracks. Everyone in the nearby village, however, seemed to have a relative in the fishing village ten miles distant. These relatives would preserve some of the day’ catch and send it up the path’ to us. Fish, almost impossible to keep alive, once caught is the stuff of Greck comedy ~ it deteriorates rapidly and smells disgusting. The ancients made a virtue of this ‘economic necessity, creating what appears to be quite gruesome rotted fish sauces, as well as perfecting the art of smoked and heavily salted fish. They were also masters of lightly preserved fish, and it was this technique ~ a sort of ‘flash-preserve’ method ~ that the local fishermen-relatives used with the fish they would send us by donkey two or three times a week. Small fish or fillets of larger, firm-fleshed fish, were salted, ‘covered in rosemary twigs and weighted, left for two or three days, then drained. Fish and fresh rosemary twigs were then layered in a glazed clay jar and completelyFist UP THE PATHE 37 ‘covered with olive oil. To keep the fish immersed on the (bumpy) journey, sprigs of rosemary were wedged below the rim of the jar, against the fish. Sometimes these fish ‘would be three or four days old when they reached us, sometimes five to nine days old; the older they were, the more interesting their texture and flavour. During the six weeks I worked on the dig, the welcome given to the fish-bearing donkey as it appeared on the path hundreds of feet below us, changed from one of rather blasé dismissal to that of a carnival ~ we had all grown to love the changing flavours of this odd dish, It was also the method by which one of us would make money that day: we would bet on exactly which type of fish was in the pot. On no two occasions were the fish the same; to the donkey-owner, whether the pot contained sardines, picarel, bogue, swordfish, bass, bonito, eel ~ it was ish up the path’. +30 years later, in England ‘The purpose of this paper is to take a new look at an ancient dish, its place in a culinary tradition which has lasted thousands of years, and whether it offers more than academic interest to us today. Tve spent the intervening years playing with the idea that many of the foods, dishes and culinary habits of the Greek past may have some relevance to our own nutritional needs. I've always appreciated the northern European’s aversion to some of the odd flavours and enormous quantities of olive oil on the Cretan table, But I have also been very aware of how much better I've felt whenever I've spent time in the Cretan countryside, eating with the villagers. For six years Iran a cooking school, Kandra Kitchen, on Crete and Santorini, where I researched and developed over 500 of these traditional istand recipes in a very old village house, complete with stone wine press and working clay oven, but fitted with the latest Italian kitchen equipment. And for 20 years, I've researched, and given lectures and cooking classes on these ‘old’ Greek island flavours and fascinating table traditions, Today, fifteen years after I set up my cooking school, despite great mirth at the idea of Greece having anything to offer our own Tod world’, some of the trendiest restaurantsin New York, San Franciseo and London are serving some dishes very familiar to me ~ wild greens, fava beans, densely-textured breads, yoghurt, pulses, olive oil and... preserved fish ‘What began for me as an amusing contemplation on an ancient fish dish with no name developed into a more interesting idea. We too have problems finding fresh fish for our tables; our rivers and shores are heavily polluted, our seas over-fished and the corporations that run the fishing fleets turn much of the catch into fish fingers before the boats return to harbour. Even 20 years ago, many people had access to fresh fish, but not in this high-tech, road-clogged age; high-street fishmongers have ‘closed and supermarkets tll us the public doesnt like fresh fish. Most of the population are having to buy old, chemically treated rubbish that will do them little good. Perhaps our future lies in an ancient fish dish; treated only with mineral-rich sea salt and a little wine vinegar, protected with the anti-oxidant herb, rosemary, and immersed in a life-enhancing oil. But will we like the flavour?38 BARRON At the Symposium in Oxford, July 1997, samples were brought — and consumed by courageous symposiasts ~ of ‘ish up the path’ as follows: ‘Three days old: with olives and Cretan watereress salad. ‘Six days old: with a Cretan mézé of beets and beet greens Nine days old: with unleavened fermented Cretan bread.The Fishing Industry of the Suisse Romande A. Blake ‘When fish was selected as the subject for the 1997 Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, I initially planned to talk about the fishing industry of Switzerland, 1 ‘considered this a subject unlikely to conflict with other presentations and one which ‘would fit nicely 20 minutes of presentation time. However, as I discovered more about the subject, it rapidly became clear that I could easily overrun and this is why 1 have now limited the title of this presentation to ‘The Fishing Industry of the Suisse Romande’ ‘The Swiss Federation of 22 cantons has four official languages; Swiss German is the most widely spoken followed by French, Italian and the little known Romansch, French is confined to the westernmost cantons of Geneva, Vaud, Valais, Neuchatel and the Jura: known as the Suisse Romande, With its close proximity to its French neighbours it enjoys the pleasures of good food and wine and sits comfortably south of the European beer-wine line: beer to the north and wine to the south. The Suisse Romande also straddles the religious boundary between the Catholic Mediterranean and the Calvinistic cultures following the Reformation. Its cooking styles have been influenced by most of Europe. Although Switzerland has no coast as such, it nevertheless does not lack water and although it makes up only 0.4 per cent of the land area of Europe it has six per cent of its fresh water reserves. The two main rivers of western Europe, the Rhine and the Rhone, both have their source in the Gotthard massif of Switzerland. In terms of rainfall (snowfall, Switzerland has roughly twice that ofthe rest of Europe. After allowing for evaporation, it has a net 980mm of retained rainfall per year ‘compared with 290mm elsewhere. The major part ofthis water is held in the Swiss lakes as Table 1 shows. Table 1 1980 Reserves of Surface Water (km') Glaciers 74,165 Natural lakes 132,389 Reservoirs 3,944 Total 210,507 Switzerland may not have a coast in the accepted sense of the word, but you might not think thisif you look out on a grey November day over the water of Lake Geneva, = otherwise known as Lac Léman, the name I will use from now on. This is the 3940 BLAKE. largest freshwater lake in western Europe and together with the lakes of Neuchatel, Morat and Joux make up the major waters ofthe Suisse Romande. For centuries, the fish of these lakes have played an important part in the local diet and even today support, perhaps surprisingly to some, a professional fishing industry. Switzerland has some 500 registered professional fisherman for a total population of six million; almost half of them are found in the Suisse Romande, especially around Lac Léman, This is, however, no industry of large boats and instrument-aided fishing, but of small, usually family businesses, where the fisherman go out in their open boats in the morning and prepare their fish for the markets and restaurants during the day. Lac Léman has a surface area of 582km? and although the lake surface is some 300 metres above sea level, the bottom of the lake lies below sea level. It is divided into two regions: the Petit Lac which extends from Geneva to Nyon, with a depth of, some 70 metres, and the Grand Lac, extending from Nyon to St Gingolph, with much greater depths and being at its deepest close to Chateau Chillon, made famous, in the poem of Byron, The Prismer of Chillon: Lake Léman les by Chillon’ wall, ‘Athousand feet in depth below Its massy waters meet and flow. ‘Thus much the fathom line was sent From Chillon’s snow white battlement. ‘The region of Léman was an important crossroads in Roman times, being a major ‘east-west route above the Alps and on the north-south route through them. Both Geneva and Nyon were significant Roman towns, the latter being founded around a private villa of Julius Caesar. Both Geneva and Nyon were, not surprisingly, linked to the lake and the fishing industry. The coat of arms of Nyon first included the ‘emblem of the fish in the fourteenth century; the fish is supposed to show its passage from the blue of the lake into the heat of the kitchen. It was also used as the trade- ‘mark of the local and important porcelain industry until recent times. Geneva was the home of Calvin and the centre of Protestant reformation, but only with extreme artistic licence can one justify the picture by Konrad Witz from the first half of the fifteenth century which shows the miracle of the fishes with Christ walking on the waters of Lac Léman close to the port of Geneva. ‘There are at present some 30 species of fish in the lake, some of them native, some introduced and some unwanted. Among the still important commercial species are the omble chevalier (Salvelinus alpinus), otherwise known in English as the char and first mentioned in a declaration of tribute paid to the Priory of St Jean de Geneve in 1150; this included wine, cheese and several large fish including trout, char and pike. The omble chevalier is fished at depths of 60-70 metres using both net and line and isan excellent eating fish not unlike a trout. Lake and river trout are also present, as is the imported rainbow trout but the last is regarded as an unwanted nuisance because it eats the eggs of the local species. A fish unique to the lakes of the Suisse Romande is the féra, a handsome species related to houting, a variety of whitefish, In fact the true féra (Coregonenus fra) of Lac Léman was fished to extinction at the end of the nineteenth century and the only specimens which still exist are preserved in‘THE FISHING INDUSTRY OF THE SUISSE ROMANDE 41 the Natural History Muscum of Geneva. The variety now found in the lake isa very closely-related species also known as palée (Caregonenus lavaretus), successfully reintroduced from Lake Neuchatel and which proves very popular on local menus. Pike (Eeox lucius) are also present in most of the Suisse Romande lakes and are regarded by the fishermen with a certain ambivalence: while they are regarded as good fish for eating, especially in quenelles, they are of course a predator species and reduce the population of other more valuable fish. The species which has in the last 40 years become the most important of the commercial fish is a rather unlikely candidate for this position: the perch (Perea fluviatilis). These flourish in the calm water of the lakes in large shoals but are not usually larger than 15-20 cm in length. Although always fished, it did not become really significant until the 1950s with the introduction of artificial fibre nets. The perch is a decidedly scaly and bony fish and it was also at this time that an enterprising fisherman decided to put his catch into an industrial potato peeler which rapidly and efficiently removed all the scales. Two boneless fillets ‘were then removed from the descaled fish and thus filets de perche was introduced to the region, Today perch make up the most important part of the local harvest of fish with some 500 tonnes being taken annually. Filets de perche is one of the most well- known of the local restaurant specialties and the demand now far exceeds supply to the extent that perch fillets are imported and the restaurants vie to offer the locally- ‘caught fish. It is estimated that about 67,000 tonnes of perch are actually eaten ‘each year in Switzerland. Less popular probably because of its appearance, but also increasingly offered as a local speciality is lote, not to be confused with the marine monkfish. Lotte (Lota lota) is a deep-swimming fish caught at depths of 100 metres ‘or more and native over much of Eastern Europe, Asia and Canada. So far we have only discussed the fishing of Lac Léman, but Lake Neuchatel and Lake Morat are also fished professionally. These last two contain a giant and rather rare fish, the silure (Silurus glanus). This species is more commonly found in the Black Sea and rivers and lakes of Eastern Europe: how it has survived as far west as Switzerland is something of a mystery. This fish is another predator and is often ‘more than one metre in length. The Swiss record isa fish of three metres weighing 84 kilos and the world record is a monster of five metres weighing over 300 kilos. These fish eat most things — other fish, ducklings, small mammals and have been reported to have attacked and killed swimming dogs. My neighbour relates seeing a duck taken whole by a large silure swimming below the surface of Lake Morat. Although not of great commercial importance, the silure is nevertheless fished professionally and is good to eat. Not all of the new species introduced into the lakes have been popular. We have mentioned the rainbow trout, first introduced in 1887, but a more recent and much Jess popular newcomer was brought to Lac Léman officially. At the end of the last century, the Municipality of Geneva was concerned at the lowering of fish stocks in the lake and one of the city fathers tasted grilled catfish (Ictalurusmelas) during a trip to Canada, Reporting back to the authorities that it tasted delicious, they decided to introduce it into the lake. Unfortunately the fish proved to be not a all popular for ‘eating but was very good at eating the eggs and fry of all the other local fish. Once2 BLAKE. introduced, it has proved virtually impossible to eradicate and is now regarded as a ‘major nuisance by local fisherman. Nowadays, there isa strict federal law prohibiting anyone introducing any species which is not indigenous but, as with most things, its ‘easy to be wise after the event. ‘The greatest danger to the health of the lakes has of course been the habits of man. As in other countries, the problem of fertilizer run-off from the land and the use of phosphate-based detergents came close to destroying the water quality of the Swiss lakes in the 1960s and 1970s. Now, the laws concerning pollution have been male much more rigid; the rules covering fishing seasons and the size of permitted catches are rigorously imposed. Even amateur fishermen have to keep written records of their catches, with spot checks made on their boats by the lake authorities both in France and in Switzerland. The waters of the Swiss lakes, praised earlier this century for their clarity and purity, are slowly returning to their former state but only slowly. Whereas Lake Neuchatel has the advantage of good oxygenation from the prevailing winds, the very depth of Lac Léman makes it difficult to reverse the pollution problems, ‘caused 40 years ago. ‘An article for this symposium would be incomplete without some mention of the food from the waters. Trout, omble chevalier, perch and féa are all excellent fish when fresh and are also good smoked. Increasingly the local fishermen seck to extend the product range and to add value to their catch, Products such as Rilettesde Féra Fumée are now to be found in local shops. The bulk of the catch, however, goes to the restaurant trade and the following are a few local recipes. Lake Trout on a Bed of Courgettes (serves 4) 600 g trout fillets * 500 g small courgettes * 2 tomatoes peeled and chopped 15 g (dessertspoon) vegetable oil * 200 ml dry white wine 2 dessertspoons lemon juice + 2 dessertspoons chopped basil « salt, pepper Heat the oil in a pan and fry the courgettes for 3 minutes before cutting them into rounds. Salt, pepper and add the tomato. Layer a baking dish with the tomato- ‘courgette mixture and cover with the trout filets (previously coated with the lemon Jjuice and seasoned). Sprinkle with chopped basil and the white wine. Bake for 10 minutes in ahot oven,‘THE FISHING INDUSTRY OF THE SUISSE ROMANDE 43 Omble Chevalier du Léman (Serves 4) 4 ombles chevaliers (each about 200 g) + 50 g butter (unsalted) chopped shallots * 1 egg yolk roux prepared from 35 g butter and 45 g flour + 200 ml white wine 1 bay leaf * parsley + thyme * 1 egg* 150 ml single cream Sprinkle the chopped shallots in a buttered casserole and place the ombles chevaliers ‘on these after seasoning them with salt and pepper. Moisten them with wine and add the parsley, thyme and the bay leaf . Cover and cook for 12-15 minutes. Remove the ‘cooking liquor and thicken with roux. Dress and garnish the fish and serve separately with the sauce to which has been added the egg yolk and cream. Salade de Féra Fumée (Serves 2) For the salad 2 fillets of smoked féra * 8 asparagus spears * 60 g lambs lettuce (or rocket) 4 radish * bunch chives sliced almonds For the swce 2 teaspoons vegetable oil (rapeseed or sunflower) + 1 teaspoon wine vinegar 1 teaspoon yoghurt « 1 pinch of mustard + salt, pepper ‘Cook the asparagus spears ‘il dente’ let them cool and cut them into 3em lengths. Wash the lettuce, radish and chives. Chop up the last. Arrange the lettuce, sliced radish, asparagus and smoked fish cut into slices. Sprinkle with chopped chives and sliced almonds and add the sauce just before serving. Filets de Perches de ‘Abbaye (Serves 4) 800 g fillets of perch + 400 g boletus mushrooms (ceps) 200 ml single cream + juice of 1 lemon * 1 shallot + 1 egg 50 g sliced almonds 50 g unsalted butter Pepper and salt the fillets and marinade them with the lemon juice and beaten egg. Mix well and let them stand, Fry the shallotsin a knob of butter and add the chopped mushrooms and a dash of white wine. Fry gently, add the cream and adjust the seasoning. Fry the filets in hot butter and serve them on the creamed mushrooms. Just before serving lightly brown the almonds in the butter and sprinkle over the fish. Garnish with lemon wedges and parsley.44 BLAKE. ‘To close this presentation I would like to mention some recent developments which are still in their infancy. Throughout the world the uncontrolled taking of fish stocks is a matter of increased concern and frustration between countries with still- surviving fishing industries. Protection of wild fish stocks and the measures which ‘can legally be taken (0 do this isa political hot potato in many countries. It is not surprising that man is considering how to become a farmer of fish rather than a hunter. Nowadays much of the salmon and trout which appear in our shopshas been farmed under controlled conditions rather than caught from the wild. So too in Switzerland this possibility is being considered. On the shores of Lake Neuchitel at Chavornay a fish farming concept isbeing studied by asmall company called Ichthys. ‘The enterprise has been founded by a biologist, Olivier Mueller, working in conjunction with a local fisherman, Fean-Blaise Perrenoud. They are in process of ‘constructing a floating fish farm on the waters of the lake which it is hoped will initially allow them to bring 50 tonnes of perch to maturity each year. Dr. Mueller is no novice, as he has worked on similar ventures in Germany and Africa and has an associate company Percitech SA which is engaged in raising perch to a size where they can be used for supplementing the natural fish stocks. In 1999, Ichthys hope to harvest their first 50 tonnes of farmed perch; in time for the new millenium. ‘Switzerland is a long way from the sea but may still have an important part to play in its production of Food from the Waters.Sea Wars, a Saga of Aquaculture, Salmon, Sea Lice, and Lobsters Fritz Blank Modern aquaculture, that is fish husbandry, technically began in 1733 in Germany, when for the first time eggs were harvested from gravid female carp, ‘artificially’ fertilized, hatched, and raised to a marketable weight. Until the last half of the twentieth century, the progress of aquaculture has been relatively slow. Beginning in the early 1960s and continuing today, however, we face a still burgeoning world- ‘wide megamillion-dollar-a-year business, with marine aquaculture leading the pack, Asthis new industry exploded to mect an ever-expanding market need, many questions regarding potential problems have been carefully monitored and studied. Especially concerned were many marine biologists and ecologists. What would be the effect of introducing hundreds of thousands of sea animals into our oceans which heretofore had sustained vastly smaller populations? Immediately, among other thoughts, epidemics of various fish diseases were considered and predicted. And so it is that no disease o far encountered has impacted the marine aquaculture industry as seriously as sea lice infestation of the Atlantic salmon, ‘Sea lice are small crustaceans belonging to a very large and diverse order called Copepoda, Most Copepods are marine with only a few fresh water representatives. ‘They dominate both in numbersand varietiesthat grand ecologic ooeanic soup called z00-planckton which is to be found in great abundance living within the earths vast salt water resources. Indeed, over 7,500 known species exist. Copepods include both microscopic and macroscopic varieties. Most pathogenic species belong to a group called the Lemacopadoida and are troublesome ectoparasites of both fish and marine ‘mammals. ‘Of particular concern are Lepeophtheirus salmonis and Calingus elongatus, since these are the two most common sea lice affecting salmon in the Atlantic northern hemisphere. In Pacific waters, Calingusclemens, and Lepeophtheirus silmonisare found. Both Calgusand Lepeophtheirusare naturally occurring ectoparasites of salmonids generally restricted to host species in the genera Salmo, Salvelimus, and Oncorhynchus. ‘The life cycle of both L. salmonis and C. elongatus occurs either on the surface of salmonid host species or as free swimming nauplii larvae. There is no intermediate host, although a number of larval stages do occur during either ofthe free swimming and host-attached phases. [Nota Bene: In the southern United States, especially on the Atlantic coast of Florida, sea lice have been implicated as the causative agent of a dermatological condition called swimmersitch in humans. These sea lice are, however, not copepods, but rather tiny larval forms of certain jelly fish. This misnomer may be somewhat 4546 BLANK ‘confusing if one searches the literature or websites using the vernacular sea lice as key ‘words. These creatures have no connection to the salmon parasites] L. silmonis is by far the most pathogenic of the sea lice species. With a body length of 0.7 to 1.8 em, it is about twice as large as Caligus and very much more voracious, Four. salmonison asmolt and ten on an adult salmon can cause abrasions. On the other hand, even 50 to 80 C. elongarusmay be tolerated without damage on 4 similar sized adult salmon. Sea tice tend to congregate on the back of the head, around the anus, and behind the dorsal fin, The deleterious effects of sea lice are essentially twofold: + I:depending on the the number of parasites per fish, these copepods cause invasive tissue destruction which may result in the death of the host, or may damage it 0 degree that it must be discarded. +2: With lesser infecting numbers, the iritation, stress and discomfort [1] produces avery low feed conversion rate, which, although the fish are marketable, translates to a substantial loss of profits for salmon farmers. ‘The actual infective course is that pre-adult and adult sea lice graze on the surface of salmon feeding on mucus, epidermal cells and blood, eventually causing erosion and muscle and other tissue to be exposed. Untreated, this in turn invites not only continuing damage by the sea lice themselves, but allows secondary bacterial and viral infections which may cause major ulceration, more abrasion, sepsis and death, Resultant monetary losses for the salmon marine aquaculture industry due to sea lice infestation in Canada have been considerable, In 1995, fish farmers of New Brunswick's Passamaquoddy Bay area lost 15 to 20 million Canadian dollars from a 120 million dollar industry to a sea louse epidemic. Loss occurs both directly, when infected fish die or are not marketable, as well as indirectly from monies spent for treatment and control ofthese parasites. To combat these catastrophic losses, the Canadian government is spending millions on research grants specifically directed towards sea lice control Although wild creatures of the sea do not recognize the borders of man-made ‘maps, the sea louse problem along New Brunswick southern neighbor, Maine, seems tobe less severe, wherel8 marine aquaculture operations sold only 14.6 million pounds of farm-raised salmon. This compares with slightly essthan one million metric tonnes, produced in New Brunswick. This observation adds credence to the general supposition that a larger population of hosts ~ in this case, salmon — and/or closer than normal spacing between animals results in greater parasite proliferation. Faced with this louse epidemic, eradication methods were quickly sought, and first on the list were (and continue to be) potent organophosphate chemical agents. Needless to say, these malathion-related insecticides immediately generated serious ‘concern and objection by environmentalist. However, rapid testing of these rugs’ .was followed by official sanction and registration by respective Canadian, American, and Scandinavian government drug regulating agencies. Trichlorphon (Neguvon ®) was the first registered and subsequently used by fish farmers in Norway as early asSEA WARS 4 1976. Trichlorvon was followed by the agent dichlorvos (Nuvan ® and Aquagard ®). In face of increasing concern about the toxicity of certain organophosphates to ‘other crustaceans, particularly crabs and lobsters, as well as general (unknown) deleterious effects on the general environment, by the late 1980s it was apparent that additional drugs and/or alternative non-drug treatments were needed. Also of concern was the development of drug-resistant strains of sea lice. At the present time, the following chemical compounds are being used to treat sea lice: Azamethiphos: An unlicensed experimental organophosphate akin to dichlorvos and. carbaryl and malathion works as a neurotoxin on mobile forms of sea lice but does not kill non-motile larvae. The TSM is not yet known since its effect on non-target species is still being assessed. The half-life is 240 hours. Cypermethrin: The use of this new drug is still being explored, but it appears to kill ‘both mobile and non-mobile forms of sea lice at doses as low as 0.005 mg per liter. Dichlorvos. An organophosphate neurotoxin generally known to be more toxic to sea lice than to fish or humans. Treatment consists of giving the salmon a bath whereby each net pen is surrounded by a tarpaulin and the water reduced to a known volume, A measured amount of dichlorvos [1.0 mg per lite] is added and the salmon are exposed for one hour. Certain larval forms are not killed by this remedy and retreatment is required. The Toxicity safety margin’ or TSM (the difference between an effective dose and a dose harmful to fish or humans) is x3. The half- life of dichlorvos.is 166 hours. Residues are not detectable in fish after one week. Dichlorvos is registered and is used in Scotland and Norway, but not in Canada orthe US. Diftubenzuron: This compound, which is not an organophosphate, inhibits chitin synthesis and thus prevents molting in arthropods. It is being considered for use against sea lice with some reservation since persistence in the environment could ‘cause harm to marine crustaceans, including crabs and lobsters, Hydrogen peroxide: Although a strong oxidizing agent, hydrogen peroxide breaks down to water and oxygen and thus has little impact on the environment. It has been used as a treatment for sea lice since the early 1990s in Norway, Scotland and Canada. It is an effective delouser at 1.5 g per liter with an exposure time of only 30 minutes, but it only works within a narrow water temperature range of 14 t0 18 °C. It is relatively expensive to use, and there is a question as to whether lice are actually killed, thus itis considered a ‘louse remover.’ What happens to the live ‘removed lice’ remains to be investigated, Ivermectin: Ivermectin is an oral medication administered in feed. It has been used as an efficacious antihelminthic drug in land farm animals for some time, and does reduce sea lice infestations on fish dosed once or twice per week. It has a slow48 BLANK thdrawal clearance rate from fish muscle tissue and the necessary clearance time prior to marketing is three months. It also persists in feces on the sea bottom under the net pens and the long term effect on marine organisms is not well known. There have been reports of deleterious side effects on the salmon themselves. It is not recommended for use to control sea lice in fish by the manufacturer, but although it is ecologically questionable, many salmon farmers illicitly use this drug. Potaséwm Iodine: It has been demonstrated that adding 20 mg/kg of potassium iodine to feed or the addition of 100 ppm to the sea water somewhat reduces C. elongatus infection. This treatment, however, has no effect on Lepeaphtheirus. Since Caligus ‘are not as threatening or pathogenic as Lepeephtheirus, the use of iodine has little pact on the overall sea louse problem. Pyrethrum: Natural pyrethrum is oil soluble and was first used by having infected fish jump through an oil-based layer on the surface of water within a net pen Synthetic pyrethroids such as remethrin and lambda-cyhalothrin are now more commonly in use to kill mobile sea lice, but have a variable effect on non-mobile larvae. The TSM is x5"! which is a rather close threshold. Although it has been reported to be used with some success in Norway, experimental trialsin the U.K. and Canada have met with some difficulties. It is not a drug of choice. In most countries, all rugs’ which have been or which will be considered for aquaculture operations are first tested for their effectiveness against the target sea lice, Subsequent testing has been directed specifically towards environmental and user safety, including effects on non-target organisms, and identification of toxicity safety margins, as well as the determination of the half life of each respective ‘compound. Unfortunately the specific tests and results are not readily available to the public. The ‘need to know’ and all that other governmental secrecy stuff is well guarded. sensitive information, [Who are they protecting anyway} It would be interesting to know, for example, how long-term effects of drugs and/or their breakdown products impact the environment. It is intriguing that these assumptions can be made in such relatively short periods of time. Many marine scientists believe that systematic treatment with drugs should only be considered as temporary control measures and their use reserved for when sea lice numbers are especially high, or when dealing with an epidemic, Several non-drug control methods are being studied and have been tried with great technical success. Cost and political haggling over co-operative operations plus additional labor costs, have hindered the wide acceptance of non-drug methods. Mankind seems forever to seek magic bullets rather than less aggressive and safer technologies. The following are a few ‘drug" free methods under advisement: Cleaner fist: Also known as cunner and/or wrasse these are various species of fish which feed principally by cleaning debris and ectoparasites from other fish and! ‘or marine animals. Especially efficacious were trials in Scotland, Norway, andSEA WARS 49 Ircland using either of two wild wrasse species commonly called ‘goldsinny’ (Centrotabrus rupestis) and ‘rock cock’ (Centrolabrus exoletus) at a concentration of one wrasse per 25 smolt. Native Atlantic Canadian cunner fish (Tautogolabrus ‘adsgersus), on the other hand, did not seem to be an effective cleaner of salmon in net pens stocked at a density of one cunner per 66 smolts. The introduction of such cleaner-fish species into net pens for the purpose of «eradicating sea lice from the salmon population isnot without drawbacks however, and several factors must be examined. For example, wrasse must be caught, taken ‘and handled from wild sources. Regular restocking is necessary because of mortality and/or escape. Wild stocks often carry bacterial furunculosis which isalso infective for salmon. Furthermore, they perform poorly during the winter months, and do not survive well in low salinity, which nullify their use on fish farms in more brackish waters. Fallowing: Newer strains of salmon (produced both by selective breeding and transgenic manipulation), as well a improved feeding and net pen management continue to reduce the time it takes smolts to achieve market size. Thisextrapolates tothe salmon spending less time in close net-penned quarters, and thus lesschance to become parasitized, adding a reason to advocate fallowing as a method of sea lice control. It has been well demonstrated that if net pens are allowed 0 be ‘unoccupied for two to three months between salmon crops, the rate of infection and numbers of sea lice are significantly reduced This practice, however, can be difficult to initiate and maintain in areas which contain small, individually owned sites. A carefully planned co-operative system ‘of net pen rotation would no doubt afford the best results. However, this ishighly unlikely given the predispositions and past history of humans working together towards a common goal, especially when the endpoint isthe sharing of work and profits. Vaccines: Ongoing work is continuing to suggest that a vaccine against sea lice might be feasible. Two directions are being explored, both based on sea louse antigen. ‘One school has identified a number of sea lice antigens that do indeed elicit an immune response in both fish and marine mammals. One specific line of research wolves an antigen isolated from lice intestines. In theory, host salmon would produce sufficient antibody against this protein to destroy louse gut cells and consequently kill them. Trials are also in progress to determine if selective ‘genctically-engincered antigens might be used to elicit protection. Other work thas begun based on evidence that certain salmon are naturally resistant to L. ‘salmonis, and researchers hope to use a cell-based reaction to eliminate chalimus larvae. Miscellaneous Exploration Other avenues involving newer ideas include studies, using transgenic techniques, based upon observations that certain strains of Atlantic salmon are naturally resistant50 BLANK (oC. elongatus and that two species of Oncorftynchus (pink salmon’ and masa salmon’) from the northern sea of Japan are naturally resistant to L. salmonis. ‘Some work has also been done utilizing husbandry management, For example, knowing that free swimming larval forms of sea lice are attracted to their hosts by light reflecting off the fish’ scales, shading the surface of net pens has been suggested to deter initial sea louse infestation. Along these same lines, light devices designed as lures and/or traps have been tried with considerable success, but only in small tanks. Electrical and sound wave devices are also being explored. Since the infective larvae of sea lice live only within the upper water column’, equally clever is the notion of designing net pens with enclosed net tops which then can be positioned below the water at a depth not normally inhabited by sea lice. Last, but certainly not least, and perhaps the most efficient and definitive way of ‘controlling the sea louse is land-based fish farming wherein filtered seawater could be ‘employed in large concrete tanks. This type of housing would eliminate a whole host of disease and management problems. Needless to say, however, land-based marine aquaculture operations require considerable capital investment, and unlike the vastness ‘of our salt water resources, there are limited land sites which are suitable and available. BIBLIOGRAPHY Mackinnon, BIM., “Hos factors important in sea ice infections’ Unpublished manuscript, 1997, Dept of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, N-B., Canada, MacKinnon, Barbara M., ‘Sea Lice ~ A Review” Unpublished manuscript, 1997, Dept of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, N.B., Canada. Young, David, ‘Salmon farmers deadly chemical "cookbook". Sant John Times Gabe as reported in the New Brunswick Telegraph deumal, Canada, October 12, 1996 Young, David, Salmon farmers secking cause of mysterious disease Saint Ln Times Globe as reported in the New Brunsvick Telegraph Journal, Canada, Jane 23, 1997 Hogans, W-E. and Trudeau, D1, Preliminary studies onthe biology of sc lice Cagis lngarus, CCalegiuscontus and Lepsphtheirussalmons parasitic on cage-cultures salmonids inthe lower Bay ‘of Fundy. Can, Tech, Rep. Fi, Aquat. Sci. 1989. Hull, M.Q., Mordue, AU. Pike, AW. and Rae, G-H., ‘The role of semiochemicalsin se lice (Leparphuheirus salmonis) biology and contro’, University of Aberdeen /Scotish Salmon Growers Asociation, 1996. Boxshall, G.A. and Defaye, D, (editors), Pathogens of Wild and Farmed Fis, Elis Horwood, London, 1994. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dr Barbara MacKinnon, The Huntsman Marine Science Center, Brandy Cove, St. Andrews, N.B., Canada, Dr. ‘Mick’ Burt, The Huntsman Marine Science Center, Bandy Cove, St. Andrews, N.B., Canada, Dz John Allen, The Huntsman Marine Seience Center, Brandy Cove, Si. Andrews, N.B,, Canada. Mr, Art Macintyre (diver), Saint Andrews Biological Station, St. Andrews, N.B., Canad Mr. and Mes. Page Edmunds (residents) Saint Andrews, N.B., Canada.Fish-Eating in Medieval England Moira Buxton ‘There isone fundamental difference to keep in mind in considering the consumption of fish in medieval England (as indced in medieval Europe) compared with our present ‘century and that is that we eat fish from choice, not necessity. Our choice of food to supply the protein needs of our bodies throughout the year is driven by individual preference, whether we eat fish, poultry, game, meat, vegetables or indeed all or any of these at luncheon or dinner, a preference which may or may not reflect pleasure in habitual food, curiosity about a new taste or indeed principle ~ if we are vegetarian for example. Lack of choice comes from basically two directions: + 1, Lack of resource whether in availability of any particular food in the market of the day or from the fact that we cannot afford a particular fish (few of us can eat caviar or even lobster every day) of, + 2. We are guests at someone else’ table and the choice of food has been made for us, In medieval England on the contrary every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, all of Lent and various other religious days were declared to be fish days ~ or days ‘on which neither meat nor meat products, which included animal products, ie milk, cream, butter, lard, eggs, or cheese, were allowed. There were exceptions of ‘course — principally forthe elderly the invalid and small children, but the rule held force with all the strength of temporal and spiritual power. Since the time of the Greek physician Galen certainly, and by implication not ‘originated by him but derived from earlier thinkers, the fundamental concept of the nature of all things developed from the variation within them of two pairs of elements, = warmth and cold on the one hand and dryness and moisture on the other. This was the basic theory of the four humours and their combinations in varying proportions — which echoed the variety of all known things. Add to these the four elements, air, fire, earth and water, and it became possible to define the four kinds of man — sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic and melancholic ~ and to form a philosophic and ‘medical basis on which to form a regimen for healthy existence. Air, water and earth provided the source of food and shaped its qualities; fire modified the temperament of the food by cooking it and it was by knowing the resultant essential qualities of all foodstuffs that the doctor or the professional cook knew what was good or bad to ‘eat and how to modify foods with a dangerous temperament to make them safer (0 ‘eat It was very clear to the medieval mind that anyone concerned about health and. well-being must be able to consult either a medical treatise or a recipe book and that he would find a consistent approach to the principles of sound health in either ~ and. indeed many manuscripts contain entries under both topics. 5152 BUXTON From the Christian church and its theologians, with their preoccupation with clean and unclean, pure and impure, came the moral and spiritual imperative to define the ways by which an individual could make himself or herself purer, more pleasing to God and in a better state to approach him. These men accepted the Galenic theories, of the humours and the classic formulation of the ways in which food affected an individual's temperament. It was very clear to them that the meat of quadrupeds was in general of a warm nature and that the production of sanguine and choleric temperament by consuming such food led directly to excesses of lechery and other ‘carnal (no pun intended!) appetites. Therefore it was obvious to a medieval cleric that a diet of fish could not result in such temptation and sin as that engendered by a diet ‘of meat. There was also a profound belief that mortifying the flesh was to the benefit ‘ofthe soul and to the likelihood of increasing purity ofthe spirit. Those days declared to be non-meat-eating days passed through graduations of abstinence both in the degree of stricture in diet — from the fast day lacking meat or fowl or fish or any of their products to the less restrictive fish-cating days ~ and in the degree of observation ofthe rules and by whom they should be kept. Laymen rarely kept full fast days other than Good Friday and many not even Good Friday. The rules for clerics varied in strictness with the more austere orders (such as the Carthusians and Cistercians) never ‘eating meat and in varying degrees allowing themselves fish on feast days. So the institution of fast days and fasting (or fish) days at times particularly relevant for purification or penitence such as Advent, Lent or the great days of the ecclesiastical ‘calendar and for regular maintenance of well being throughout every week ofthe year, made for very good practice. The restrictions on diet and their regulation and ‘observation did inevitably vary over the centuries both from time to time and from place to place but the basic principles were not in themselves challenged. ‘Our theories of good nutrition have a very different basis but if one looks at a diet which on over half the days in the year means an individual eats fish, vegetables, fruit and bread and uses basically mono-saturated oils, and on the other 40 per cent of days, ‘eats no fish but any other meat or fowl, butter, eggs etc along with vegetables, fruit and bread, the likelihood is that a nutritionist would regard it as asomewhat unusual and odd but effective way of achieving a good diet. Even the use of salt fish — and one has to allow that much of this salt content would be minimised by the prolonged soaking of such fish to remove its salt ~ would not compare in danger to the individual in many sections, not just the poorer sections, of twentieth-century communities with the over-indulgence in fat and sugar and in the low vegetable consumption of such ‘communities. ‘There was also for the Church another side to the observance of fasting and feast days. Not only were they a reflection of the individuals mortification and penitence but aso the observance ofthe public mortification and penitence of society as a whole; the discipline involved reflected the preparation of the whole community for the great feasts of the Christian year. At all times, a fast or deprivation was to be a conscious offering by an individual or society endured quietly for its spiritual benefit; any display of will power or overt deprivation would have invalidated the purpose and nature of the penance ~ it would have been an open display of the Deadly Sin of Pride. InFISH-EATING IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND 33 addition to the official fish days anyone could decide to practice a private mortification ‘on any day of the year but it was always very clear that a private mortification or penance must be undemonstrative and show consideration for others, In turn the whole temporal aspect of society reflected this spiritual division of time and food. The actual provision of this amount of fish to the whole state of England (much oft remote from the sea and therefore dependent on fresh water fish — whether from natural river, pond or lake or from man-made stews, or as salted or preserved fish, whether salted, smoked or air-dried) supported a host of trades and industries. Some of these would have existed in any case ~ the production of boats, sails, ropes and so forth for the fishing industry would have been a necessity but with roughly 60 percent of the year consisting of fsh-cating the volume was increased dramatically, as was the production of barrels and labour of coopers and all the other ancillary trades from builders to salters in the fishing ports. The necessary planning to make fish available on the table at the right time took very considerable forethought and ‘care. The eels to be eaten in Lent had to be put in a cleaned and repaired stew-pond in late August and early September, farmed with care for months and guarded against those who would have stolen and sold them at great profit in Lent itself, Provision of salt herring again provided opportunity for forethought. They were much cheaper at the time of the great runs of herring shoals past the northern coasts in the autumn when they were easy to catch, to salt, to dry and to store whether in barrels or smoked. They were also very much easier to move about the country before the winter's storms, and rainfall caused deterioration in the roads and river-ways ‘Our understanding of the composition of the main meal ofa fish-eating day in fourteenth- or fifteenth-century England is tempered as always by the source of our information. In this case itis largely from monastic or aristocratic records — and from the subset ofthese that deal with menus or recipes or festive occasions or household Practice. It is always necessary to remember that in any houschold up to and including royal ones what any diner had before him, in the number of dishes served in any ‘course of a meal, was small or large in portion, narrow or wide in choice, not just according to the means of the household at that time and the religious day and season ofthe year, but varied also according to his rank. Certainly there would be one or two ‘courses ~ sometimes three at a banquet. Each of these courses would be composed of a number of dishes ~ anything in number from three or four upwards for an ordinary dinner ~ usually starting with a broth or pottage or dish such as frumenty with pieces of fish (on a fish day) or venison or meat with frumenty on a meat day, as these were considered easy to digest and good openers for a meal ~ with choice of dishes mounting as they were served from the kitchen, The amount served to individual diners or groups of diners would vary with their rank ~ a whole fish to the Jord or the king and increasingly smaller portions to those lower in rank and with the rich and rare dishes not served to the lesser mortals at all. This was not quite as indulgent or exclusive as it appears since it was the social duty of the lord to serve ~ ‘or send ~ special ttbits or pioces of a choice dish to those in favour or whom he wished to compliment, The large number of dishes in a formal dinner or banquet is astonishing to those of us accustomed to the few dishes of the normal or indeed the54 BUXTON ‘entertaining dinner of the twentieth century. The wide ranging nature of these dishes, is even more astounding ~ perhaps the nearest twentieth-century equivalent is the Chinese banquet with 30-40 dishes. Implicit in this is the skill and range of the kitchens and cooks who are preparing the food and the complementary skills of those who plan its arrival on the table at the correct time and in the correct order. An ordinary dinner from the kitchen of a country manor would not show the ‘complications of the grand dinner or feast but it would reflect the same principles. The variety of fish eaten in medieval times included every fish that British fishermen catch at sea now, an even wider variety of shellfish than is customarily ‘consumed now and any river or pond fish that could be caught, down to and including minnows. There were a few fish such as barbel which were regarded with decided caution, basically because of a perceived hazard of poisonous fin or spike, but the general attitude was quite simple and rather akin to the attitude to birds: if it moved and was not the property of the king or other powerful man, one ate it ifone had the opportunity. Preserved fish ‘Stockfish was probably the most unpleasant and difficult ofthe preserved fish to deal with; it was sufficently dried to keep for up to ten years, whereas salt fish was expected to keep for up to two years, though a certain implication can be found in the sale price after a year being half that of sat fish of less than a year’s age. Herring fell into a separate category; they were preserved primarily by soaking in brine for about fifteen hours and then barrelled up between layers of sal; it was essential to keep air from them as it would, ifit reached them, oxidize their fat and they would then become rancid. The smoking of herring developed late in the thirteenth century — again they were first salted in a heavy brine and then strung up, as they still are, in rows and smoked in specially constructed chimneys or kilns for many hours over smouldering wood or seaweed and then when sufficentially cured they too were barrelled. Some herring were smoked with their roes still within, some complete and some gutted, ‘They were always large herring and they remained large, soft and well-lavoured, but they were much more expensive than salt herring. Salt fish and good quality herring ‘were a staple for the prosperous and powerful; poor quality herring and stockfish were the staple of the poor. In the 1390/91 accounts of Henry, Ear! of Derby, the Clerk to the Kitchen notes a payment to a man hired to prepare stockfish by beating them with ahammer ~ pro verberacione iiC stokes, vii d’— hard-earned reward. The best description of its preparation is I think that of the Goodman of Paris ~ “When it is taken in the far seas and it is desired to keep it for ten or twelve years, itis gutted and. its head removed and it is dried in the wind and sun and in no wise by a fire or smoked; and when this is done itis called stockfish. And when it hath been kept a Jong time and is desired to eat it, it behoves to beat it with a wooden hammer for a full two hours or more, then cook and scour it very well like beef: then eat it with mustard or soaked in butter.” As a child in County Antrim, I can remember stockfish in the Friday market of the town we lived in; harder than boards, it was either soldFISH-EATING IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND 35 ‘whole or cut with a saw ~ no knife could have cut it though I have a vague memory of it being notched and then broken over a solid object which I recall as being somewhat anvil-like. I was curious about it and was told it was beaten with a beetle (a wooden mallet) and then soaked in water for two days - the water changed often ~ the last two changes were buttermilk. It was then cooked slowly in milk, eaten with potatoes and was horrible’. I never tasted it, but I can well believe treated in this way it was as revolting asit looked in the market, dully displaying its grey, salty tiff state. On the other hand, I do think the principles behind this treatment in the hands of a proper cook could make it palatable. There were also cod or ling, salted to a lesser degree, and, of course, the innumerable varieties of salted and smoked herring — all ‘of which would have, as their inevitable accompaniment, both under dietary theory and by traditional taste, a goodly helping of mustard. Such a combination must have made anyone cating it incredibly thirsty (a thirst which must have been the answer to any brewers or vintner’s prayer) and indeed must have contributed to the raised degree of drunkenness during fast periods. From early times drinking, at least for lay people, was not regarded by the Church as breaking the fast; those who sought Biblical authority could always quote St Paul ~ ‘drink a little wine for thy stomach’s sake’ ~ and those of a more secular nature could always ‘declare that it was the nature of fishes to swim. For the poor, though, this was the only ‘comfort in Lent or other lengthy fast. For those better placed in society there were other indulgences too; firstly the choice of wines as well as ale and secondly by the fifteenth century it was possible to buy from the Church a further ‘indulgence’. The rules about meat and other flesh ‘eating were never relaxed, but it was quite possible to pay cash to the Church and buy permission to eat butter or other dairy produce during fast periods. Butter, whether applied lavishly or meanly, vastly improves any salt fish — think if you will how the addition of oil or melted butter to salt cod makes the unctuousness of any dish of the brandade de morve type. This arrangement favoured both the eater and the Church; ‘comfort for the former and advantage to the glories of the latter; one of the more dramatic examples isthe beautiful fifteenth century ‘Butter Tower’ at Rouen cathedral, named after the indulgences that were the source of the funds for its construction. Fresh fish Fresh fish falls into two kinds, seafish and freshwater fish, Sea-fish and shellfish were available to all rich and poor who lived by or in reasonable proximity to the sea; shell- fish in particular was cheap and available in quantity but both kinds greatly improved the quality of everyone’ diet. Whale, porpoise and sturgeon were all royal fish and ordinary people might never taste the latter two in their lifetimes. However a fisherman or a foreshore-owning tenant where a whale came aground, was usually granted the carcase — apart from the head — and could make a fine profit by selling the meat; alittle might be sold fresh but it would largely be sold cut in pieces and salted. Away from the sea, freshwater fish were much in demand, Eels were found in ‘many rivers and were the fresh fish most commonly eaten by the poor. Millponds were56 BUXTON ‘a source of fish for their manorial or monastic owners as were the artifical fishponds ‘or stews constructed on the manors and grounds of those who held land. Some river- fishing was freely available at certain times and certain places and there was fre fishing ‘on navigable rivers as far upstream as they were tidal. Nevertheless fish eating for the poor was @ miserable business, alleviated by the ‘occasional fresh herring in their season or the even more occasional freshwater fish. Fish cating for the upper reaches of society was avery different matter. Variety in fresh as well as salt fish was always available and even without indulgences, which were only available towards the end of the period, the wealth to provide the kitchen with almonds (and to a lesser extent other nuts) offered the cooks the possibilities of serving fish in similar rich spicy pottages as meat, serving it grilled or roasted with appetising sauces, baked in pies or made into blanemange or jelly. The venison and frumenty that opened a banquet on meat days might be replaced by frumenty with porpoise, but the remainder of the meal would echo the style and elegance ofthe dishes to which people were accustomed. Indeed it was customary at feasts on great occasions when the senior abbots, prelates and princes of the Church were present to provide two ‘menus ~ one of two or even three courses of meat, poultry and game for lay guests and one, equally magnificent in its courses of superb fish dishes, for the clergy. Such food on a smaller scale was the expected provender on fast days in the houses of the powerful and one must remember that in such houses many people were customarily fed, not with all the dishes, but to a degree that they could only hope to enjoy there. ‘Almonds were the essential facilitators of fine eating on fish days; almonds ground finely and mixed 1:4 with water or wine or fish stock and then strained and pressed through linen in astrainer made almond milk; with a higher proportion of almonds, it made almond cream. The residue, if thick and boiled with alittle wine and strained again or left to drip, made almond butter. The residue of thin milk, if put in a mortar with breadcrumbs made a flavoursome thickener for pottage or bruet. Thickening Purely with ground almonds — an excellent substitute for eges— was, and is, expensive but very good. Fish could be roasted (generally on a spit, in which case it was often larded with cel) or grilled on a gridiron (for the flatter fish or pieces of fish) and these two methods are fairly interchangeable inthe recipes; their usage seems dependent on size. It could also be fried (in oil), baked (in those houses which did have an oven), sewed, poached ‘or made into pottage: in other words, basically, apart from the microwave, the techniques are those we use today. It could als, in the case of rich fish such as salmon, cel, turbot, mackerel, pike, tench or plaice, be eaten cold with a sauce (often a green sauce) or in that favourite feast dish, a jelly. The liquid for the jelly would of course be from a fish source ~ pieces of pike, the skin of ec, the trimmings of salmon and if necessary the sounds (or swimming bladders) of other fish, ‘Though a cook in any great kitchen could make a list of prohibited foods and a second list of permissible foods and hence alist of foods which paralleled each other (or by the use of almond milk could be tempered to parallel each other), there was much more to a menu for a fast day than mere substitution. To obey Christian dietary laws and to obey them in a way that fulfilled his duty of service to his masterFISH-EATING IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND 37 demanded from the cook not just facile changes but a combination of dishes, either within a course or series of courses, that carried an elegant and rounded coherence which would do honour both to his master, his master’ guests and household and to his own reputation. Only he and the steward with whom he would compose his menu and who would resource his culinary needs, could thus perform their service to their lord and to God whether on a meat or a fish-eating day. Recipes (These are adapted from various medieval sourees and are copytight to M.J. Buxton.) Frumenty with porpoise 225g bulgar (or cracked wheat) + 55g finely ground almonds liquid: */s fish stock, '/s water in amount specified by brand of cereal you are using In present circumstances, use tuna or swordfish ~ we do not eat porpoise. Cook the bulgar according to packet instructions. When cooked stir in the almonds and decorate with grilled, peppered thin slices of tuna or swordfish (I usea very hot ribbed. iron grillpan for approximately 1 minute on each side). Blamanger of fish — fish with almonds and rice 340g of skinned/deboned poached white fish weighed after these processes 225g raw long-grain rice + 250ml fish stock or white wine or a mixture 115g finely ground almonds « half a teaspoon sugar "Zs teaspoon ground ginger « salt ‘Cook the rice until well done. While it cooks make an almond milk by warming the liquid to blood-heat, adding the ground almonds and simmering atthe lowest possible heat until the rice is cooked (thisis not the standard almond milk asit is not strained but added entire to the rice and fish) and flake the fish into small pieces. When the rice is cooked, drain it well and mix with the almond milk, the spices, sugar and fish in apan. Taste to se if it needs more salt, add if necessary and stir together over gentle heat until the fish is warmed through, the almond milk absorbed and the blamanger is thick. Serve with Green Sauce; on special occasions the blamanger looks superb sprinkled with pomegranate seeds ~ the red jellied seeds on the white fish are astonishingly pretty.58 BUXTON Green sauce — for blamanger or grilled fish 2 thick slices white bread salt and pepper 60ml vinegar poured onto a plate * fish stock (less than 250 ml) 1 large handful of parsley and 1 of mixed other herbs or 2 handfuls of what herbs you have — all finely chopped Prepare a very hot grill. Cut the crusts from the bread, dip each side rapidly in and ‘out of the vinegar and toast to a pale brown under the grill ~ you must not do this, in an electric toaster but itis very easy under the gril. Break in pieces into a processor, add half the herbs, salt and 125 ml of the fish stock. Process, adding more liquid dependant on how thick you want the sauce. Remove and add the rest of the herbs. ‘You can heat it but I think it is better cold. Haddock with onion sauce Whole haddock, beheaded, trimmed and cleaned * 115g breadcrumbs large onion finely chopped + 30g oil * 300m! ale "Js teaspoon ground pepper, salt + pinch of saflron ‘Simmer the spices in the ale while you fry the onion until transparent in the oil and bring a fish-kettle with enough lightly salted water to just cover the fish, to the boil. Add the fish to the liquid and cook until about 2 minutes before it would be done. Meanwhile prepare a very hot grill and add the breadcrumbs to the spiced ale and ‘onions and simmer while the fish cooks Take out the fish, pat it dry very gently and. place under the very hot grill, turning once before itis done. Serve on a very hot with the sauce poured over. Mackerel with mint sauce 1 kg of mackerel, beheaded, cleaned, trimmed and cut in 50 mm pieces 200m! water + 4 large stalks mint + 200 ml sharp white wine or cider 2 stalks parsley + 2 spring onions salt 1 tablespoon each of finely chopped mint and parsley. Put the liquids in a saucepan, add half a teaspoon salt, the chopped spring onions, the stalks of mint and parsley and bring to the boil. Add the mackerel, return to just under the boil and cook until fish is ust done. Remove the fish to a serving dish, beat the chopped herbs with 300 ml of the cooking liquid, check the seasoning and pour ‘over the fish. Serve hot or coldFISH-EATING IN MEDIEVAL ENGLAND 59 Mortrewes 680 g of any white fish fillets + 15g very finely ground almonds 125-250g white breadcrumbs « salt '/,teaspoon each of ground pepper, ground ginger and ground cumin Put the fish in a wide shallow pan, barely cover with boiling water and add '/s teaspoon salt. Poach until fish is just done. Take the fish out and steep the almonds in 300 ml ofthe fish liquid. Remove skin and bones from the fish and put through the processor with a very little of the fish stock. Now mix in a heavy-bottomed saucepan the almonds and their stock, 125g of the breadcrumbs (add more if needed to thicken the mixture), the fish and the spice. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary. The mixture will be very thick. Cook over gentle heat, stirring continuously until mortrewes are very hot. Remove and serve either hot or cold. When cold mortrewes ‘cuts like a paté, Crustade of eerbis — fish tart with walnuts and herbs 450g thick salmon fillet, skinned and cut in 25 mm cubes 115g broken walnuts * 2 teaspoons oil Juice of a lemon made up to 120 ml with water 450g frozen chopped spinach salt and pepper pinch each of ginger, cinnamon and mace 200 mm tart tin lined with short-crust pastry Line the pastry in the tin with foil and baking beans and cook for 5 minutes at 400°R, 200°C or 160°C fan-oven. Remove from oven, take out fol and beans and return to ‘oven for a further 3 minutes. Take out of oven, place salmon cubes over the pastry, brush them lightly with oil and return to oven for a further 3 minutes. Meanwhile thaw and dehydrate the spinach in a pan where it just covers the bottom and then add the walnuts processed with the lemon juice and water and the spices. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary. There should be time for this mixture to cook over ‘gentle heat for 3 minutes before the salmon has had its 3 minutes in the oven. Take the tart out of the oven, pour the mixture over the fish and return to the oven for another 12 to 15 minutes until firm on top. Serve hot.Lotus-Eaters Holly Chase ‘Claude Monet's paintings; the border design on the crockery at the local Chinese restaurant; and a current billboard campaign for the American mass-market beet, which presents a frog on a waterlily leaf with the caption, ‘Budweiser: bring some back to your pad * all capitalize on our acquaintance with certain aquatic flora. Venerable and cross-cultural, the symbolism of waterllies and lotuses is vas. Whether our recognition is conscious or unconscious, it is reasonable to assume that some aspect of these flowers will have resonance for every person reading this paper. ‘Waterlties and lotuses,' all members of the family Nymphaceze, are indigenous to Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. Most familiar to the European and North American gardener or country walker are the genera Nymphaea, Nelumbo and Nuphar, cultivated and wild waterlilies which grow flat upon the water’s surface (like those in Monet's paintings). ‘Nymphaea lotus and Nymphaea caerulea, respectively the white and blue lotuses of Egypt, are also familiar, if only through our fascination with ancient Egyptian arts ‘Species of Nelumbo (or Nelumbium)? are found primarily throughout South Asia, and in northern Australia. Stately, with both leaves and flowers borne high above the waters on slender stalks, these are the lotuses we recognize in Asian art ‘What most concerns usis that all these plants growing in the mud of freshwater ponds, lakes, and slow-moving streams in temperate and tropical regions ~ are edible. Sources ranging from Chinese herbals to American Indian lore contain numerous, though sometimes tantalizingly incomplete, references to consumption of virtually all parts of the plants ~ their fleshy rhizomes, seedpods, seeds, stems, leaves, and flowers, Both wild and cultivated, lotuses have long been powerful symbols — as well as important sources of food for a variety of urban, agrarian, and foraging populations. Lotuses figure in the literary and archeological legacies of the early civilizations of Egypt and the Indian subcontinent; evidence of appreciation of the plants spans over four millennia, Ancient Egyptians revered the flower as an example of continuous, rebirth; their mythology incorporated the reality that certain species of lotus close their blooms at night and reopen them in the morning. At sunset the sun-god Atum centered the flower to be enfolded in its petals only to re-emerge with the following. dawn. ‘As an amulet, [the lotus] signified the divine gift of eternal life.” ‘The creation myth of Hinduism depicts the god Vishnu as Padmanabha, literally he with the lotus in his navel. Vishnu dozes upon a serpent floating upon the cosmic ‘ocean while alotus sprouts from his navel; the flower cradles the god Brahma, whose task isto create the world.*LOTUS-EATERS 61 Excavations in the Indus Valley site of Harappa yielded arepresentation of a lotus fruit in faience, which probably dates from the second millennium nc.’ An undated clay model of a lotus fruit (pod with seeds) is in Cairo’ Agricultural Museum.* Centuries after the Indus settlements had declined, a new Indian religion, Buddhism, grew out of Hinduism and appropriated the lotus to illustrate that ones spiritual perfection depends on transcending earthly distractions and baseness. ‘The important Saddharmapundarika-sutra, the Lotus Sutra, invites all beings to strive to ascend to complete enlightment. Rising above murky waters, the lotus image remains apt; indeed, the Buddha almost always appears enthroned or standing upon a Jotus blossom, As Buddhism spread, the lotus and its sacred associations moved through Asia?” This Vietnamese folk poem is a good example of how pervasive the Buddhist ideal became in everyday life. What is more beautiful than a fotusin a pond? Its leaves are shiny green, its petals pure white, its stamens yellow, Yellow stamens, white petals, green leaves: Always near mud, it never smells of mud." Anonymous. ‘A more jaded assessment of the lotus’ ability to rise above it all is expressed by this verse by an urbane Chinese functionary: (On the Lotuses Newly Planted at the Municipal Headquarters A muddy ditch filled with ditty water. And on the water eaves, disk on disk ‘The moment I saw them I heaved a long sigh, For [knew they had been brought from the Eastern Brook, Up from below comes green slime to foul them; [Never again will they smell fresh and sweet. Down from above drops red dust to soil them; "Never again will their color be clear and bright. Itisnot only things whose nature is thus, In human matters it also must be so. Now rested from the scene to which you belong, In front of @ government building you wilt and pine.? Bai Ju-Yi (Tang dynasty bureauerat, 2072-846) Early Indian scriptures pay particular attention to the purity of water. Drinking water is to be ‘healthgiving and [possess] the fragrance of the lotus." Whether this simply means that one is supposed to partake of sweet water, water pure enough to support lotuses,"" or water actually flavored by lotus petals (some species are intensely fragrant), we do not know. ‘The devotional poetry of India provides us with some intoxicating lines: White Conch from the Fathomless Sea (excerpt) a the swan imbibes the honey ofthe fresh pink lotus,62 CHASE you elimbed into the beauteous hand of Vasudeva dark lord of glowing eyes ‘you imbibe ‘the nectar ofhisips.."* Aantal, ninth eentury ao, South Indian mystic ‘Two French sources mention lotus in connection with slightly more terrestrial beverages: in a Javanese medicinal tea" and in the famous ‘Lotus Flower Tea' sold by Parisian tea purveyor.'* ‘Today, gastronomic appreciation of the lotus is most highly developed in South and, East Asia. But before entering those areas, a non-chronological overview of lotus- ‘eating from Wes to East can give some idea of the range of interest in Nymphaceae.'® ‘Several twentieth-century U.S. field guides to wild plants repeat myriad uses for parts of North American species and attribute certain preparations to indigenous tribes. The mother'® of most of these accounts of American waterlily consumption seems to be the botanical notebook of Captain Meriwether Lewis, written in 1803~ (04 during the trans-Mississippi Expedition that has come to be known as the Lewis, and Clark Expedition. Lewis, who had had botanical training, provides an extensive description of po- ‘kish-a-co-mah and details how the Kikapoo Indians of southeastern Illinois harvested the rhizomes, feeling for them in the mud with their bare feet. He notes that they eat the succulent seeds raw or roasted, and that the pecled root, boiled to a pulp makes an agreeable soupe’. In addition, the Indians cut the root in short ieces...[and] string it on bark or leather throngs (sic) of aconvenient length and hangiit to dry in the sun, or expose to smoke of their chimnies (sic), when thus dried it will keep for several years, itis «estimated as nutricious (sic) asthe pumpkin or squash and is not dissimilar in taste." Moving to the Mediterranean, one cannot address lotuses and leave out Odysseus, wwe landed in the country ofthe Lotus-Baters, who live on a flowering food... My ‘men went on and presently met the Lotus-Eaters...they only gave them the lotus to taste of, But any of them who ate the honey-sweet fruit ofthe lotus...wanted to stay there with the lotus-eating people, feeding on lotus, and forget the way home. I ‘myself took these men back weeping, by fore..." Despite centuries of speculation, scholars cannot identify the shores of the Lotophagoi nor the fruit of forgetfulness, The Isle of Djerba or the coast of Libya? Species of jujube, dates, and various leguminous fruits known to grow in North Africa have all been suggested. Darby et al. provide a fascinating discussion of the nomenclatorial chaos concerning various aquatic, herbaceous, and woody plants to which classical writers gave the names lotus, lotas and 20t0s. Herodotus’ account of Egyptian bread made from crushed seeds of a certain waterlily seems dubious. But for his detailed description of their harvest, which involved allowing the seedpods to decay, one might discount that this bread was everLOTUS-EATERS 63 made. The lotus’ underwater rhizome is far starchier than its seed and it would have taken vast quantities of lotus seed to make a bread that could, as Herodotus put it, ‘satisfy their physical needs.” Nevertheless, numerous references to this ancient lotus bread persist in twentieth-century food compendia. ‘Theophrastus seems more reliable. Describing the ‘Egyptian bean’, he accurately and resourcefully compares the seedpod to a wasp's nest with a bean in each cell, (This was something his stay-at-home readers could envision.) He goes on: the root is thicker than the thickest reed and this is made up of distinctive tubes...” (He is probably referring to the cavities that run the length of each section of the rhizome.) * {the Egyptians] eat it both raw, boiled and roasted, and the people of the marshes ‘make this their food. It grows mostly ofits own accord; however, they also sow it in the mud..."° If lotus were indeed ‘sown’, this could explain the elaborate seed colle procedures described by Herodotus. ion In both the Americas and the Mediterranean, lotus appears to have been a staple food, Fifteenth-century records of food procured for Pekin’s Forbidden City lst lotus root. Surprisingly, it was one of the cheaper items, less than half the price of ginger- root, and only a fifth the price of seaweed." During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), lotus roots, seedpods, and seeds were ‘customary offerings by members of the Imperial family at temples consecrated to their forebears. Ming ancestors had been tenant farmers and scholars reason that food offerings, even though made by the richest and most powerful, would have reflected the [ancestral] tastes and food ideals of a poor peasant family. Bernard Read, atwentieth-century missionary to China, lists Iotus roots and seeds as famine foods and values 100 grams of lotus root at 48 calories.** More than one Chinese writer extols the plant's versatility. The engaging Doreen Yen Hung Feng writes (in the middle of this century), In raising plants, the Chinese farmer prefers to grow those that will take the least space and yet serve more than one purpos...the saeed lotus... is highly regarded by the Chinese as both a decorative and a utilitarian plant. I isthe symbol of purity and perfection, forit growsout of the mud but remains undefiled... gigantic blossoms of pink-tipped ivory...rich green leaves float platterlike upon sill waters. Every part of the plant hasaname and a use, The regal blossom haw-faah isused asan ornament.The creeping jointed underwater stems, ngav-gun, when cut across expose aseiesof hollow tunnels concentrically aranged in solid tissue...fresh or dried {these are] sliced and. cooked... dried and ground to powder, ngow-fun, are. fa thickener, like] arrowroot. ‘The leaves when dried are used for wrapping food, but when these haw-yeepate fresh, they.,.add flavor and fragrance to cooking food. The stalk, haw-bay, and [the seedpod) lien-poongare ground and used medicinally. The fruit (seeds), ents (linst2u..len- Jee... len-ye are [festive foods]; and the dried yellow stamens, ien-w, are used a a cosmetic of astringent quality." ‘One must also bear in mind that traditional Chinese medicine holds that all food has the potential to improve or disrupt one’s physical equilibrium. Thus, any food64 CHASE A painting fom Kast In theo sion, a Bouman i gathering las rt, Thre are ly lus rts and pds in the lover pat. (Repreduced by permision of he British Library MS ADD OR 1676 B.1866,) GoogleLOTUS-EATERS 65 ‘can be prescribed (or witheld), just as one would administer a drug. Given their watery origin, ivory tone, and delicate taste, it isnot surprising that lotusroots should be considered to be a cooling, yin food, recommended for relief of heat-related ailments. Indias Ayurvedic remedies also utilize the lotus, and throughout Asia, ‘contemplation of the flower’ beauty is considered spiritually beneficial.* Regarding the actual preparation of lotus, there are a few peculiarities: once the root is peeled and/or sliced, it must be put immediately into acidulated water let it darken and lose its appealing ivory color. The cook is warned that as a thickener for liquids, Jotus starch initially turns purple and if over-heated loses its thickening properties. Fresh lotus seeds may be enjoyed raw, but any bitter, sprouting germs in the centers of the seeds should first be removed. ‘Though lotus root is commonly enjoyed in Japan and Korea as a pickle, salad ingredient, and garnish, the most extensive English culinary references draw upon the lotus in China’ cuisines. Thus, itis these and my own dining experiences upon which I have relied In the West, our gustatory encounters with the lotus are most likely to have been: leaves, as aromatic wrappers for glutinous rice in the dim-sum preparation of luo mi Jit roots, as lacy slices in stir-fried dishes; and seeds, whole as a component of ‘Eight Treasure Rice’, or as sweetened, golden paste in filled buns.” Lotus seeds have auspicious associations and also appear in sweet soups at weddings, since their name lien-tcu, also means * successive birth of sons.** Less well-known is lotus root starch, used to give an especially crispy coating to fried foods. Throughout South Asia fresh leaves serve as attractive platters for meals, imparting a subtle fragrance to the food. There is frequent mention of very young lotus leaves as a salad ingredient and even one note on deep-fried lotus petals” According to Madhur Jaffe, lotus root remains a staple food in Kashmir. Because so much of the province is mountainous, the agricultural potential of numerous lakes is exploited. In addition to crops planted upon rafts of mud and reeds, the lakes support lotuses. A charming (ninetcenth- or twentieth-century) illustration from the India Office Library depicts aspects of Kashmiri lotus harvesting: a boatman with a Jong hooked pole lifts a segmented length of lotus root from the waters.” Young girls are taught that lotus roots, known as nedr in Kashmiri are to be ‘cut into 's inch rounds to be cooked with spinach, '/s inch diagonals if they are to be cooked with the red-leafed wasiahaak (a vegetable], into 1'/s inch long chunks if they are to be made into a yoghurt-enriched yachni (a stew); the same chunks need to be halved lengthwise, ifthe lotus isto be cooked with fish, and s0 on." Nedr finds its way into kafta (risoles). Dipped in rice flour batter (interesting, since they themselves can provide a flour) roots become fitters. Ms Jaffrey mentions the delicious nedr churm, crunchy lotus root chips fried in mustard oil. ‘One delectable version of the complex Gujerati dish, undhiyu — aubergines, potatoes, and bananas, each stuffed with its own spice mixture, fresh coriander and66 CHASE ‘coconut — can also include stuffed lengths of lotus root. Clearly, we have moved from staple foods into the realm of connoisseurship. Writing circa 1600, a resident of Nanking affirms that the lotus roots [in Nanking] are as big and strong as a man’ arm, yet sweet and crisp, totally without any pulpy residue. All other lotus root of the entire Chiang-nan region is inferior to it." Cuisine in the quiet northern Chinese city of Jinan has been influenced by the proximity of Daming Lake. Among the regional specialities, Nina Simonds, ‘contemporary authority on Chinese restaurant dining, recommends aquatic produce: a Jerusalem artichoke-like vegetable (pu cai), rice shoots, and lotus roots — in salads and soups, and stuffed with glutinous rice." Even if lotuses were not food themselves, their beauty would still have made them aesthetic adjuncts to the enjoyment of food and drink. As it urns out, some very suggestive writing does draw upon lotus imagery, just as it draws upon food, to ‘reate an atmosphere of desire and indulgence. In the later halfof the sixteenth century, the Chin-ping mei, ahedonistic Chinese novel, took sensuality to new levels and employed food ‘explicitly as a counterpart to sex." Viewed as an invaluable storehouse of Ming social minutiae, the tale is replete with lotus imagery. Asa prelude to one infamous trysting scene, a concubine named Golden Lotus feasts with her master. They dally in a garden (undoubtedly planted with lotuses) on a hot summer afternoon. Among the delicacies presented to them are cooling foods such as fresh walnut meats and green lotus seeds. The lovers drink their wine in golden cups shaped like lotus seedpods. The setting and foods evoke a feeling of luxury. As a general under three emperors, the general Liu K’un probably spent little time in pleasure gardens. He was not, however, indifferent to lotuses. A Tartar Maid At dawn Men turned their heads Tsaw a rainbow ‘Abundred times In the sky, To look at her ‘And below me, And regretted In the deep-green water, That her shadow — Floated ‘And not they — Fragrant lotus-buds, Found place at her side. A pretty Tartar girl When I came to settle OF just fifteen For the wine ‘Smiled most bewitchingly That Thad drunk, Before the tavern door. Lfound She was more beautiful ‘The beauty of the maiden ‘Than the flowers — Had been added to the bill?” ‘And she knew it too, Liu Keun (a0270-317) ‘The West likes its women with wine and roses; the East with wine and lotuses.LOTUS-EATERS 1 BIBLIOGRAPHY ‘Achaya, K-T, Indian Food: A Historical Companion; Oxford University Press; New Delhi, 1994, Bailey, LH., Manual of Cultivated Plants, Macmillan; New York 1949, Bich, Nguyen Ngoc, transator, A Thawgand Years of Viemamese Poetry, 1975. Birch, Cyril, editor, Anthology of Chinew Literature, wo. 1: Grove Press: New York, 1965. Chang, KC. editor, Faad in Chinew Culture: Anthropological and Hiscrical Perpecives, Yale University Press. 1977. (Chao, Buwei Yang, How 10 Cook and Ea in Chine, Vintage Books (Random House; 1963, Chu, Grace Zia, Madame Chu’ Chinew Caaking Sch; Simon & Schuster: New York, 1975. Darby, William J, Ghalioungui, Paul, and Griveti, Louis E., Food: The Gift of Osiris (Vol. 2); ‘Academie Press New York, 1976. Dehejia, Vidya, Antal and her Path of Lave: oom of a Woman Saint from India: State University of [New York Press, Albany, 1990, Hirt, Henry H,, translator, A Garden of Penis, Stanford University; California, 1938, Homer, The Od\sey of Homer, translated by Richard Lattimore; Harper & Row; New York, 1967, Jaffiey, Madhur, A Tase of India, Atheneum; New York, 1986 Landry, Robert, The Gentle Art of Flavoring: A Guide to Good Cooking, translated by Bruce H. Axler, Abelard-Schuman; New York, 1970. Lewis, Captain Meriwether, nots reprinted and appended to The Original kaumals ofthe Lewis and Clark Expetivion, 1804-1806; Antiquarian Press Ld; New York, 1958. Patnaik, Naveen, The Gardan of Life An Intreducion tothe Healing Plans of India; Harper Collin, New York, 1993, Phillips, Roget, Wild Faads Little Brown & Co. Boston, 1986. Read, Bernard E., (1887-1947), Famine Food Lis in the Chiu Huang Pon Téa, Chinese Medicine Series No. 6; reprinted by Southern Materials Center, Inc; Taipei, 1982. Reid, Daniel P, Chines Herbal Medicine, Shambhala Publications, In; Boston, 1992. Simonds, Nina, China’ Faads A Travelers Guide othe Bet Resaurants, Dumpling Stalls Tea Hows, ‘and Marketsin China; Harper Collins; New York, 1991 Von Welanetz, Diana & Paul, The Van Walane Guide 10 Ethnic Ingredients, PTarcher, Ines Los Angeles, 1982, Weiner, Michael A, Hath Meticine, Fath Food: Collier Books (Macmillan Publishing Co.); New York, 1980, Yen Hung Feng, Doreen, The by of Chinese Cooking, Greenberg, publisher: New York, no date, probably ax 1950. — The Book of Tax; Flammarion; Pars, 1994, —Chinew Culinary Heritage, The Hilton Press Tepe, 1978. fed A. Knopf; New York, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ‘Thanks to Barbara Kuck and her assistant Shu-Chin Lee (Johnson & Wales Culinary Archives, Providence, Rhode Island) for their help in bringing Bernard E, Read and other sources to my REFERENCES * Because even some botanists use the common names Watery’ and ‘lotus interchangeably I shall also use them thus, For additional botanical details, see Bailey, pp. 381—385, ¥ See note I > Darby eal, Vol. 2: pp. 620-62168 CHASE “ Dehejiap. 147. » Hrappa, whose zenith was Sometime between 2300 and 1750 ac, les in present-day Pakistan. ‘The fruit is not further desribed ~ it could be a lotus rhizome, seedpod, or an individual seed. Achaya, p. 18. “Darby eal. p. 635, ” Much asthe date-palm travelled with Islam and became an emblem of fit. * Birch, p. 43 * Birch, pp. 269-270. Allegory, not biology isthe probable point of this poem. Soe note 11 © Achaya,p. 39, "By metabolizing the nutrients of decomposing vegetation and other matter that can pollute” rinking water, some aquatic plants ean restore life-sustaining balance to still and slow moving water " Debejia, pp. 100, 146. Vasudeva refers to the blue-skinned Krishna, an avatar ofthe god Vishnu. Landry, p. 146. ° The Baok of Tax; p. 246. The shop is Compagnie Anglaise des Ths, | rue Pere Lect, 75001 Paris, Te was the enormous leaves (3 to 6 feet aeros) ofthe South American Victoria amazanica that captivated nineteenth-century plant-fanciers, but exotic plant manuals make brief, undocumented ‘mention that indigenous peoples of Brazil ate its seeds. ° Like Herodotuss Egyptian lotus observations, Lewis's account hasbeen borrowed, usally without tribution, by numerous writers Lewis, pp 138, 140. Homer, p. 139, "Darby eal, pp. 619-644, * Tid, p. 636. 2 Chang, pp. 266-267. 20 copper ca per 1.33 Ibs as opposed to 40 cash for watermelon seeds, 6 for bean curd. 46 for fresh ginger... 8 for vinegar. 100 for edible seaweed, Note: Spring and summer are considered the season for fresh lotus root. In May 1997, the retail price of fresh root in a Chinese market outside Washington, DC was $2.99 per Ib. but only $1.25 per Ib. in San Franciso, which has a much larger and more economically divers Asian population. Dried lotus seeds, now considered a delicacy, were $2.99 for a6 02. bag ($7.97 per Ib.) in May Washington Ibid pp. 216-217, ® Read, pp. 5.55-Nelumbo nucifera Root: 1.7 protein, 0.1 fat, 9.7 ebbyd. (earbohydrate, 1% ah, Vit. B, a litle, vitamin C medium. Dried seed: 15.9 protein, 2.8 fat, 70.1 cbhyd., 3.9 ah. The fesh seed has lite vitamin C." Yen Hung Feng, pp. 147-8. The author gives separate names for lotus fruits, seeds, and kernels. ® Pamaik,p. 23. ® Von Welanetz, pp. 212-215. ® Awwollstocked Asian market inthe West might well carry lotus rot in these forms: fresh "unpecked fresh peeled, and acdulate sliced and dred tinned in brine; tinned ina sugar syrup: sliced and crystallized in sugar. In season there might be fresh seeds in the shell, Looking like shelled acorns, dred seeds would be available year round, as might tins of cooked seods and swectened lotus sed paste. Dried lotus leaves would alo be on hand, ™ Chao, p. 21 * Chu, p. 230. ‘Lotus petals can be dipped in an egg-and-flour batter and deep tried.” » Reproduced in Jay, pp. 126-127. Tid, p. 130, Midi. 126 » Chang. pp. 236-237 % Simonds, p. 129 Chang, p. 248, Tid, p. 251 Hat, pp. 89.Dying for Caviar Robert Chenciner On 12 May 1997, as arranged, I met two BBC Radio current affairs people in Makhachkala, Daghestan (a Republic within the Russian Federation, forming the southern border with now independent Azerbaijan). Tim Whewell and Andy Denwood (current Sony prizewinner) were making a four-part programme on the Caspian. The Daghestan programme was first broadcast on 7 October, 1998. They had already visited sturgeon farms near Astrakhan in Russia and Kizliar in Daghestan. Iwas to help them find the caviar black market in Daghestan. I had already visited Market Number 2, now privatized, and on my way to the fish stalls I had been approached by half a dozen friendly faces grinning with gold-capped teeth and intoning ‘khach ikra, luboi ikra, davai poprov chut chut’ (like some caviar, lots of caviar, come on and have a taste’), as thumb-sized clear-plastic-covered knobs of caviar were flashed in front of my nose. It wasn going to be too hard to find the black market. I suggested that instead of investigating the black market, we, or rather 1, just bought some caviar. The next day, we entered the market with my long-suffering collaborator Magomedkhan (MK) and were immediately approached by a tall, arate-fit-looking ‘man in standard mafia uniform — a white open-necked shirt, slightly baggy black trousers, clipped black beard and piercing eyes. He thought that the sound-recording. ‘equipment was video and started to get serious. I gently explained that I had visited Market Number 2 for more than a decade and that I wanted to talk about the food ‘of Daghestan, which was looking very colourful and bounteous that day. I vigorously shook his hand and playfully squeezed his rock-hard biceps, noting his handgun tucked into his waistband, as he nodded and wandered away. The market was filled with people carrying bright yellow plastic carrier bags, puzzlingly marked ‘Selfridges in English. ‘We circuitously headed for the fish stalls which are legal and open. On show were piles of 30 cm-wide chunks of fresh asietrsturgeon, and golden wood-smoked slghtly- salted cuts of sturgeon, These were much better than a few years ago, thanks to ‘competition and private enterprise. There was a variety of fresh Caspian fish for sale: -kutum, krasty riba, large sardine-sized silver fish, squads of dark burgundy-red flattish 15 em-long fish, carp, asort of tuna and many other fresh and dried fish. Other local names of sea fish are sazan, led’, karas, yas, navagi, zherekh, (which are grilled as carp), kutum and sturgeon. Sudak and shuka fish need 30-40 minutes cooking while the black-skinned kambalu is best stewed for three hours (Kulinariia Narodov Daghesana, Makhachkala 1994, pp. 245-51). These Russian names for fish are given various degrees of more or less confused meanings in the classic Russian encyclopaedia Tolkovyi slovar'zhivogo veikorusskovo yazika, published from 1903-09 by Vladimir 6910 CHENCINER DAGHESTAN TURKMENISTAN bm oom ‘The Capon se Arowheads mak the national boundaries Rversin italics Dal and reprinted in 1994, and the Rusko-angliskii dovar, a much-used modern dictionary compiled by A.L. Smimnitsky, published in 1985. The larger fish had a ‘mass of wire(’) score ines criss-crossing their skin. Cameras were not allowed. MK and I began separate discussions with two unshaven, friendly, tough-looking ‘men. The cheaper caviar was small black eggs, like you soe in glass jar at the airport costing about $1,000 a kilo. It was 250,000 roubles, ie. $43 a kilo ($1 = 5,800r). 1 ‘chose the more expensive large greys (which seem to be called belugz in London), in a golden natural oil, costing 300,000 roubles, ie. $52 a kilo. In Moscow airport, glass jars of malsalone, or slightly-salted, caviar retail for $79 for 56g beluga ($1393 a kilo); $50 for 56g asietr ($892 a kilo); and $78 for 113g -sevruga ($690 a kilo). There is a Russian export limit of 113 grams per person. Four years ago, I was offered the Daghestan caviar monopoly by my friend Gamid Gamidoy,DYING FOR CAVIAR 1 the wrestling champion who became Finance Minister and was tragically assassinated last year by a remote-controlled car bomb — the case remains unsolved. The price was $240 a kilo, which seemed high to me because of quality-control risks, so I declined, Thad unwittingly been wise. Bob Frey told me that US friends of his wanting to ‘enter the caviar market had been warned of a US-western Caucasian (sic) mafia who controlled the distribution of caviar world-wide, If you try to sell it on the open market, or tothe catering industry, without paying them a fee, something goes wrong. ‘The Selfridges prices in London, at about 1.6 times Moscow airport price, reflect this. (At Selfridges, all Iranian caviars cost £100 a kilo more than the Russian.) asked Gamid, ‘Who owns the caviar? Was it Russia, the Russian Federation or the post-soviet Republic of Daghestan’” He replied, ‘Daghestan!’I then asked where the customs clearance took place: Makhachkala in Daghestan or Moscow? At that time there were no direct flights to Istanbul. Gamid said that he would take care of it At the Oil & Caviar in the Caspian conference in London in February 1995, I asked the same questions of Mr Alex G. Khodakoy, the Russian Foreign Ministry Legal Department Director. He was unable to give a legal answer based on the new Constitution and admitted privately that each case was subject to ad hoc negotiation. This confusion affects oil and caviar offshore boundary policies. Sturgeon-poaching patrols recognise inland sea right-angled maritime borders, as they exist, for example, in the Black Sea. But the Russians insist on regulating offshore oil as a limited condominium with Russian permission needed for all former-Soviet area oil deals. In May, I asked the same question of the competent Daghestan Minister for National and External Affairs, Magomedsalik Guseinov. He did not know the answer either. Pethaps the reality was as we found when I escorted the BBC reportersto the Russian Federation/Daghestan-Azerbaijan border. They were welcomed as the first English nationals to cross, but two hours later were obliged to show respect’ to.a Russian Border Army officer, which meant a $50 ‘sift. Back in Market Number 2 we did not haggle; we were surrounded by talking ‘men when a little old lady shuffled up with an old lumpy plastic carrier bag. The young man scooped up a fresh plastic bag full of caviar and weighed it on a hook held up high by the adjacent fishmonger. Isa kilo-and-a-half all right? “Ys, absolutely, thank you’, I replied. He raced off to wrap it in brown paper. MK was worried that he might short-change me. I, diplomatically, wasnt. Later, it turned out that he hadnt. [ asked him how much caviar I could buy: ‘Cho khach — as much as you like. "What was it?” “Osietr and some sevuga, rarely Beluga but that wasn't so good, was it ~ asetr was best.” All this was being recorded openly. The worries of the Zimbabwe conference this June, and their distant declarations on protecting sturgeon, in retrospect seemed irrelevant. It appeared that the sturgeon farms are performing effectively and that there is alarge amount of fresh sturgeon on the market. [ate fied ‘or shashlik sturgeon most days in people's homes or in the pleasant small restaurants which have proliferated since capitalism. Local prices of food are relatively high, resulting from rouble inflation and the Chechen war breaking the fledgling Daghestan economy. Daghestani trade with Russia their largest partner, virtually ceased. Most factories closed because of lack ofn CHENCINER raw materials, components and spares. Funds promised by Russia for redevelopment ofthe airport, port, and road and rail systems were diverted to the war. There was no ‘external aid for the 200,000 Chechen refugees who were cared for by the 2 million population of Daghestan, nor for the 15,000 who remain today. All these factors have made the ample quantities of locally produced foods expensive: bread costs about 40 British pence or 25 US cents a loaf — similar to Turkey — compared to one penny five years ago. The average Daghestan monthly wage is only SUS3O, with much higher unemployment than in Moscow, where the average is $US150. The GNP must be in the region of the World Bank 1995 ‘low income group’ ie. hunger level of $US765 per head per year, nowhere near the optimistic Russian Federation GDP estimates of $US2,998 for 1996 (Russia in Financial Times, 9 April,1997). ‘Two days later, we drove to Derbent in my friend's minibus behind a Niva jeep with three members of the ‘water police guarding natural resources’ patrol. At the road block outside Derbent, we were stopped and were escorted by a police car with its blue light flashing and siren screaming to see the chief of police. ‘Dont worry.’ I told Tim who was getting nervy after a30 minute wait. The chief was roundish, with the same face as the Daghestan national poet. It turned out they were from the same illage. He insisted that we eat at one of his hostelres before going out on coastal patrol. I recalled my first visit to Derbent had involved a series of six meals. ‘At supper, the chef and manager were both Jewish and bemoaned the drop in the standard of red wine (which was dry and drinkable) since many of the Derbent Jews had emigrated. “They knew how to make wine, you see.’ The Avar coast patrol captain thought that wine was a woman's drink, but whispered it. The sturgeon fried in batter was accompanied by a delicious home-made saus of nar — pomegranate juice mixed with a tomato chili purée. The coast patrol had caught 172 poachers during 1996 and confiscated their gear. Fines were 15, 21 and 30 timesthe minimum monthly salary of $11, depending on if they were caught with sevruga, asietr or beluga respectively. This year only 24 had been caught because the poachers were afraid, ‘There were five squads of four guards and four patrol boats. While the ‘Bay Watch’ personnel were obviously fine men, we had gradually got the impression that the state and the official mafia were probably in league and the poachers were unofficial cowboys trying to muscle-in on an existing arrangement. A certain Mr Khachilaey, (the eldest of four karate-champion brothers), who incidentally were behind the short-lived armed seizure of the Daghestan ‘Parliament’, is chairman of the Daghestan sturgeon fisheries council. He and his family are well- known mafiosi and he was recently elected unopposed to the Russian parliament as «deputy of the Kiziar region — the main caviar centre in Daghestan, One of Khachilaev’s new mansions ~ one of a thousand others in the area of Makhachkala known as Santa Barbara after the Brazilian TV soap, where they touch but never kiss (also known locally as Beverley Khills)~ is an amazingly shaped structure. Carved yellow stone from Derbent outlines red or white brickwork with black pointing, Outside the giant arched iron gates swollen with curved interlacing steel-work and brass nodal stars, there isa large horizontal granite plaque decorated with grey photogravures of the British Museum Assyrian hunting reliefon the let and the wolf that fed RomulusDYING FOR CAVIAR B and Remus on the right. The symbolism was not lost on me as I recorded my ‘commentary. Suddenly an agitated bodyguard with anicked, shaven head walked up to our minibus waving his gun. I smiled back, telling him not to worry as a black Mercedes 600 pulled up behind. The portals opened as six men in black ~ their boss in abblack fedora briskly emerged carrying bulging suitcases (surely filled with cash) and bundles of submachine guns, all of which were stuffed into the boot before the tinted-glass limo sped off. ‘We reached the seashore before daylight faded, About 30 men were standing around, some wearing camouflage combat gear. There did not scem to be any patrol boats, just afew small twelve-foot open aluminium hulls, Two large outboards appeared from the old railway carriage body which was the HQ. One boat had the name ‘Progress’ written on its side. We got into two of the small boats, four in each, The patrolmen wore NYPD-type chrome badges and tucked handguns under their ‘waterproof combat suits. The boats sped off at 30 kph; they had no lights. Tim and Andy were recording in the other boat and Tim felt sick. We passed bobbing black shapes which they called Sea dogs’ — Caspian seals as I discovered later. We sped off into the gloom as Derbent with its elevated sixth-century fortress and walls turned. into a distant twinkling diamond. The trouble was that the poachers crossed over from nearby Azerbaijan picked up a sturgeon and went back again. The patrols have four hours fuel and often go 50 kms off shore. We stopped in silence. I had a pullover and quilted jacket to keep warm. I found myself pressing my camera bag against my heart, wondering who would get shot in the dark? No poachers tonight. Back in London with my caviar packed flat on the bottom of my case I saw an Agence France Press cable. Two days after we had left, Mr Kainbek Gadjibalaey, a Daghestani local MP, who was also in charge of the water police guarding natural resources, was dragged out of his car, beaten up and later found dead. I rang MK from London. ‘They beat him very severely; it was a bad business,” he confirmed. He ‘must have authorised the people who took us on patrol. The true state of the sturgeon stock remains relatively unknown. There are the following statistics which do not quite add up. Mr Peter Scott of Caviar International Limited gave me the 1996 caviar production figures from the World Wildlife Fund ‘Traffic’ report. The waters around the Caspian Volga yielded 45 tons; Kazakhstan 20 tons; Azerbaijan 5 tons; Iran 120 tons; Azov near Crimea 15 tons and Siberia 17 tons. He was sceptical because Iran has no estuaries, favoured by sturgeon for breeding, in comparison with the Volga, the Ural, the Samur or the Kura, Iran also has a far shorter coastline. During a visit to Kazakhstan in 1992, hecalculated that they should be producing 60-70 tons, implying that most local production was sold on to Iran, ‘whose caviar commandsa premium. There are farms in Volga, Daghestan, Azerbaijan and tran but the first farm in Kazakhstan is under construction’, sponsored by Mobil The first Littoral States Academies of Science meeting was held in Alma Ati two years ago. Mary Springer, who is now head of public affairs of Mobil in the former Soviet Union, met Dr Zelabekov of Daghestan and Dr Zonn, Russian vice-president” CHENCINER of the UN enviromental group connected with the NATO Caspian conference. She ‘was most impressed by their expertise and knowledge and gained the impression that no-one - official and/or mafia ~ was going to kill the golden goose. The second Littoral conference took place in Daghestan 1-3 October 1997 and included Iran. It seems that Iran already works closely with the other states. It also seems that their ideas were in line with mine, A hand of baby eure fom atte farm in Azerbljan. Frm aphcograph in Aaebaijen Land of Fre, 1996, AlOc. voir GOogleFish, a Quintet of General Points, plus a Challenging Statement on Calculating Cooking Times Alan Davidson Fish, in their role as food for humans, have several unusual aspects. I have touched ‘on these in books; I have written about both seafood and freshwater fish. Here I recall, them, in summary form, as points for consideration or discussion. Less Skeleton, More Muscle Oneinteresting point which applies to fish generally and has not attracted much atten- tion is that, if they are compared with land animals or birds as a source of protein, they have one great advantage. Because the water supports their weight, they need less elaborate skeleton and therefore provide more flesh in relation to weight. RSPCA exists, RSPB exists: but no RSPCF Many people in Britain have banded together for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and others for the Protection of Birds. Yét humanitarian considerations are only applied selectively to sea creatures, in striking contrast to land animals (especially mammals) and birds. It has recently become unseemly for anyone except the Inuit (Eskimos) to eat marine mammals, and concern is often shown over how to kill lobsters and crabs painlessly. But compassion has rarely extended to fish, although there are signs of ‘growing concern over how they meet their death. No doubt the explanation, or part of it, is that fish and other forms of animal life which exist in water are perceived as having such a rudimentary nervous system that they do not realy feel pain, anyway not to the same extent as land animals or birds. ‘There may be some force in this notion, but I have not seen it properly argued on the basis of scientific information about marine creatures; and on the face of it there ‘would scem to be some difficulty in drawing a sharp dividing line such that the Brewer 1980; Brewer & Friedman 1989, 6-7. + Eg Gaillad 1923; Oppenheim 1963; Salonen 1970, 84-254; Darby e al. 1977, 355-361, 415: Gamer-Wallett 1970, 1-53; 1977, 224-225; Reese «al, 1986; Lore 1988; Brewer & Friedman 198, passim; Ikram 1995, 36-39. 5 Gamer-Wallert 1977, 65, 80. * Salonen 1970, 32; della Monica 1980, 116-117; Englund 1990, ? Salonen 1970, 82; Englund 1990, 207-208, * Gamer-Wallert 1977, 62-63: Salonen 1970, 286; Brewer & Friedman 1989, 12; Englund 1990 * Thram 1995, 112. della Monica 1980, 114-116. 5" Translation M. Lichtheim, in: Hallo 1997, 124, © Darby eal 1977, 344-348; Daumas 1977, 235. Se also John 21,7. Describing fisherman at the Lake of Galilee, Tristram 1875, 290, writes, ‘These fishermen with the casting net a the present day work stark naked, with the exeption of a thick woollen skullcap” "Book ofthe Dead, Ch. 43, Cf. Leertouver 1987, 35 ' Salonen 1970, 10-11; Daumas 1977, 235-236; della Monica 1980, 115; Dalley 1984, 82; Brewer & Friedman 1989, 21-46, Nun 1993,92 DE MOOR “% Nun 1993, $1-52, See also Salonen 1970, 60-71; Darby el. 1977, 341-343, Salonen 1970, 60, 62, 64-65; Darby eal. 1977, 343-354; della Monica 1980, 115; De Moor 1987, 48; Brewer & Friedman 1989, 38-46; Nun 1993, $3, della Monica 1980, 115; Limet 1987, 137. See also Canticles 7,4; li 9,10 & De Moor 1987, 48. ® Only a Babylonian king could onder the daily delivery of fresh fish, Salonen 1970, 257 2 Salonen 1970, 265. ® Helou 1994, 105. Compare also Dalman 1939, 81: Eine Schwirigkeit fir die Verwendung der Fisch ist das warme Klima, das nur scr kurze Aufbewahrung erlaubt, so das wir von Jerusalem Columella says that it, ‘was to be found only in the waters off the southern coast of Asia Minor and nowhere else (On Agriculture, 8.16.9). It was brought to the table at banquets with great ‘ceremony, crowned with garlands, and accompanied by the sound of the flute.” Cicero commented on the high honour in which the fish was held, and employed it in his writings as a symbol of indulgence, as did Horace, while Ovid deemed it a ‘noble’ fish.” By the time Pliny was writing in the mid-first century ap however, the ‘accipenser was falling out of favour despite its still being a rare item, though it apparently regained some of its former glory during the principate of Alexander Severus in the early third century a0." Thynnus - Tunny ‘The tunny provided one of the most important food resources of the Mediterranean, particularly as a preserved product. The tunny-catch was seasonal, since the fish is migratory, and watch-towers were constructed on promontories along the coasts to watch for the migrating shoals of tunny as they made their way eastwards from the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar) to warmer waters to spawn during the summer months.” The tunny was frequently given over to processing, though it was also eaten fresh. The neck and belly were the most esteemed parts and were considered a delicacy, while the tail end was the cheapest cut.“ The remaining parts were usually preserved in salt, when they resembled pieces of wood and were known as melandrya.® Apicius suggests a sauce of pepper, cumin, thyme, coriander, onion, raisin, vinegar, honey, wine, liquamen, and oil, heated and thickened with wheatstarch (amulum), to accompany fresh tunny, and another of pepper, lovage, thyme, spices used for moretarium (mint, rue, coriander, and fennel), onion, Jericho date, honey, vinegar, liquamen, oil, and mustard for boiled tunny (Roman Cookery, 10.3.4-5). Pelamys was the name given to tunny less than one year old,® and these were treated in the same way as the larger fish, though Juvenal considered them to be of little merit as food (Satires, 7.120). Columella even recommended them as food for ‘other fish kept in private ponds (On Agriculture, 8.17.14). Apicius however thought grilled pelamys worthy of asauce made from pepper, lovage, oregano, fresh coriander, ‘onion, stoned raisin, paswum, vinegar, liquamen, defrutum and oil (Roman Cookery, 10.1.13), or perhaps a dressing of pepper, lovage, cumin, onion, mint, rue, chopped hazelnuts, Jericho date, honey, vinegar, mustard, and oil (Roman Cookery, 9.11). Tanny fry were known as condyla,** and were generally considered modest fare. Apicius suggested dressing them with a sauce made from pepper, lovage, celery seed, mint, rue, Jericho date, honey, vinegar, wine and oil (Roman Cookery, 9.10.5). Lupus — ‘Wolf-fish’ or Sea bass (also known as the labrax) Acquiring its Roman name from its tendency towards rapaciousness and gluttony. the sea bass was a much appreciated food. There were two main types of lupus theFISH AS FOOD AND SYMBOL IN ANCIENT ROME 103 spotted and the ‘woolly’ (Janatus), which was so named from the softness and whiteness of ts flesh.” The sea bass often entered into Italian rivers from the sea where it was frequently captured, and the lupuscaught between the two bridges’ on the River Tiber was considered to be of particular merit." Juvenal, however, writes in derisory fashion of the lupus caught in this vicinity, since the principal sewer of ancient Rome, the Cloaca Maxima, emptied into the river at this point (Satires5.104-6), but most ‘other writers sing the praises of the Tiber bass. The proximity of the River Tiber to the fish market in Rome enabled the fish to be conveyed to the market immediately it was captured, thus ensuring the discerning, ‘customer of its freshness. The /upus could also easily be raised in captivity, and was regularly farmed in purpose-built fish preserves, thus guaranteeing a steady supply.” Apicius suggests a stock of pepper, cumin, parsley, rue, onion, honey, iquamen, pasuum, and a few drops of olive oil in which to stew sea bass (Reman Cookery, 4.2.32). Scaurus — Parrot-wrasse The parrot-wrasse was highly esteemed at Rome in Pliny’s day, and was similarly favoured amongst the Greeks” Although it was common along the coasts of Asia Minor, Greece, and Sicily, it was quite a rare fish in Italian waters at first" and haat to be specially imported for the Roman market until Optatus, Commander of the Roman Flect, undertook to bring stocks of it into the area off the Campanian coast from the Carpathian Sea. The live fish were conveyed in ships specially fitted with tanks, before being Sown in the sea as grain is sown in the earth’, as Macrobius ‘commented (Sarumalia, 3.16.10). Fishing of the eaurus was forbidden for a period of five years until the new denizens were sufficiently well-established to sustain periodic depletion.”” Horace mentions the scaurus as a delicacy (Epodes, 2.50; Sarires, 2.2.21), but Martial thought only its entrails were worth eating; the remainder was deemed to have poor flavour (Epignams, 13.84). Petronius (Satyrican, 119.334) meanwhile speaks of the parrot-wrasse being brought alive to the table, submerged in Sicilian water, a visual appetizer like the dying red mullet already mentioned. Aurata — Gilthead or Dorado Although a salt-water fish by nature, the gilthead was able to be successfully raised in freshwater lakes. Indeed the same Gaius Sergius Orata who was the first to cultivate ‘oysters is stid to have acquired the cognomen ‘Orata’ from his practice of rearing the gilthead (aurata) in ponds.” Martial praised the gilthead that had fed on the molluscs of the Lucrine Lake as being of a particularly fine flavour (Epigrams, 13.90). Apicius gives a recipe for patina of gilthead, dentex, and grey mullet, in which the fish are first grilled and mineed, and then placed in a pan containing oysters that have been cooked in wine, liguamen, oil, and pepper. The mixture is then brought to the boil, after which 11(2)"* eggs are broken over it, and cooked until set. The di sprinkled with pepper before serving (Roman Cookery, 4.2.31). As sauces to serve with the gilthead he suggests one made from pepper, lovage, caraway, oregano, rue-berry,104 perv mint, myrtle-berry, egg yolk, honey, vinegar, oil, wine and liguamen, and another ‘made from pepper, coriander, dried mint, celery seed, onion, raisin, honey, vinegar, wine, liquamen and oil. The first sauce is to be served hot, but the temperature of the second is apparently left to the cook’s own judgement (Roman Cookery, 10.3.8-9). Ostreae ~ Oysters ‘The oyster was undoubtedly the most popular of all the many types of shellfish eaten by the Romans. Although they were often considered delicacies and served as appetizers and dainties at banquets from the Republican period onwards,” their ‘consumption was by no means restricted to gastronomic circ, for the preponderance ‘of shell debris excavated from Roman military sites all over the ancient world indicates, that they were a common enough food for soldiers. However it is as a luxury food that they are most frequently mentioned in the literary sources, and indeed Pliny records that in 115 8c a sumptuary law aimed at curbing the extravagance of the dinner table was passed, which attempted to ban the consumption of oysters and other shellfish at banquets, along with dormice and imported birds (Natural History, 8.82.223). Oysters were the most expensive form of seafood listed in Diocletian’ Price Exict, costing 100 denarii for 100, as compared to sea urchins and mussels which cost half the price at 50 denarii for the same quantity. Seneca mentions the attempt by cookshop to ward off bankruptcy by serving a sumptuous fish dish in an effort to attract the lucrative custom of epicures (Epistles, 95.26-9). The dish comprised oysters, mussels, and sea-urchins, flanked by fillets of red mullet, and gives some indication of the rank enjoyed by the various types of fish and seafood as delicacies. ‘Oysters that had been fattened in the waters of the Lucrine Lake in Campania were the most highly esteemed,” but those from Circeii in Latium,” Brundisium and ‘Tarentum in the south of Italy” Lake Avernus” and the Hellespont™ were also much appreciated. After the conquest of Britain in the first century ap, oysters began to be imported into Italy from Richborough on the Kent coast as well."' This necessarily raises the logistical question of the transportation of shellfish over long distances, since the ancient authorities do not imply that they were pickled. Apicius is said by Athenacus to have devised a means of keeping oysters fresh in order to supply the Emperor Trajan with seafood in the interior of Persia, but no details of his method are given (Dinner of the Sophists, 1.74). Packing them with ice may have been possible at certain times ofthe year in certain regions, bu it seems more probable that they would have been kept in the hold ofthe ship in specially constructed water-filled tanks, in the same way that the transportation of other species of fish was undertaken. Connoisseurs of seafood claimed an ability to discern the place of origin of the produce they were served. So Juvenal wrote of Montanus: He was the gastronomie pundit of our time; with the first bite he could identify ‘oysters born at Circeii or near the Lucrine rocks or in the beds at Richborough, and determine the shore from which the sea-urchin came at once. (Saties, 4.13943) ‘Oysters were sometimes brought unopened to the table where they would be eaten raw and probably undressed,” but at least one medical writer warned against theFISH AS FOOD AND SYMBOL IN ANCIENT ROME 105 potential dangers of raw oysters, and advised that only the firm white central part be eaten. The introduction of the seafood course at Trimalchio’ fictional banquet was heralded by a carefully staged performance in which two slaves carrying large jars upon their necks pretended to brawl and broke open each other’ jar with a stick, whereupon ‘oysters and scallops slid out. These were then distributed to the guests who would have ‘eaten them in their raw state (Petronius, Satyricon, 70.46). Pliny mentions oysters, served chilled with snow, which seems a sensible precaution in modern eyes in the absence of proper methods of refrigeration, but which constituted another show of uxury to the ancients (Natural History, 32.21.64). ‘Oysters were also frequently eaten in a cooked form, whether served, as Apicius suggests, with a cumin sauce (Roman Cookery, 1.15.1), or a dressing of pepper, lovage, egg yolk, vinegar, liquamen, and oil, with optional honey (Roman Cookery, 9.6), oF stewed together with mussels, sea-nettles, chopped toasted pine nuts, rue, celery, pepper, coriander, cumin, paswum, liquamen, Jericho date, and olive oil, to make a Baian stew (Roman Cookery, 9.14). Apicius’ cookbook also gives instructions for preserving oysters by pickling them in vinegar (Roman Cookery, 1.9.2. Roman Fish Sauces Fish sauce was one of the truly definitive flavours of ancient Roman food. Although ithad been in use in the Greek world for hundreds of years before the Romans became acquainted with it, it was in Roman cuisine that fish Sauce really reached its zenith." It was used in a variety of ways: either as a seasoning added to the food during cooking in place of salt," or asa condiment to be used at the table, or asa sauce to accompany food in its own right. At Trimalchio’ fictional banquet the fish were so presented as to seem to be swimming in a stream of peppered fish sauce (Petronius, Satyricon, 36.3) ‘There were four principal types of fish sauce: garam, liquamen, muria, and allec. Garum was the name applied to the best quality fish sauce, but the word was also frequently used as a generic term for the product. There were many different types and possible permutations of garum, dependent on whether it was made from asingle type of fish such as the tunny, mullet, or sea bass, or from a mixture of various kinds. Tt was aso available in flavoured versions: fish sauce mixed with wine was known as ‘oenogarum,®” while that mixed with vinegar was called oxygarum. It could also be infused with herbs and spices to give an additional tang."* Hydrogarum (fish sauce mixed with water) was widely used by Roman soldiers, though the Emperor Elegabulus claimed to have been the first to serve it at public banquets at Rome (Augustan Hisories: Elegabulus, 29.5). Pliny mentions that certain blends of garum that had the colour of old honeyed-wine (mulsum) were so palatable as to be able to be drunk (Natural History, 31.44.95). Garum sociorum, which was manufactured exclusively from the mackerel (ember), was thought infinitely superior to all other forms of garum, and washighly prized at Rome.” It was produeed at the fisheries at New Carthage in Spain, whence it was imported to Rome, and traded all round the empire. Painted labels (tulipcti) ‘on amphorae found at Pompeii and Rome, for example, indicate that they once106 perv ‘contained Spanish garum sociorum. Itshigh price reflected its prized reputation, and in Pliny’s day, two congii of garum seciorum cost 1,000 sesterces; hence he claimed that ‘scarcely any other liquid except perfume has begun to be more highly valued, bringing fame to the nations that make it” (Natural History, 31.43.94). Flas gari (flower of _garum’) was probably the first portion of liquid drawn off after production, and thus ‘of a superior quality. Other epithets applied to garum which emphasize the quality of the product include optimum (‘best’), primum (‘first [class quality|’), excellens and praecellens excellent’), and have been found inscribed on jars containing fish sauce. References to lower quality fish sauce are much less common by comparison, but scuidwm (Second [class/quality)’) and penuarium (low quality’ are sometimes found. A special brand of fish sauce known as garam castum, castimoniarum, or castimoniale ‘was seemingly aimed at Jewish consumers to accord with the injunction forbidding their consumption of fish without scales (Pliny, Natural History, 31.44.95)?" Liquamen seems originally to have been a slightly inferior product to garum, but by about the fourth century ap, the term was being employed generically for fish sauce. Liquamen rather than garum is the term for fish sauce in the late compilation ofrecipes attributed to Apicius (except where the specialized forms such as cenogamum are required), and itis also the word used in Diocletian’ Price Edict, which mentions both quality and inferior types of fish sauce: liquamen primum was not to exceed 16 denarii for one sextarius, while liquamen secundum should cost no more than 12 denarii per sextarius ‘Muria was usually the name applied to the briny liquid used for packing salted- fish products during transportation, though it could also be used to pickle olives and preserve cheese and meat (Columella, On Agriculture, 12.49.1-11; Cato, On Agriculture, 88; 105). It is even found as an ingredient in sauces, where it evidently served as a cheaper alternative to garum or liquamen, adding a salty relish to a dish (Horace, Satires 2.4.65). Muria is, in addition, the only type of fish sauce thus far attested in the writing tablets recovered from the Roman fort at Vindolanda near Hadrian's Wall”? Allec (variously hallec, hallex, or allex) was originally the sediment or dregs remaining after the production of garum was complete. It was considered alow quality product at first, and was used by the Elder Cato, a man renowned for his austerity, to feed his slaves on when the olive supply ran out (On Agriculture, 58). Its consistency ‘was more akin to a paste, whereas garum,liquamen, and muria were all liquids. Later however, allec seems to have been purposely manufactured in its own right. Pliny speaks of allec being made separately from a tiny fish known as the apua (anchovy) that was otherwise of no real use (Natural History, 31.44.95), and gourmet versions of allec became available so that it was not always an inferior product. Apicius popularized the use of allec as a delicacy when made from the liver of red mullet, and under the empire other de luxe forms of allec were obtainable, made from oysters, sea- urchins, and sea-anemones.”” Manilius’s Astronomica of the first century ab furnishes one of the earliest descriptions of the production of garum and salsimentum (sat-fish). He recounts how the fishermen firs kill the tunny they have just landed on the shore, and then cut themFst AS FOOD AND SYMBOL IN ANCIENT ROME 107 up into equal-sized pieces. These are evidently to be preserved in salt, though the ‘method is not described. Some are put into a large tank (lacus) or jars ofthe type used for storing wine (dolia Bacchi, and the liquor exuded from them asthe innards melt” drawn off as garum (Astronomica, 5.667-81). Allee, meanwhile, comprised the bits ‘of mashed fish that were left over (Astranomica, 5.673-5). Columella states that the ‘method for salting fish was the same as that for salting pork: the flesh is cut up and packed into a vessel in alternate layers with toasted salt. When the container is full to the brim, weights are placed on top to press it (On Agriculture, 12.55.4). The liquor that was exuded helped to preserve the meat. Salsamentum often had to be rinsed in water to remove the excess saltiness before it could be eaten. ‘Three other texts preserve ancient recipes for the making of garum, but all seem to be of a late date. That attributed to Garglius Martialis (f. third century ao) has been suspected of being post-classical since it mentions the herring, a fish thought by Curtis to have been unknown before the medieval period,”* and that ascribed to Rufius Festus (f. fourth century ap) is similarly thought to be medieval in date. The most complete instructions for the production of garam are to be found in the Geoponica (20.46.1-6), a Greek agricultural manual, which dates from the tenth ‘century aD: 1, So-called fiquamen is made in this manner: the intestines of fish are put into a ‘ese and salted. Small fish, either the best smelt, or small red mullet, or sprats, or ‘wolf, or whatever is small, are salted together, and fermented in the sun, and. frequently shaken, 2. After it has been reduced in the hea, garem is obtained from itn this way: alarge, strong basket is placed into the vessel containing the fish, and the garum flows into the basket. In this way the liguamen is strained through the basket when itis taken up. The remaining dregs are called alle 3. The Bythinians prepareit inthis manner: it isbest if you take small or larg sprat, but if not, wolffish or horse-mackerel, or mackerel or even alia, ora mixture ofall, and put these into a baker's kneading trough, in which they customarily knead meal, ‘Tossinto the meadiusof fish two Italian setari of salt, and mix thoroughly in order to strengthen it with salt After leaving it overnight, pu it intoa vessel and place without a lid inthe sun for two or three months, stirring with a stick from time to time, Then cover and store 4. Some add two setarii of old wine to one sextariusof fish. 5. If you wish to se the garum straight away, that isto say, not to ferment it in the sun, but to boil it, you doit thus: when the brine has been tested, so that an egg that, hhas been put into it floats (i it sinks, it isnot sufficiently salty), put the fish into the brine ina newly-made earthenware pot, add some oregano, and place on a sufficient fire until itis boiled, and begins to reduce a litle. Some also add defnutum (reduced ‘wine-must). Then put the cooled liquid through a trainer two or three times until tums clear. Then after covering it, store it away. 6. The bes garum, the so-called haimation, is made in this way: the intestines of tunny along with the gills, juice, and blood are taken, and sufficient satis sprinkled ‘on. After leaving the vessel to stand for two monthsat the most, piece the vesel, and. the garum called haimation is withdrawn.**108 perv ‘Thus it appears that all parts of the fish were used in the manufacturing process nothing was let to waste. Pliny wrote that ‘garam consists ofthe guts of fish and the ‘other parts that would otherwise be considered refuse, so that ganum is really the liquor from putrefsction’ (Natural History 31.43.93). Seneca speaks ina similarly derogatory fashion of garum as the costly liquid of rotten fish’ (Epistles, 95.25). Such statements do fish sauce an injustice, for the processes of its manufacture involved ferment rather than putrefaction; indeed the large quantities of salt used served to inhibit decomposition, Despite the ubiquity and undoubted popularity of fish sauce in ancient times, it was often mocked as being of afoul odour, though this accusation has been challenged in more recent times.” Apicius even gives a recipe for improving fish sauce of bad ‘odour (Roman Cookery, 1.7). The fish sauce of the ancients has a number of modern south-east Asian counterparts which are still widely used today, such as the nucc-mam of Vietnam, the nam-pla of Thailand, and the padek of Laos. Some Roman Fish Recipes from Apicius The cookery book that goes by the name of Apicius contains a large number of recipes for fish, atesting to its popularity as a party food, and provides a good indication of the kinds of dishes that would once have graced the dinner tables of well-to-do Romans. Many of the recipes refer to particular types of fish, such as the collection ‘of sauces for grilled or boiled lamprey (Roman Caokery, 10.2.1-6), but there are others which are non-specific regarding the type of fish to be used. The fish are evidently pre- pared in all the usual ways: baked, grilled, fried, steamed, or boiled, cither prepared whole, o a fillets, or cut into nuggets, but the method is not always stated in the recipes, Nevertheless a skilful cook would know the most appropriate method to use in each case. Fish might be served with tasty dressings and succulent sauces, and book ten of the Roman Cookery is devoted entirely to recipes for sauces to accompany fish, but there are also numerous recipes for fish stews, ragouts, fish forcemeat, and stuffed fish ‘The following table enumerates the different types of fish found in Apicius’ cook- book. Even as there remain some problems with fish nomenclature today, so there is often greater difficulty in identifying the different species of fish mentioned in the classical texts. Ihave given the most commonly designated equivalents for the ancient terms based on D’Arcy Thompson’ scholarly study, but some identifications are more tentative than others. Cammarus, for example, denotes something with a vaulted back, so that prawns and shrimps are strong candidates, but there may yet be other con- tenders. We have already discussed the problem of the Latin term muraena (0.48 below). anguilla eel ama anchovy acellus hhake asacus obser ‘aurata silthead ‘cammarus prawn/shrimpFst AS FOOD AND SYMBOL IN ANCIENT ROME 109 conchytia shellfish cordula young tunny comuta {unidentified} ddentex dentex echinus sea urchin gongris conger eel Tacertus horse-mackerel lagita Tagita fish Tocusa sex-ctayfish Iolligo squid lupus sea bass mitulus mussel mugil ‘rey mullet mulls red mullet ‘muraena lamprey/moray cel, osrea oyster ppelamys young tunny perca perch isis fish (generic) ppolypus ‘octopus, salsus salt fish ‘sarda onito™ sila quill sorpio scorpion-fish ‘spia cuttlefish ‘slurus sheat-fish ‘olen sole sphondylus mussel thursio porpoise thynnus tunny torpedo electric ray wurtica marina Jellyfish/seanette Apicius provides one of the earliest surviving recipes for fish en papillotte: “The fish (anda) is frst boned, and pennyroyal, cumin, peppercorns, mint, nuts, and honey are pounded together. The fish is stuffed [with this mixture] and sewn up. Then it is ‘wrapped in paper (charta),” and placed in a covered pan above the steam of the fit. It is seasoned with oil, carcenum (reduced wine-must), and allec’ (Roman Cookery, 9.10.1). The cooking method employed here is similar to the modern Italian al ‘cartocci, where the fish is placed in oiled paper to cook ‘Seafood rissoles (isicia) may be made from prawns, lobsters, squid, or cuttlefish, flavoured with pepper and fiquamen, cumin and laser (asafoetida) (Roman Cookery, 2.1.1-3), Alternatively boiled mussels may be used, which are pounded in a mortar with boiled spelt-grits (aca), flavoured with pepper and liquamen, bound with beaten egg, and stuffed into a sausage skin, These are then grilled and served with aenogarum poured over as finishing touch (Roman Cookery, 2.1.6). For a more exotic dish of porpoise rissoles, the flesh is first flavoured with pepper, lovage, oregano, parsley, coriander, cumin, ruc-berris, and dried mint, before being served with a sauce made from pepper, lovage, savory, onion, wine, liquamen, and oil, and thickened with eggs (Roman Cookery, 4.2.18.)110 perv ‘Octopus should be served with pepper, liquamen, and lasr, though there is no indication as to how the flesh should be cooked (Raman Cookery, 9.5). Cuttlefish may be stuffed with a mixture of boiled brains, peppercorns, and tiny forcemeat balls, all bound together with beaten egg. The cuttlefish is then sewn up and plunged into boiling water to cook through (Roman Cookery, 9.4.2). A sauce recommended for ‘cuttlefish comprises pepper, lovage, cumin, fresh coriander, dried mint, egg yolk, honey, liquamen, wine, vinegar, and oil, thickened with wheatstarch (Raman Cookery, 9.4.4), The following recipe for herb sauce is suitable for any type of fried fish. The fish is first cleaned, salted and fried. Then pepper, cumin, coriander seed, laser-root, ‘oregano, and rue are pounded together, and moistened with vinegar. Then dates, honey, defnutum, oil, and liquamen are added, and the whole transferred to a pan and brought to the boil, before being poured over the fish. The dish is served sprinkled with more pepper (Roman Cookery, 10.1.1). Fish could be stewed with other types of meat, as in the following recipe for lagita ~ fish and brains. Cooked brains, chicken giblets, and fried eggs are chopped and arranged in a shallow pan, and the cooked salted fish is placed in the centre. A sweet liquor made of pas, pepper, and lovage is added to the pan and brought to the boil This isthen stirred with a sprig of rue and thickened with wheatstarch before serving (Roman Cookery, 4.2.21). ‘Minutal marinum is made using any type of fish. The fish is placed in a saucepan with liquamen, oil, wine, and stock. Chopped leeks and coriander are then added, along with tiny fishballs, chopped filet of cooked fish, and jelly fish (washed). When all this is cooked through, pepper, lovage, and oregano are pounded together and moistened with liquamen and some of the cooking liquor. This mixture is then added to the pan, and when it comesto the boil again, pastry (trata) is added asa thickening agent. The dish is served sprinkled with pepper (Roman Cookery, 4.3.1) The Lure of the Sea The aesthetic appeal at Rome of the sea and its inhabitants is evidenced in the numerous mosaics, wall-paintings, and artefacts which adorned the houses of many Roman nobles. Some depict an assortment of sea creatures in their natural marine environment, but fishing scenes were also popular. Fish frequently appeared as an ingredient in still-life paintings along with other items of food. Fishmongers often used murals and mosaics depicting sea creatures to advertise their wares, and these have been of invaluable assistance in the identification of the remains of buildings on archaeological sites. An anecdotal tale ofthe fraudulent sale of a coastal villa recounted by Cicero implies that villas which looked out on to productive waters constituted more desirable properties than those adjacent to unfished regions. The story goes that a Syracusan banker named Pythius carefully orchestrated a display of offshore fishing to coincideFISH AS FOOD AND SYMBOL IN ANCIENT ROME nL ith a prospective buyer's visit to view a Sicilian coastal property, giving the impression that sea-fishing was an integral part of the landscape of that region. Having purchased the property, the new owner at first put the absence of fisherfolk down to a Fishermen’ Festival, so completely had he been duped by the salesman (Cicero, On Duties, 3.58— 9%». BIBLIOGRAPHY ‘Andrews, A.C. (1947/8), Oysers as a Food in Greece and Rome’, Clasical ural, 43, 299-303, ‘Andrews, A.C. (1948), ‘Greck and Latin Mouse-fishes and Pig fishes, Transactions ofthe American Phileogcal Aseciation, 79, 232-53, Andrews, A.C. (1948/9), “The Roman Craze for Surmullets, Clascal Weekly 42, 186-8, ‘Andrews, A.C. (1949), ‘The “Sardinian Fish of the Greeks and Romans, American Journal of Philoogy; 10, 171-188. Andrews, A.C. (1955), ‘Greek and Latin Terms for Salmon and Trout, Transactions ofthe American Philologeal Aseciation, 86, 308-18. Bateman, N. and Locker, A. (1982), ‘The Sauce ofthe Thames, London Archacleg, 4, 204-7. Corcoran, T. H. (1957), The Reman Fishing industry ofthe Late Republic and Eary Empire, (Ph.D. dissertation, Northwestern Universit) Corcoran, T. H. (1958), ‘Pliny’ Ganum Castimonianam’, Clasical Bulletin, 34, 69. Corcoran, H, (1959), ‘Roman Fishponds, Clasical Bulletin, 35, 37-43, Corcoran, T. H. (1962/3), ‘Roman Fish Sauces, Clastea!daumal, 58, 204210, Corcoran, . H, (1963), ‘Roman Fishermen’, Clasal World, 56, 97-102, Corcoran, T: H, (1964), ‘Fish Treatises in the Esrly Roman Empire’, Clasial dara, $9, 271-4 Curtis RI. (1979), ‘The Garum Shop of Pompei’, Crache Pompeiane, 5, $- Curtis RI (1983), In Defense of Garum’, Clasial Jamal, 78, 232-240. Curtis RI. (1984a), ‘The Salted Fish Industry of Pompei, Archaedog: 37, 58-9 & 74-5. Curtis RI (19846), ‘Salted Fish Products in Ancient Medicine, Jaumal ofthe History of Medicine ‘and Allied Sciences, 39, 430-45, Curtis, RI. (1988), Spanish Trade in Salted Fsh Products in the Ist and 2nd Centuries 40’, International Jeurnal of Nautical Archaeology and Underwater Exploration, 173, 205-210. Curtis. I (1991), Ganum and Sasamenta: Production and Commerce in Materia Medica, (Leiden), Davidson, A. (1981), Metiteranean Seafood, (Harmondsworth). Etienne, R, (1970), 'A Propos du “Garum Sociorum”* Latomus, 29, 297-313. Ferry, RH. (1951), ‘Nations of Fish-Fates, Contamporary Review, 180, 165-8, Gallant, T. W. (1985), A Fisherman's Tale: An Analy ofthe Poental Productivity of Fishing in the Anciont Word, (Gen) Grimal, P, and Monod, . (1952), ‘Su le Véritable Nature du "Garuny”*, Ree des Eudes Ancionnes, 4, 27~ Gunther, RT. (1897), The Oyster Culture ofthe Ancient Romans, Jeumal ofthe Marine Bio. Logical Asexiaton, 4, 360-5. Jardin, C, (1961), ‘Garum et Sauees de Poison de I Antiquité, Riviga di Studi Ligur, 27, 70-96. Leary, TJ. (1994), tows, Fish, Food Laws and the Elder Pliny’, Ata Clasica, 37, 111-4 Martin-Kileher, 8. (1990), Fischssucen und Fischkonserven aus dem Romischen Gallien’, Archie. logic der Schweiz, 13, 37-44 Peacock, D. PS, (1974), sAmphorae and the Batican Fish Industry’, Antiquares daumal, 58, 232- 4%, Purcell, N. (1995), ating Fish: The Paradoxes of Seafood Dobson (eds) Fond in Antiquity, (Exeter), 132-49. in J. Wilkins, D. Harvey. and M,112 perv ‘Thompson. D. W. (1947), A Glasary of Greet Fishes, (London). Wilkins J. (1993), ‘Socal Status and Fish in Greece and Rome’ in G. and V. Mars (eds) Food, Culture, and Hisory, Vo. 1, (London), 191-203. Zeepyat, R. J. (1988), Fishponds in Roman Britain’. in M. Aston (ed) Mational Fish, Fisheries and Fiahponds in England, BAR 182 (Oxford), 17-26 REFERENCES * See alo Ovid, Metamerphass, 15.101 2 The eating of fish inthe Greck world had long been associated with afluence and greed: sce Wilkins (1993); Davidson, .N., (1993) Fish, Sex and Revolution in Athens, Claial Quarter, 43, 53-66; id. (1995) “Opephagia: Revolutionary Eating at Athens, in J. Wilkins, D. Harvey, and M. Dobson (eds) Food in Anuiguity, (Exeter, 204-13. Indeed the word gps, which originally designated a relish to accompany bread, had come to be practically synonymous with ih by the fourth century sc. This asocation is still evident in modem Greek, where fish is known as px > Ovid, Fas, 6.172. * See Columella, On Agriculture 8.16.1. Fish were further estranged fom the religious ie ofthe state since they were not usually offered in sacrifice to gods. The emperor Diocletian’ Price Fic sta exling for price for a whole range of foods atthe tum of the fourth century a. Individual species of fish are not named, but best quality ea fish were priced at 24 denarii per pound, and second clas seas at 16 dona! per pound, 2s compared to 12 dant for best quality river ish and 8 for sooond class river fish. Sled ish cost 6 dna per pound. * On the hard life and wretched poverty of fishermen who might fil to catch anything though risking life and limb in the pursuit ofa haul, see Plavts, The Repe, 200-304; 310-12; Ovid, Metamorphoses 3586-7; Oppian, On Fishing, 35-55; Horace, Sarr, 23.235; Siu Kalius, Punic, 5.581~3; Potconivs, Satyricon, 3: Pliny, Natural History, 9.53108 CE. lustinian, Diges, 2.2. * ‘These may be the inspectors mentioned by Jovenal who are present on the shore when the catch is brought in (Saires, 449), * For the presentation of huge fish to kings and emperors, see also Herodotus, Histories 3.42: ‘Suetonius, Tiberius, 60; Martial, Epiams, 13.91 " Pliny tates that in his day the red mullet rarely exceeded two pounds in weight (Natural Hisory, 9.30.64) "The famous gourmet, to whom the Roman cookery book (De Re Coquinavia) i attributed. Se Déry,C. A, (1996) The Art of Apcius, in H. Walker (e.) Coks and Other Pape, Proceedings of ‘the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cocker 1995), (Totnes), 111-7. contemporary gourmand, otherwise unknown. ' Plutarch, Table Talk, 668B-C; Athenseus, Dinner ofthe Sophiss 6.2741-275a; Diodorus Siculus, Roman History, 31.24; Polybius, History, 31.25.5; ef Philostratus,Lifeof Apollonius of Tana, 8.7; Plutaeeh, Cao he Elder, 18.1 * Horace, Satires,2.2.39-40. ° See Juvenal, Satine, 4.131-2, where a huge dish has to be specially made to aeeommodate an enormous fish See also Horace, Saires,2.2.33-4. © Listing the ingredients ofthe accompanying sauce isa mark of Nasdienus’ vulgarity, as is his ‘comment thatthe lamprey was caught before spawning, sine its flesh would have otherwise been inferior. He seks to impress his guests with his culinary erudition, and at the same time inform them that they are being served the finest food: Venaan oil and Spanish garam were the very best oftheir kind, 5 Juvenal implies thatthe anya was litle esteemed by refined palates and was a lower status food. Nevertheless the Raman Cookery of Apicius furnishes two recipes fr sates to accompany theFISH AS FOOD AND SYMBOL IN ANCIENT ROME 113 anguilla (10.4.1~2), One is composed of pepper, lovage, celery seed, dil, Syrian sumach, Jericho date, honey, vinegar, liquaman, ol, mustard and defrarum: the other of pepper, lovage, Syrian sumach, dried mint, the yoIks of boiled eges. mulaum, vinegar iquamen, and oil The main drain in Rome, the Claaca Maxima, emptied into the river Tiber close to where the ‘bas was frequently to be found, ® Compare Matial,Epigrams, 3.60, where the wealthy hos is served Lucrine oysters and a turbot, ‘but Martial himsef receives only mussels and a anus (a litle esteemed fish; possibly some sort of bream). So also Epgrams, 6.11 * Once more we must consider the enormous wastage of expensive mest incurred inthe deliberate selection ofthe items called for inthis dish. To be able to discard quality cus of flesh in favour of what is basically offal (though they were considered great delicacies) presupposes wealth, and posits the desire for notoriety ~ a prevalent aspiration among Roman epicures. Asistotle, History of Anima, 59222; Palit 264e; Pliny, Natural Hisory, 8.17.4; Athenseus, Dinner of the Sophias, 12.5416. ® Plautus, The Little Carthaginian, 293, % Cf Horace, Odes, 2.15.1-4 ® Ci. Valerius Maximus, 9.1.1. & Varro, On Asricuture, 3.17.2. ® The fishponds owned by the kading men at Rome were very valuable asets. Varro records that CCato the Younger sold for 40,000 sesteres the contents ofa pond he had inherited from the will of Lucullus (Varro, On Agriculture 3.2.17. Cf Columeli, On Agriculture, 8.16.5: Macrobius, Satumalia, 3.15.6). The presence of fishponds could also significantly inerease property price; the sale of Hirrus villa realized 4,000,000 seserces on account ofthe great numberof ponds: possessed (Varro, On Agriauture, 3.17.3; Macrobius,Satumali, 3.15.10) ® Varro, On Agriculture 33.10; Columela, On Agiaulure 8.16.5; Macrobius, Satumalia, 3.15.1-2, © Pliny, Naural History, 9.80, 170; Varo, On Agriculture, 33.10; Columelia, On Agriculture, 8.16.3; Macrobius, Saumatia, 3.15.6. ™ Pliny, Naural History, 980.170; Varo, On Agriculture, 3.310; 3.17.5-9; Macrobius, Satumalia, 3.136. Pliny, Natural History, 9.81.171; Varro, On Agriculture 3.17.3; Macrobius, Satwmalia 3.15.10. Pliny, Natural History, 980.170; Varo, On Agriculture, 33.10: 3.17.8-9; Macrobius, Satumaia, 3.15.6; Columella, On Agriculture 8.16.5; Plutarch, Lucilla, 39.3 ™ Pliny, Natural Higory, 9.80.170; Varo, On Agriculture, 3.17.9; Velleius Paterculus Raman Hisar, 2.334. On the importance ofthis flushing action, see Clumeli, On Agiultur 8.17.1; 8.175. >» Martial even speaks of fishing lines bein cat into the ponds from beds or dining-couches a the vill at Formiae (Epigrams,10:30.17). Martial, Epigrams,4.30.3-7; 10-30.22-4; Varo, On Agriculture, 3.17.4; Cicero, Later Altius, 2.1.7; Pliny, Natural Hisory,10.89.193, Anecdotes ofthe Roman passion for pet fish outlasted the empire itself, Even as late asthe early sith century ao verses were being composed at the Vandal court in North Africa about the ‘sh-fancying’ of former day; see Luxor, 5 = Latin Anthology, 1.1.n0.291 % Varro, On Agriculture 3.17.6-1. Iisa sign of his extravagance that he fed to his pet fi the litte fis that provided esentalnutriment forthe plebs, and even more so that he made no alternative arrangements fr the people to be fed when there was a shortage of food, ase did for his morays Pliny, Natural History, 981.172; Macrobius, Saumaia, 3.15.4; Plutarch, On the Cleemessof Animals. 976F; Aelian, On the Nature of Animals, 8. ™ Pliny, Naural Hier, 9.39.77; Seneca, On Anger, 3.40.2: On Mery, 1.18; Cassius Dio, Raman Hier, 34.23 » Pliny, Naural igor, 9.79.168; Macrobius, Sarumalia 3.15.3; Cassiodorus, Varig, 12.22; Valerius Maximus, 9.1, © On the superior quality and flavour of Lucrine shellfish, ee Petronius, Satyricon, 119.33-7; Martial, Bpigrams 3.60.3; 6.11.5: 13.82; 13.0; Horace, Epaies, 2.49; Satins, 2.4.33; Pliny, Natural Hoy, 9.79.168; lvenal, Satres 885-6. © Pliny, Natural Hier 9.79.169,114 perv © For red mullets asa favourite food of epicures, see Athenaeus, Dinner ofthe Sephias 7.3050; Martial, Epigrams 3.77.1 “See also Martial, Epigams 345.5; 11.50.9; 14.97. “Tertullian however gives the price as 6,000 sesterces (The Robe, $), and Macrobius as 7,000 (Saturnalia, 3.169) © Cr: Pliny, Natural Hisory 9.30.66; Martial, Epigams, 13.79.1-2. Cicero, Latter 1 Aten, 2.17; Varro, On Agriculture, 3.17.6, © Columella, On Agriculture, 8.16.1; Varo, On Agriauture, 33.9; Pliny, Natural Hisar, 10.79.19; Martial, Epigrams, 10.30.23, “The Latin name muranna is equally used in the ancient texts ofthe moray eel and the lamprey, both of which ar el-ike sale-les sh, though strictly speaking the lamprey belongs to the family Petromyzonidae, and the moray tothe Muraenida. It is therefore often dificult to determine which species is actually meant. © See Plats, The Poof Gald, 399; Pendolus, 982. % Columella, On Agriculture, 8.16.10: 8.17.8; Martial, Eplgras, 13.80; Macrobius, Saturnalia, 3.15.7; Athenaeus, Dinner ofthe Sophias, 14; 7.3121; Stabo, Gergrphy, 3.2.7; Aulus Gellus, Attic Nights, 6.16. 5) Macrobius, Satumaia, 3.15.7: Martial, plays, 13.80.1~2 ‘Athenaeus, Dinner of the Sphist. 7.312 © Varro, On Agriculture, 3.3.10; Columella, On Agriculture, 8.16.1; Macrobius,Satumalia, 3.15.7. © Pliny, Natural History, 9.81.171; Macrobius, Saturnalia, 3.15.10; Varo, On Agriculture, 3.17.3 ives the Figure as 2,000 pounds weight. * Horace, Epades 2.50; Satire. 1.2.116; 2.2.42, 2.2.49: Martial, Bpigrams 3.45.5; 3.60.6; 13.81 Savenal, Sires, 11,121; Pliny, Natura History, 32.53.15 Pliny, Naural History, 9.27.60; Martial, Epigams, 13:91; Ovid, On Fishing, 96; 134; Macrobivs, Saturnalia, 3.16.4. % Athenaeus, Dinner ofthe Sophias, 7.294; Macrobius,Satumalia, 3.16.8. ® Cicero, Tusulan Digutatons 343; On the Ends of Gands and Evils 2.8.25; Horace, Satire, 2.2.47-8; Ovid, On Fishing, 134 5 Macrobius, Sarumaia, 3.16.5-7. ™ AAthenacus, Dinner ofthe Sophias, 7.302c; Oppian, On Fishing, 3620-48; Asian, On the Nature of Animals, 15.5.6; Strabo, Geography, 5.2.6; 5.2.8: 6.1.1. © Pliny, Nana Hisory, 32.145.151; Manilivs, Asranamica, 5 6S6Ft © Pliny, Naural History 9.18.48; Athenacus, Dinner ofthe Sophias, 7.3024. © Pliny, Natural igor, 9.18.48 © Pliny, Naural History, 9.18.47: Oppian, On Fishing. 4.504-. Pliny, Natural Higory, 9.18.47 ‘Martial, Epigrams 3.24; 1152.7; 13.11, “ Oppian, On Fishing 2.130; Athenacus, Dinner ofthe Sophias 7.310, Varro, On the Latin Language, 5.77; Columels, On Agriculture, 8.178 © Pliny, Natural History, 9.28.61:Columella, On Agriulture8.17.8; Martial, Epigrams, 1389.1 Oppian, On Fishing, 1.11920; Martial, Epigrams, 13.89; Horace, Satin, 2.2.313; Macrobius, Saturnalia, 3.16.12, ™ Columella, On Agriculture 8.16.1; 8.17.8; Martial, Eigrams, 10.30.21. ™ Pliny, Natural History, 9.29.62: Athenacus, Dinner ofthe Sophias, 73200, ™ Columella, On Agrauture 8.169; Quintillan, 5.10.21 Pliny, Nanural Histor, 9.29.62-3 ® Varro, On Agriculture, 33.10; Columella, On Agriculture, 8.16.5; Macrobius, Satwmalia, 3.15.2. % 11 seems more reasonable quantity than the 40 ofthe manuscripts, which may have arisen from 1 scribalecor (XL for XI as Flower and Rosenbaum suggest in ther edition of Apicius. ® Martial, Epigrams 345.6; 6.11 5;7.20.7; 7.78.3; 12.174; Horace, Sires, 2.2.21; Pliny, Natural Hisory, 32.21.59; Seneca, Epiales77.16; Pliny the Younger, Eples, 1.15; Macrobius, Saturnalia, 3.13.12: Ausonius Epis 5.1-2 Columelts, On Agriudture, 8.17.8;FISH AS FOOD AND SYMBOL IN ANCIENT ROME 1s Petronius, Savion, 119.346; Martial, Epigrans. 3.60.3; 5.37; 61.5-6; 13.82; 13.90; Horace, Bpodes, 249; Satire, 2.4.33; Pliny, Natural History, 9.79.168; 32.21.61; Juvenal, Satnes 885-6. Pliny, Natural Hier, 32.21.60. ™ Pliny, Natural History 9.79.69; 32.21.61; Varro, ap. Aulus Gellus,Atic Nights 6.16.5. Pliny, Natural History 32.21.61 © Vergi, Gergis 1.207 Tacitus, Arial, 12.6; Pliny, Natural History, 9.79.169; 32.21.62; uvena, Sties 4.1415, ‘Ausonius, Epiles, 5.37, ® ‘This wasa different Apicis to the one to whom the Roman cookery book isatributed, © Seneca, Epistles 78.23. Anthimus, On the Observance of Food, 49. ' Fish sauce served a medical aswell as culinary us, for which see Curtis (1984); id. (1991), 27— 37 In the cookbook ascribed to Apicius some form of fish sauce (usually quam, but also Including alle, aeiogarum, ydrogarum, and exygaram) is called fr in approximately 350 recipes 35 ‘opposed to just over 40 which specify salt. (Fower and Rosenbaum’ original figure of 3 recipes containing sat, which has often been repeated on numerous occasions is grosly underestimated). ‘A small number of recipes, e. 7.13.9; 7.16.6; 9.13.1, eal for either lquamer or sat san alter native to the other, and show that these products could sometimes be used interchangeably in cooking. © Gacpanica, 20.464, ® Ps-Gatpius Matili, 62; Gerponica, 20.465, © Pliny, Nanural History, 31 43.94; Martial, Epigrams, 13.102. Pliny comments that the umber was only used forthe manufacture of gar, and was not otherwise eaten, © Pliny, Natural Hiseors, 31.43.94; Martial, Epigrams, 13.102. See especially Coreoran (1958) and Leary (1994), © SeeBowman, A. K and Thomas, J.D, (1983) Vindolanda: The Latin Writing Tablas, (London); Bowman, A. K. (1998) Lifeand Latersen the Raman Frontier: Vindlanda and its Pepe, (London), © Pliny, Naural Hier, 9.30.66; 31.44.95 % Plautus, The Little Carthaginian, 240-3, Curtis (1991), 12. See also Curtis, R. ., (1984) ‘NegeiataresAllecarit and the Herring’ Phooix, 38, 147-158, © For haimation, see also Manilius, Agronamica,5.671-2. © Martial, Epigrams, 6.93.6; 7.94; Pliny, Natural Hisory, 31.42.90; Horace, Satine, 2.4.63-6; disputed by Curtis (1983). ° On the problem of identifying this Ns, see Andrews (1949).who agrees with Pliny thatthe sada ‘was the palams(young tunny) (Natural History, 32.53.157) Charta was. low-grade paper made from papyrus that was used fo wrap produce onsale in the shops and markets, o, as her, used as cooking parchment. On the poets fear that this wil be the ‘gnominious fate of their manuscripts, see Martil, Epigrams, 3.24; 3.50.9; 4.86.8; 13.1.1; Catullus, 95.8Not Just on Fridays Dorothy Duncan For centuries the land that we call Canada has been blessed with an abundance of fish and seafood. For over 11,000 years before European contact, the First Nations lived and moved across the land asthe seasons dictated, to fish, hunt, gather nuts and berries, harvest wild rice and tap the trees for syrup and sugar. In spring some tribes ‘would move to the seashores to dig clams, mussels and oysters, while others would spear shad, bass, salmon and gaspereau. In mid-April the suckers began to run (a relative of the carp) that the Natives caught in traps. The suckers were filleted, tied in bales and carried with them to their next camp. During the summer they speared pickerel, sturgeon, trout and whitefish that were dried or eaten fresh (wrapped in bark or leaves) and roasted in a pit of coals. In the winter they speared fish through holes cut in the ice as they were needed. Soup was made from the well-cleaned stomachs, bones, skins, head and fins of the fish. When these parts had been well boiled, the soup was strained, thickened with flour made from Indian com and flavoured with herbs. When the chiefs of the tribes met, or later when newcomers began to arrive, there was always a ceremonial exchange of presents, as a mark of respect with fish as one of the symbolic gifts, Fish continues to be an important part ofthe First Nations’ diet in many parts of ‘Canada. For example, yellow perch, a traditional staple of the Mohawks, is being brought back to the Akwesasne Nation on the St Lawrence River to curb diabetes among the 12,000 residents of that community.’ It was Giovanni Caboto, the Italian navigator and explorer, who is credited with discovering the Grand Banks in 1497 when he was attempting to find the Orient. ‘The Grand Banks cover more than 37,000 square miles, off Canada east coast. John Cabot, as he became known, had sailed from Bristol in a 78-foot caravelle called the ‘Matthew with a crew of eighteen. He had received a grant from King Henry VIL When he returned to England in August of that year he reported that the sea was ‘covered with fish which could be caught not merely by nets, but with weighted baskets lowered into the water.” The traders of Bristol and Devon realized they no longer needed to rely on fish from Iceland if they fished the new resource and, seeing their success, other countries quickly followed suit ‘The Grand Banks are underwater plateaux that rise up along the Continental Shelf with a unique combination ofthe frigid Labrador current and the warm southern waters of the Gulf Stream, Sunlight and seaborne nutrients have supported the marine life in abundance from Cabot’s discovery until almost the present day. Cod was so plentiful there that it became known as the Beef of the Sea, and was also synonymous with the word fish. The soft gelatinous flesh of the cod dried quickly and could be stored for long periods of time without refrigeration. Dried, salted cod was a cheap 16NOT JUST ON FRIDAYS 47 form of protein for the poor in Europe, the Caribbean and South America, and so filled an economic need at the time. When those first fishing vessels arrived the erews ‘would fish for cod from the rail of the ship, then take the catch ashore to Cabot’ New Founde Lande (to-day the Province of Newfoundland) where it was cleaned, salted and spread to dry. The French introduced a method of fishing called ‘greenfishing’, a technique used (0 preserve the catch. Instead of drying the fish on shore the fishermen gutted and salted the catch before stowing it in the ship’ hold. Months later, when the vessel returned home, the fish were still moist or ‘green’. With this method, the crew also fished from the deck with hand-held lines, weighted with lead and protected from the spray and wind by screens. When the hold was full, the greenish (salted and wet) were taken back to France to be dried. Asexplorers, trappers, traders, missionaries and entrepreneurs arrived and moved inland, they realized that the rivers and lakes teemed with fish. An interpreter and trader atthe Falls of St Mary (Sault Ste Marie, Ontario) said in 1777: ‘At this place there is an abundance of fine fish, particularly pickerell, and white fish, of an uncommon size,” and a few weeks later, we prepared our nets for fishing. The ice was three feet thick, and the snow very deep: this we were obliged to clear away, before we could cut holes in which to put our nets. For the space of two months we had uncommon success, having caught about eighteen hundred weight of fish, which wwe hung up by the tails across sticks to freeze, and then laid them up for store." In 1784, Robert Pagan, a United Empire Loyalist foreed to flee from the new United States of America to present day New Brunswick, wrote to his wife describing the food he was shipping to her: By the schooner Seafoam, Capn, Bell, Intend to send you a kegg of pickled lobster, and some smoked salmon, some potatoes, and turnips, some cranberries, some ‘mackerel aso a quarter of beef and a side of good mutton, which I shall procure in ‘wo or three days When John Graves Simcoe, the first Licutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, arrived in 1791, he was accompanied by his wife, Elizabeth Gwillim — who was an artist and also kept a diary rich in the details of everyday life. There were dozens of, entries describing the fish to be found in Canada such as this one on 6 April 1793: ‘St Denis of the Sth caught yesterday at Niagara, 500 whitefish and 40 sturgeon; this is common sturgeon, one nearly 6 foot long.”* Settlers arriving from Great Britain and Europe chose to build their homes beside water, both for ease of travel and for the amount of fish that could be speared, netted, trapped, or caught with abaited line. Travellers and settlers alike wrote books describing what they found: 1 think I may assert, without fear of contradiction, thatthe angling in Canada is the finest in the world, Many thousands of trout streams and hundreds of salmon rivers discharge their waters into the gulf and river St Lawrence. From Lake Ontario down to the sits of Belle-lsle~ a distance of nearly 2,000 miles ~ on each shore of the river there is hardly a mile of coas-line without a river or stream. Thousands and. ‘thousands of lakes, all of which hold trou, lie hidden in the forest; in the majority of118 DUNCAN ‘them perhapsa fly has never been cast. Trout fishing is open to everyone... and such salmon fishing!” By the middle of the nineteenth century, as setlers were spreading across the ‘country, the fishing industry on the east coast was steadily growing, as demand for ‘cod grew both in Canada and in the West Indies and South America. The fishing. schooners, both from Canada and abroad, now carried dories, small seaworthy craft equipped with a sail and two sets of oars for the crew of two men. They left the schooners at daybreak to set long lines of hooks baited with herring, squid, capetin or salted clams. They made four trips out to the trawl or longline, each day to check the gear. Thisendless round of baiting, setting and hauling trawl ended in the evening when the ‘dressing’ ofthe cod began. Each fish was gutted, beheaded, split (backbone removed), washed and placed in the hold where it was packed in salt. This ended about midnight when the men slept until 3.30 am and then began the next days fishing. The schooners were often out on the Banks for three months, and when they returned, the catch was given to ‘ish makers’, They washed the coarse sat from the ‘cod, spread it to dry in the sun on racks covered with spruce boughs, known as ‘lakes. For three weeks the fish was watched so that it would not get wet or sunburned. When it was hard dried, it was ready to be packaged in barrels or boxes for shipment to market, at home or abroad, This rich renewable resource became the major industry in Atlantic Canada, ‘encompassing not only fishing, but everything needed to support it. This included the building of fishing schooners like the famous Bluenos, launched in Lunenburg in 1921 which, after a season of fishing on the Grand Banks, won the International Fisherman’ Trophy and kept on winningit for 21 years as the fastest sailing vessel in the world, At the same time that Bluenose was winning races, reffigeration was introduced. ‘The catch could now be cleaned, packed in crushed ice and sold fresh. First steam trawlers and then diesel trawlers, dragging bag-shaped nets, increased productivity and helped fresh and frozen fish triumph over salted cod. Meanwhile, Canadians from coast to coast developed an avid interest in sport fishing. For example, fishing for tuna began at the turn of the century off Nova Scotia, when it was recognized that the giant bluefin tuna visited in late summer and carly fall. In 1979, the world’s record for a bluefin taken with rod and reel, weighing 1,496 Ib, was at Aulds Cove in Nova Scotia. One of the great winter pastimes in many parts of Canada is ice fishing. When the lakes and rivers are frozen, fishing huts are towed out on to the ice in which a hole is cut. The hook is baited with a minnow and dropped in the water. The soup is put on and the fishermen spend the day hoping for a bite, or a catch for supper. Regional dishes became popular and remain so today. These include the beloved fish and brewis of Newfoundland and Labrador; the baked Pacific salmon of British Columbia; Nova Scotia clam chowder; the Winnipeg goldeye of Manitoba; or the grilled arctic char steaks of the Yakon and Northwest Territories. For close to 500 years fish and seafood was considered rich renewable resource until very recently when Canadians suddenly realized how wrong we were! ThereNOT JUST ON FRIDAYS 119 had been many warning signals, but they had been ignored, considered by most ‘Canadians as unthinkable, There were mercury-laden fish found in many rivers and, fish stocks disappearing coast to coast. There was the unexplained decrease in salmon ‘on the west coast and rumours of overfishing by other countries on the east coast and. particularly on the Grand Banks. The flashpoint came on 9 March 1995 when an armed Canadian Oceans and Fisheries Department vessel boarded the Spanish trawler, Egai on the Grand Banks, conducted it to St John’s, Newfoundland and formally charged the captain with illegal fishing. The European Union accused Canada of piracy. The ‘Turbot War’ then raged. On 15 April a tentative truce was reached with the European Union, covering the size of nets that could be used and dividing the Grand Banks into two zones, one managed by Canada and the other managed by the Northern Atlantic Fisheries Organization. ‘Commercial cod fishing was suspended on the east coast in 1993 because of the vanishing stock. This devastated the economy of many communities a5 20,000 Newfounders were suddenly idle. In 1977 the industry partially re-opened, despite a ‘controversy about whether fish stocks had really recovered ot whether the moratorium should continue.’ In British Columbia, a twelve-year dispute between the United States and Canada over the 1985 Pacific Salmon Treaty has finally reached a consensus and a solution may come this year.” In communities large and small, Canadians are more aware than at any time in ‘our history that fish isan endangered species. Newspapers carry stories of fundraising projects to restock lakes and rivers, and tougher controls and fines for industries that pollute our waterways have been implemented. There is still a great deal that could be done to improve the situation. We realize that it may be a very long time before any of uscan say, as Elizabeth Simcoe did in 1793, ‘Thisisacommon sturgeon....nearly 6 feet long!” REFERENCES * Toronto DayStar, April 12, 1997, MIB, » Encylopaia Brivannica, Volume 4, Toronto, 1967, p. $57 > 4. Long, Vayages and Travels of an Indian Inerprtr and Trader, London, 1791, p. 43 * Wid, p. 57. * Grace Helen Mowat, The Diverting History of a Lvalt Town, Fredericton, 1976, p. 27 * J Ross Robertson, The Diary of Mrs Jon Graves Simeve, Toronto, 1911, p- 158, 7 John R, Rowan, Phe Emigrant Sportgnan in Canada, London, 1876, p. 377. * The Toronto Daily Star, April 16, 1995, H. * The Glebe and Mail, April 16, 1997, 1 © Thid. February 6, 1997, H.Meals Aboard Whaleships: Edible? Inedible? Incredible? K. Dun Gifford A paper written in gratitude to the whaling wives who sailed aboard Hen Frigates and kept journals of their voyages allowing us to set the record straight about whaleship food — together with a few whaleship recipes and a bucket of sea biscuits (or hardtack) baked in a Nantucket kitchen. Did whalers eat badly, or did they eat well? Was their food consistently awful? Was it ‘ever good? Was it nutritious? Only adequate? Could it have ever been incredibly good? Conventional wisdom has us believing that meals aboard whaleships were invariably inedible — Sour and wormy, 2-3 inches deep in cockroaches,’ as one whaler groused to his journal. My paper challenges this conventional wisdom as completely erroneous, badly misleading, and the stuff of fiction. ‘To mount this challenge, I have relied primarily on journals written by women ~ the whaling wives whose presence aboard whaleships not only boldly challenged the social conventions of their times, but also left us a rich legacy of journals that paint detailed pictures of daily lives aboard ship. Thave relied secondarily upon inferential common sense. Whalers did not die en masse from scurvy. This means that they must have eaten fruits and vegetables regularly. And because whalers’ work was extremely arduous, their diets had to provide them enough calories, on a regular basis, to maintain their strength and endurance in both Arctic cold and tropical heat. My thesis is that both journals and common sense make clear that the sea itself contributed regularly and plentifully to whaleship meals that food from the waters, filled whaleship larders with ample quantities of good, fresh and nutritious food. Whaling Whalers f the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries left their snug harbors and sailed in ridiculously small wooden ships over the wildest oceans on earth on three-year voyagesiin a relentless search to find whales, kill them, and render out the ol in their blubber. ‘They did this for the profit— from the oil (it lit the lampsand candesin the world’s cities); from the whale bone (it stiffened women’s corsets and gentlemen's umbrellas, and buggy whips); and from the ambergris in sperm whales (it was the best base for perfumes). 120MEALS ABOARD WHALESHIPS 121 In the middle of the last century, whaling was the fifth largest industry in the United States. New Bedford was then the world’s leading whaling port, and its ‘economy was entirely dependent on whaling. It was arguably the wealthiest city per capita in the world ‘Whaling was also a dangerous business. Of the 787 whaleships in the New Bedford fleet over the years, 272 were lost on whaling voyages, a startling 35 per cent risk of Joss. But as the authors of In Pursuit of Leviathan make clear, most whaleships made multiple voyages, and s0 the risk of loss on any single voyage was ‘only’ six per cent, This isthe equivalent of crashing on one out of every seventeen airplane flights. Around 1700, fishermen caught whales from dories launched off the beaches of southern New England. This ‘slong-shore whaling,’ asit was known, lasted until their proficiency as whalers gradually depleted the in-shore pods, forcing the whalers to g0 ‘out to sea After 1726, the high-water mark for on-shore whalers, these extraordinary people built sturdy ships, developed whale-killing hardware, and became skilled hunters. ‘Theit continuing successes eventually forced them even farther off-shore, until they reached the Arctic and the southern coasts of Africa and South America. By the end of the eighteenth century, whaleships builtin small New England towns had sailed to every comer of the North and South Atlantic, increasingly accompanied by British ships. It wasin fact a British whaler, the Amelia, which was the first to round Cape Horn in 1788, opening up the rich Pacific whaling grounds ~ guided, so Nantucketers claim, by Nantucket whalers captured during the Revolutionary War by British warships and impressed into His Majesty’ Service. Nationalism aside, by the mid-nineteenth century the world’s oceans belonged to \whaleships and the whalers who charted them. Whaleship captains took their ships to the Indian Ocean and the Tasmanian Sea and the entire Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. They sailed into the Arctic and Antarctic, sometimes getting trapped in the ice for months. There was no patch of the planets salt water that they did not reach in their search for the lucrative oil of whales. ‘The eminent whaling historian, Nantucketer Alexander Starbuck, writes with pride of these successes in an essay quoted in Douglas-Lithgow’ Nantucket: A History ‘What England and France were unable to accomplish with a monopoly of trade and. heavy bounties, whalemen of the United States carried on successfully without assistance from their government and in the face of all competition. Among the foremost were the seamen of Nantucket. Their keels vex every sea, and the American flag floated from the mastheads of ther ships in every port. He had reason to be proud. ANantucket whaleship, the Beaver, was the first American around Cape Horn in 1791. Nantucketer Mary Russell was the first whaling wife of record, in 1823. The Nantucket whaleship Huntress, captained by Christopher Burdick, was the first to record recognition of Antarctica, And this isa only a partial list.122 urroRD Nantucket Nantucket isa small, crescent-shaped island fourteen miles long and three miles wide lying twenty miles off the southeast coast of Massachusetts. From the middle of the eighteenth century to nearly the middle ofthe nineteenth century, it was the epicenter ‘of world whaling, even though its population never exceeded 10,000 people. This was the ‘Nantucket Century,’ when whaleships routinely circumnavigated the ‘globe in their relentless search for new pods of whales. On one typical course, ‘whaleships sailed south from Nantucket, rounded the Cape of Good Hope at the tip of Africa, sailed north up into the Indian Ocean and then south down along the Antarctic ice, around Australia and New Zealand, north up into the Southern Pacific, and south again to round the fearsome Cape Horn or navigate through the Straits of Magellan at the tip of South America before heading north and back to Nantucket. ‘The Nantucket Century was interrupted by the Revolutionary War. At its ‘outbreak, the Nantucket whaling fleet numbered over 150 ships, but by the time the British Admiralty’ warships were finished, they had captured 134 and sunk 15 of this total. The officers and crews of the captured whaleships were given the option of ‘whaling under the English flag or going to prison. Most took the former course, and provided the manpower for a very large expansion of British whaling enterprises. After its fleet was again destroyed in the War of 1812, Nantucket substantially rebuilt its war-ravaged fleet. By 1821, it had 87 ships at sea, and by 1833, the number had increased to over 100. But New Bedford's harbor could accommodate larger ‘whaleships than Nantucket, and by mid-century, the crown of whaling capital ofthe world had passed to New Bedford ‘Then the death knell for whaling tolled four times. The 1849 Gold Rush drew a flood tide of whalers away from the whaling grounds and onto the goldfields. Spring steel was invented and it replaced whalebone in corsets annd umbrellas. The discovery of petroleum in 1859 introduced a less expensive substitute for whale oil. And the destruction of Union whaleships by the Confederate Navy during the Civil War was, the final coup de grace. ‘These four converging forces, incidentally, have subsequently been hailed as the Messiahs that saved the great whales from extinction. ‘Whales were hunted extensively well into the twentieth century, and the major ‘demand remained oil - not for lighting, however, but for food. Hydrogenation, which makes liquid oils solid, was invented, with margarine one principal result. In the 1930s, write the authors of In Pursuit of Leviathan, ‘40 per cent of the margarine and 30 per cent of the lard produced in the United Kingdom were made from whale oil; in Germany, the combined figure for margarine and lard was 54 per cent.” Herman Melville Nantucket’s whaling history is etched in history in two frames. For historians, it ies in a dozen or s0 fine museums — in their thousands of log books of the whaling voyages, in their thousands of account books of the owners and the suppliers of theMEALS ABOARD WHALESHIPS 123 whaleships, and in their collections of the ordinary and the exotic hardware of whaleship life But for the rest of us, Nantucket and whaling come to life in the writings of Herman Mehville, who in January 1841 at the age of 22 signed on the whaleship Aausinet as a sailor, under Captain Valentine Pease of New Bedford, with a crew of twenty-one Americans, three Portuguese, and one Englishman. The ship’ list describes. Melville a8 21 years old, five feet nine and half inches tall, and dark complexioned. The conditions aboard the Acushnet were intolerable to Melville (its Captain turned out to be a tyrant), and the next year he deserted the Acushnet with his friend ‘Toby Greene at Nukuheva in the Marquesas, an archipelago south of the Equator and. midway between Australia and South America. About four months later he signed on the Lucy Ann, an Australian whaler, and after stops in Tahiti and Eimeo, in 1842 he signed on the whaleship Charlesand Henry, & Nantucket whaler captained by John Coleman, as boatsteerer and harpooner. Melville ‘was ‘on the beach’ on Eimeo Island in the Marquesas at the time (in his ‘beach bum’ phase). Another year later, now in Honolulu, Melville signed on the US Navy frigate United Statesas an Ordinary Seaman, and reached Boston in 1844 after one more year at sea, with stops along the way in Tahiti, Valparaiso and Lima, ‘When Melville landed in Boston, he started churning out novels based on his shipboard experiences at an amazing clip: Typee in 1846, Mardi and Omeo in 1847, Redburn in 1849, White Jacket in 1850, and Moby Dick or the Whale in 1851 Whales as Food Melville wrote infrequently about food aboard whaleships, but here's an exception, from Typee: ‘Six months at Sea... Six months out of sight of land, cruising ater the sperm whale beneath the scorching sun of the [Equator] and tossed about on the billows of the wwide-rolling Pacific. Weck and weeks ago our fresh provisions were all exhausted, There isnot a sweet potato lft: nota single yam. Those glorious bunches of bananas ‘which once decorated our stern and quarter-deck have, alas, disippeared! And the delicious oranges which hung suspended from our topsand stays the, too, are gone! Yes they ate departed, and there is nothing let to us but sal-horse and seabiscuit ‘Well, we can ask ourselves, what about fish? Are the whalers going hungry because there are no fish in the ocean? Couldnt these highly skilled masters of the world’s ‘oceans catch a single fish? Why would they starve instead of eating fresh fish? Melville has something to say about this, to. In his Moby Dick chapter called ‘The Whale as a Dish’, he writes about Stubb, the whaleship’s First Mate, who uniquely among the ship’ crew, eats whale meat, Here Melville relates that Stubb forced the ‘cook to make him a whale-steak dinner during an all-night try-out’~ the exhausting work of tripping the blubber from a whale, and then rendering out its oil by boiling it in enormous try-pots’ set on the ship’ foredeck. He then comments: ‘That mortal man should feed upon the creature that feeds his lamp, and, like Stubb, cet him by his own light, as you say; this seems so outlandish a thing that one must124 urroRD needs go a little into the history and philosophy of it. It is upon record that three centuries ago the tongue of the Right Whale was esteemed a great delicacy in France. Also, that in Henry VIITS time, a certain cook of the court obtained a handsome reward for inventing an admirable sauce to be eaten with barbecued por- poise...Porpoises, indeed, ae to this day considered fine eating. The meat ismade into ballsabout the size of billiard balls, and being wellseasoned and spiced might be taken for turtle balls or veal ball ‘The fact is, that among his hunters at least, the whale would by all hands be considered a noble dish, were there not so much of him; but when you come to sit down at a meat-pie nearly one hundred feet long, it takes away your appetite. Only ‘the most unprejudiced of men, like Stubb, nowadays partake of cooked whales. But the spermaceti itself, how bland and creamy that is; lke the transparent, halfjellied, white meat of a young coconut in the third month of its growth, yet far to0 rich to supply a substitute for butter. Nevertheless, many whalemen havea method ‘of absorbing it into some other substance [.., hardtack or flour), and then partaking, oft In the long try watches of the night it isa common thing for the seamen to dip their sea-biscuit into the huge oil-pots and let them fry there awhile, Many a good supper have I thus made. In the case of a small Sperm Whale the brains are accounted a fine dish. The casket of the skull is broken into with an axe, and the two plump, whitish lobes being withdrawn... they are then mixed with flour, and cooked into amost delectable mess, in flavor somewhat resembling calves’ head. ‘So Melville acknowledges that whalers ate food from the waters — whale steak, porpoise-meat balls, spermaceti, hardtack fried in whale oil, and whale brains. But he seems compelled to distract us with his accustomed star-bursts of lateral-thinking. excursions into history, and his apparently irresistible urge to poke fun at his readers? pretensions. Whaleships and Whalers Nantucket whaleships ofthis period were about 100 feet long, and very stoutly made with thick oak timbers to withstand the stormy seas, to accommodate the strain of ‘cutting the blubber from whales as long as the ship itself, and to resist icebergs and. ice crushes during polar hunts. Most were barks, which means that the foremast and mainmast were square-rigged, and the aft-most (or mizzen) mast was fore-and-aft rigged. ‘The crew numbered about 35, divided between the offices’ and the Sailors’. The officers included the Captain and the three or four Mates, and other leser (or petty’) officers made up of ‘boatsteerers, harpooners’, and ‘eraftsmen’ (cooper, blacksmith, and carpenter). Sometimes, ships also carried a ‘Ship's surgeon’, and among the most skin-crawling artefacts in whaling museums are the industral-strength pliers used to ‘extract diseased and abscessed teeth. You had good luck if surgeon was aboard your whaleship, and you did not have to rely upon the Captain's dental experience for your abscessed tooth. ‘The sailors lived in the forecastle (often written as it was pronounced, ‘fo'cse’) of the ship, a triangular space forward of the foremast in the bows, accessible by aMEALS ABOARD WHALESHIPS 125 ladder set down in the forward hatch. The sailors slept, ate and lounged in this ‘cramped space, its three sides each lined with about eight built-in double berths, with ‘every man sea chest lashed in front ofthe lower berths serving as the fo'esle's benches The Captain, Mates and petty officers lived aft of the mainmast. The Captain's day cabin served as his office and it filled the whaleship’ stern, Just forward of his ‘on the starboard side were his washroom and his stateroom. The Mates doubled up in staterooms on the port side, and the petty officers shared a bunk room, called ‘steerage,’ because the ‘boatsteerers’ lived there and they were the senior officers after the Captain and the Mates. ‘Whaleship crews worked hard, as a somewhat cranky Francis Olmsted wrote in his journal aboard the North America in 1841: Dities are performed with regularity from day to day. At daylight, commences the scrubbing of decks and washing down fore and af. ‘When this duty iscompleted, the mastheads are manned, and at half past seven ‘clock, breakfas is served up, immediately ater which the carpenter, blacksmith and. cooper are engaged in their respective vocations, while the watch is employed upon. an old sail, picking oakum, making spun yar, etc. No one isallowed to be idle, and everything proceeds with a regularity, which people in general, from a misconceived antipathy, are not willing to credit toa whaleman. Eating on Whaleships ‘There were three dining spaces (called ‘messes’) aboard whaleshi ‘saloon’), the steerage and the fo'c'sle. The saloon was built around the mizzenmast and it was the Captains mess; the steerage was the mess of the petty officers; and the sailors messed in the fo'csle. ‘The Captain and Mates were served their meals on crockery with proper knives, forks and spoons, which were de rigueur unless the weather was truly dreadful, in which case they were served on tin dinnerware. After this meal was served, the remainder ofthe men were served their meal in steerage, although on some whaleships the petty officers were served in the saloon, but without the china and cutlery, after the Captain and Mates had finished. The cabin boy, or steward, served the meals, He sometimes also made the bread and the desserts. ‘The sailors ate in the fo'eMle, and it is from this fo'eSe mess that most of the stories about terrible food aboard whaleships originate. Here is a description of the occupants of the fo'eSle, fom Whalers and Whaling by EK. Chatterton You would find in a Nantucket ship North Americans, Portuguese, coal-black nigger, Dutchmen, Frenchmen, Manxmen, Maltese, natives from the Pacific Islands, ‘Spaniards, and Britons, too. The ship might be American but the crew were Intemational - or without anation, If half the failures in this work are caused by men ‘not knowing what they want and not being able to identify it when they seit, then ‘you might say thatthe fo‘eMle ofa whaler was ful of faiures. The ship attracted men from all parts of the world, and some of these were just drifting about the globe ‘without any aim except t0 stay alive126 urroRD ‘Thisis arather kinder and gentler description than we are accustomed to reading: a more familiar description is in Steven Verrill’s The Real Story of the Whaler. {They were] a gang of filthy, tough men — bums, outcasts, thugs and common drunks the roughest and worst type of human beings to be found on the seven seas.” But however the sailors ofthe fo'eMe are described, the evidence is overwhelming that some of them were drifters, perhaps even the homeless of their day. But they had to eat. And they did. In Clifford Ashley’ wordsin The Yankee Whaler, In the fo’, each sailor, when his watch was called, reached for his pot and pan, sided aft to the galley along the leeward rail, received from the ‘Doctor’ his chunk ‘of meat or daub of hash, two hot potatoes. and a tub of slop," and, wiping his sheath- {knife on hisjeans, sat down on hischest, with the pot of eofe safely propped between hs bare feet, and took his nourishment without aid of fork or spoon, The ‘Doctor.’ of course was the cook, doctor being the derisive term applied to all ‘cooks aboard whaleships. As aresult ofthis three-mess arrangement on whaleships, the cook had to prepare three meals a day for three seatings, cach with somewhat different menus. He (there is no record of a female cook on a whaleship) also had to have snacks prepared for the all-night watches, principally coffee and tea and sweets or biscuits His galley, called a ‘caboose’ (hence the ‘caboose’ of a train), was a space measuring about five feet by ten feet in a deck house on the starboard side, full at A cast-iron, two-oven, wood-fired stove filled the forward three fee of this space, and the storage chest occupied the after three fect of the space. The cook had only the middle four feet to move around in, It can be no surprise that food service was a nightmare in heavy weather, when it was a true adventure to carry food from the galley, aft, to the fo'ee, forward, in its “kid,” a wooden bucket with a secure lid and bound with steel hoops. ‘Samuel Millett related this experience during a bad storm as he sailed aboard the Willisin 1849: I found the cook's pork washing fore and aft in the lee scuppers,” and later, when the cook tried to carry the kid forward to the fo'ee, the wind and waves. knocked him off his feet and it was lost. Later on during the same storm, when its violence prevented the cook from lighting the stove, Millett tells us, ‘we all turned cannibals and ate the pork raw for breakfast.” Still later, when he fell carrying a kid of cooked beans, Millett was scalded badly enough to keep him from standing his, watches, though he says that ‘I kept the kid right-side-up until [ could set it down.” You Be the ‘Doctor’ Before we get to the food itself, try to imagine yourself the cook on a whaleship. In the morning, the Captain told you he wanted the last of the chickens in the coop under the carpenter’ bench killed and dressed out for his lunch, so the menu for the four senior officers will be a chicken soup for the first course, roast chicken, ‘dumplings, and sweet potatoes with fresh bread for the main course, and apple pie for dessert. The petty officers will have the same, but substituting salt horse for fresh chicken. The sailors are going to have bean soup, sea biscuits, salt horse and duff.MEALS ABOARD WHALESHIPS 127 We should note here that nothing ever really changes in classes of food service: ‘on whaleships it certainly was tine aft, but eat forward.” Just so, first-class passengers, today on ocean liners and airliners dine on china plates and drink from real glassware, while everyone else in the cheap seats eats (at best) on plastic. But back to our fantasy of you as ‘Doctor’. You've been two weeks at sea in the Pacific Ocean, in mid-passage from Lahaina in the Hawaiian Islands to the Aleutian Islands and the Bering Strait. Your ship is underway in a moderate swell in a brisk breeze, close-hauled under a sunny sky in warm sub-tropical weather, pitching and rolling and hecling over at about fifteen degrees. IeSawooden ship, with canvas sails; her hold is half-full of casks of very flammable whale ol (cach cask, five fet tall and three feet across, holds 300 gallons). You've got to keep a wood fire stoked in your cast iron stove, mindful that sparks flying around the ship from your chimney are probably not a very good idea. ‘You are getting ready for the large midday meal (‘inner’), and you're cooking for 35 hungry people. You have no sous-chef, and no line cooks. Youre going to make two soups, in pots that are never horizontal and whose ‘contents are constantly sloshing around, though they dont fall off the stove because it is fitted out with iron fiddles’ set on its surface, which are a kind of grid of rails that keep pots and pans from skidding around. You've got a chicken and sweet potatoes roasting in one oven, and bread and pies baking in the other. Youre boiling ‘dumplings on the stovetop along with a pot of hot water for coffee and tea. ‘Since the ship is heeling over, and tossing in the seaway, you can stand upright in the galley only by holding on with one hand, or by leaning your body against its side wall. The stove is dangerously hot, so you cant hold onto it. You and your steward are doing the kitchen rhumba together, keeping the fire stoked, stirring the soups, trying not to burn the pies, and a all costs trying not to stumble into the stove because youtl be badly burned if you did. This is how Olmsted describes the scene: ‘The Yalley’ is. litte kennel large enough for the cook and his stove, but a mystery to all ambitious housekeepers with capacious kitchens, how so much, and such a variety can be cooked in so small a compass, There sits Jumbo [their cook], in sooty dignity, superintending the steaming coppers, and reflecting upon the responsibility of his station, while the hot liquids re seattered around, and perchance fly upon his uunshod extremities, as the ship rolls heavily in across sea, This cannot be a pretty sight for budding Doctors. Your Larder Here’s what you might have in your larder as you get ready to whomp up this lunch for the ship. Pork and beef were packed in 300-pound casks in heavily salted water, to which saltpeter was added to maintain the red color of the meat, When the casks were ‘opened, the meat, too salty to eat, was picked over by the steward, and the fatty pieces, ‘were reserved for the officers and the lean reserved for the stlors. On shipboard, with128 urroRD fresh water so valuable, the salty meat was soaked for a week in sea water in a ‘harness ‘cask,’ with separate compartments for beef and for pork. This soaking brought the salt content down to edible levels. lors called meat ‘alt horse’ or Salt junk,’ the former because of the wide-spread. belief that ship owners bought cheaper horsemeat instead of the more expensive beef, and the latter for the obvious reason that they thought it to be junk. Clifford Ashley and some other writers argue that whalers called all meat junk,” but while this may be true of fo'csle hands, it certainly was not true in the Captain’ cabin. Ifthe meat were to be eaten as a meat dish, it was boiled, and would be a cousin of today’ familiar ‘New England Boiled Dinner.’ If it were to be eaten in a stew, it ‘was cooked with beans or peas or even with dried corn, as salt pork might be today. If it was served as simple hunks of meat, the cook dealt it out with a two-pronged galley fork called a Yormentor, a notably apt word choice. ‘When the fatty pieces of salt meat were boiled, the fat was rendered out and was skimmed off as lard and grease, which whalers called ‘Slush.’ Slush was a valuable ‘commodity aboard ship. For example, the wooden spars were often ‘Slushed’ with the rendered fat, because it helped prevent them from drying out and splitting under the assaults of the sun and salt water. And wooden moving parts, such as rudder-tiller- wheel mechanisms, had to be lubricated with stush to keep them moving smoothly. Most important, though, slush was a key source of calories for men who as often snot rowed a whaleboat for an entire day in pursuit of whales, or, after a kill on days, with no wind, actually towed whales back to the ship with lines attached to the harpoon or flukes ~ all before undertaking the twelve-hour cutting-in and trying-out process, which went forward day or night. Even without actual pursuit of whales, a sailor's work was often very physically demanding — climbing the rigging, sowing the oil casks ~ and the concentrated energy of slush was much sought after. But there was constant tension over slush, since cooks had a strong reason to hoard it. If there was surplus slush at the end of the voyage, it was sold ashore for soap- making, and the cook shared in the proceeds (hence the derivation of ‘lush fund’) “Sea biscuit’ or ‘hardtack,’ also brought aboard ship in casks, was made only with unsalted and unleavened flour-and-water dough, baked and then dried, because this, made a biscuit with a long storage life. As a result, the biscuits were so hard (thus. “hardtack’) that they couldnt be bitten through. The hardtack of early years was made with wholewheat flour, which was gradually replaced by white flour. ‘To eat hardtack, sailors broke it into small pieces, or soaked it in soup or coffee. ‘Cooks used it often as thickeners, first putting it in canvas bags and beating it with ‘marlinspikes or other hardwood bats, and then further crushing it finely with aroller, Hardtack was kept in a special small barrel; it was the only food available at all times of day and night for any crew member who wanted a snack. Potatoes were an important source of starch, but they had a short life aboard ship because they spoiled in the ever-present shipboard dampness. Cabbage was also a staple of the early part of whaling voyages, but it, t00, spoiled easily. Coffee and tea had long shipboard shelf life, and were essential ingredients of a ship's stores. Vinegar and spices (mostly pepper) rounded out the larder.MEALS ABOARD WHALESHIPS 129 Dishes You'd Cook Sandra Oliver in her masterful Saltwater Foodways has a wonderful time with the colorful names that whalers gave common dishes. ‘The commonest of the ‘fancy’ shipboard dishes was called ‘lobscouce,” or just ‘scouce.’ It was often cooked for all aboard, usually from leftovers or the ends of stores Richard Henry Dana described scouce in Two Years Before the Mas as ‘biscuit pounded fine, salt beef cut into small pieces, and a few potatoes, boiled up together and seasoned with pepper.’ The popularity of lobscouce for sailors apparently derived from the lavish use of pepper, since this was a treat and not everyday fare. Lobscouce became ‘crackerhash’ or ‘breadhash’ when there was less meat and fewer vegetables in it, and it was extended with cracked-up hardtack, “Dandyfunk’ was an umbrella word for a vast range of sailor’ deserts, all based ‘on soaked hardtack. When soaked thoroughly. hardtack assumes the characteristics, of soft boiled puddings, not at all unlike bread pudding. Molasses was a shipboard: staple, and had many names: ‘black cat’ and ‘ong-tailed sugar’ are the common ones. Molasses was often poured over water-soaked hardtack and baked: or, it was just eaten as was, without baking. Ifhardtack was pounded finely, slush added and then baked, sailors had a rough approximation of shortbread which they called ‘fu-fu’. Even more popular was well-pounded hardtack, slush and molasses, mixed together and then baked. But the clase sailor’ dessert is tuft." The word seems a corruption of the word ‘dough,’ pronounced for some reason to rhyme with ‘rough.’ Duff was a boiled pudding, but because it was often made with slush it was very popular. There are thousands and thousands of references to duff in whaler’s journals, sometimes. rhapsodic about the skill of the cook, sometimes grumpy because the cook burnt it when the cooking bag stuck to the side of the pot while it was boiled ‘Nantucket Receipts, an. 1874 Ms recipe book quoted in Hawkins and Havemeyer, explains how to make boiled puddings: Puddings which are to be boited should be put in boiling water andthe water kept boiling, Sout white jean or cotton drilling make a good pudding cloth (30 x 30 inches ‘unbleached muslin or old sailloth). It should be large enough to allow the ends to hhang out of the pot ater the pudding is put in. Then put on the cover and keep it steady. This is necessary in a berry pudding to keep the crust from cracking. Wet the cloth in hot or cold water before flouring it for the pudding. ‘The consistency of some cooks’ duffs was like cakes, and some was like puddings. Some sailors liked the cake version and some liked the pudding version (no doubt sailors reached into their food memories and preferred the version their mothers had male). They quarreled a lot about duff, and complained if the cook didnt vary his repertoire, Standard ingredients of duff were flour, shortening, baking powder, water, and fruit. Ifthe fruit was raisins, then it was plum duft.’ More often, since the ships were from New England, dried apples were the fruit in dufis. Duffs were made differently for the officers and the sailors: sailors got molasses for sauce, while officers had spices, wine, lemon, berry and all sorts of other variations for their dufis,130 urroRD ‘Owners and Captains specified a ‘Bill of Fare’ for their ships, o help in purchasing. the ships stores and in stowing them. Bills of fare for whaleships were quite restricted, because the passages were lengthy between landfalls and conserving food and water was an everyday worry. Here is the Bill of Fare for the whaleship Tiger on her ‘outbound run from Stonington, Connecticut in 1845: Sunday ut, meat, bread, molasses Monday beans, meat, bread Tuesday ‘meat, bread Wednesday beans, beef, pork, bread, Thursday dul, meat, bread, molasses Friday rice, meat, bread, molasses Saturday hasty pudding, meat, bread, molasses It is interesting to note the listing for ‘hasty pudding’ on Saturday, an uptown name for a fancy version of duff. Hasty pudding was traditionally made with corn meal and not wheat flour, but even if wasnt made that way aboard whaleships, it gave cooks latitude to use raisins, apples, cinnamon, dried tropical fruits, or any other variant for the fo'cSle hands. It the idea of Saturday-night-out, but at sea. Not surprisingly, Melville had something to say about Bills of Fare in Moby Dick: [You] are never troubled withthe thought of what you shall have for dinner ~ forall ‘your meals for three years and more are snugly stowed in casks, and your bill of fare is immutable, Nantucket whalemen joked that they varied their meals by having ‘hardtack and salt horse one meal, and salt horse and hardtack the next.” Conventional Wisdom: Inedible Food ‘The conventional wisdom about the food aboard whaleships is that the word ‘inedible’ most accurately describes it ‘The vast numbers of us who believe this conventional wisdom received it from Melville, Dana, Joseph Conrad and others who wrote popular novels about ships at sea. But as is often the case, settled assumptions fail when put to critical tests, After all, it was no less a thinker than Albert Einstein who said that, ‘It is the property of true genius to challenge all settled ideas. ‘We must grant that some of the time the food on whaleships was inedible. For ‘example, one William Abbe graduated from Harvard and went to sea aboard the whaleship Atkins Adamsin 1858, seeking whales, adventure and an improvement in his health from the sea air. In her Rites and Passages, a new-wave social history ‘examining gender-based issues in American whaling, Margaret Creighton takes us with her on a walk through Abbe’ diaries: ‘After amonth at sea {she writes), Abbe found himself desperately hungry and like the rest of his [fo'eMe]shipmates was forced to eat ‘sour and wormy’ bread, sweetened by ‘molasses that was ‘2-3 inches deep in cockroaches’ and was forced to drink water that ‘made silors immediately throw it up again.” Over the next six months Abbe adjustedMEALS ABOARD WHALESHIPS 131 his palate 0 that he could even swallow cockroaches without making a face.” But nearly a yer later he wrote ‘Our duff thisnoon heavy & watery was literally filled with dirt & cockroaches, I didnt eat a morsel of the filthy food but sat laughing atthe discoveries that fellows ‘made as they carefully sliced their duff, “Hallo! here a piece of old Thompsons hat «tied Johnny ~ Herea big worm = Look at these cockroaches ~ I've bit a cockroach, in two — Lets make Thompson eat them when he comes below” came from empty ‘mouths. “A few sailors looked at their smelly beef, their fouled water, and their cockroach-ridden bread and lay blame not on their captains but on the vicissitudes ‘of ocean living, It was the sun they sad, that made the butter rancid and rotted the ‘vegetables. Whalemen who shrugged their shoulders at their miserable living could sometimes read humor into their situations” ‘One Edwin Pulver, Mate of the Columbus, composed this poem in 1852 when his ship ran out of provisions on along Arctic cruise and the crew were forced to eat polar Dear: hope when we get more fresh meat Ibe of akind that we can eat, Tare not weather it be cow or hog Nor would I run from a well-cooked dog. ‘So here [vow likewise declare Ine’er will eat more polar bear Ben-Ezra Stiles Ely, aboard the Emigrant in 184, wrote in his journal that: ‘our beef and pork in general would produce a stench from the stem to the stern of the vesel, whenever a barrel was opened. It was old and partially decayed meat. Much ‘of t was green and putrid. Not alittle of our bread was so infested with vermin, that after having erumbled it into hot water and molasses, which was called coffe, I could skim the worms and weavils off with my spoon, Walter Bechtel sailed in 1900 on the Charles Morgan — the last working New England whaleship, now restored and on display at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut — and he tells us about the standard technique for getting weevils out of hardtack. One day, Bechtel writes, the cook split the hardtack and put ‘em in a pail of water. The weevils were supposed to float on top and be skimmed off, but a whole lot of them didnt float. They went into the hash. When the hash got hot in the oven, they crawled up on top of ft), and they couldnt get out of the pan so they baked right on top of the hash. They looked, ‘good, made anice garnish oni, they were nice and brown. Wel, they tasted all ight, too with vinegar. ‘So, based on this written record, we absolutely must concede that whaleship food ‘was often terrible, and (0 our current-day tastes, clearly inedible. Ship's Logs and Ship's Journals All of the above descriptions of whaleship life and whalers’ food were written by men. Al were from logs and journals written at sea, except for passages of the novelists132 urroRD Melville, Dana and Joseph Conrad who, shall we say, extended the literal with their artistic licenses. None of the descriptions were direct quotes from true ‘Ships Logs,” because ships logs were the official records of the voyages and served a number of legal and business purposes. They were the basis for the final division (called ays) of the profits of the voyage, since if an original crew member deserted or was drowned, or another was promoted ‘or demoted, the lays had to be redistributed. These events were carefully recorded in the official ships’ logs, and served as the basis for the final accounting. ‘Only the Captain and the Mates (or a designee) were permitted to write in the logs. These men were intent and highly-skilled observers of their watery world: the night stars, the daytime sun, the kaleidoscope of clouds, and the oceans’ surfaces were vitally important navigation aids, helping to compensate for out-of-whack compasses, unanticipated currents, ‘snake-wake’ helmsmen, or inaccurate charts. This may explain why many logs have beautiful pen-and-ink drawings in them ‘of what the Captain and Mates saw in their daily lives — whales, of course, but also birds, fish, whaleship tools and equipment, clouds, storms, crew members, designs, and other ships. So, beneath the sand- Fish with Garlic and Mustard Sauce (Serves 4) 1 '/2 pounds fish, cut into steaks * /2 cup white wine * '/2 cup water 4 tablespoons agtiata sauce (recipe below) 2 tablespoons mustard sauce (recipe below) If dog fish is unavailable, or undesirable, substitute any firm, flavorful fish such as marlin, snapper or fresh tuna. In a medium sauté pan heat the wine and water over ahigh flame. Bring this liquid to a simmer and place the fish in the pan, Reduce heat to medium high. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add the agliata and mustard to the pan. Stir until incorporated into the liquid. ‘Continue to cook until the fish is done, approximately 5 minutes depending on the thickness of the steaks. Remove the fish from the pan and keep warm. Turn the heat up to the highest setting and stir constantly for approximately 2 minutes until the sauce is thick. Serve hot with the sauce spooned over the fish,AAFISH RECIPE FROM THE MARTINO MANUSCRIPT 199 LC.Martino #118" Asliata bianca I glia de le amandole monde molto ben & falle pistar, & quando sno mea» piste met~ ti dentro quella quantita daglio ch ti par, & i seme le farai molto bene pistar ‘buttandogli dentro vn pocha dacqua i frescha per ch non facciano olio. Poi pigliarai vna mollicha di pan biacho ‘& mettirala amollo nel brodo magro di carne 6 di pesce sooundo itempi & «questa agliata poterai seruiratutte &acomodar lestagioni grasse & magre como ti piacera, (White Garlic Sauce ‘Take almonds, cleaned very well, and grind them and when they are half ground, put within that quantity of garlic which you think and together make it very well ground. ‘Sprinkle ina ite fresh water, so that no oil appears. Then take erumbs of one white ‘bread and put t0 moisten in lean broth of meat oF of fish, according tothe time and. this garlic sasee ean serve and accommodate in all the seasons, fat and Jean as you please.) Garlic sauce was a popular ingredient in the repertoire of the medieval and Renaissance cook. Along with other condiments and sauces it helped the cook balance the humors and vary the flavors of many dishes including the fish dishes needed for the fast. Along with the above recipe, Martino also included another garlic sauce recipe titled ‘Agtiata pauonaza’2” In Taillevent’s collection, under the heading for unboiled sauces, he included ‘Garlic Cameline Sauce’, ‘White Garlic Sauce’ and ‘Green Garlic Sauce’* Additionally, in the Bibliotheque Nationale copy of Le Viandier, there is a boiled ‘Garlic Jance’.” Le Menagier de Paris closely follows Le Viandier with the inclusion of a ‘White or Green Garlic Sauce’ and a ‘Garlic Cameline Sauce for Ray’. ‘The boiled ‘Garlic Jance’ is also included.” Garlic sauce is also found in other Italian sources. Liber De Coquina (c.1310) includes ‘DelVagliata per carni”® made of almonds, garlic and ginger combined in a fat broth and managiare con pesci’. In Christofaro di Messisbugo’ Libro Novo (1557) ‘Aliata bianca, morella, verde e gi used as.a sauce for meat, fish or macaro Giacomo Castelvetro, in his unpublished work of 1614, includes ‘a garlic sauce called agliata™ which is made from walnuts, garlic, bread and broth and is served with pork, goose, macaroni, lasagne or mushrooms. a200 MeDONALD Garlic Sauce (Makes approximately | cup) '/< cup fine breadcrumbs + cup broth (fish, chicken, beef or vegetable) Ye cup whole blanched almonds + 3 large cloves garlic (more or less) 3 tablespoons water Adjust the garlic in this recipe to your taste, Combine the breadcrumbs and the broth, Stir together and let rest until sof In ablender grind the almonds into small chunks. Add the garlic to the almonds and grind for a moment longer. Then add the water a tablespoon at atime. Continue blending until the almonds and garlic are a thick paste. Note: a food processor will not work for this step. A very fine almond/ garlic paste is required in order to thicken properly. In a non-reactive bow str the soft bread crumbs into the almond/ garlic paste, The mixture should have the consistency of mayonnaise. If the sauce is too stiff add a bit more broth LC.Martino #113 Mostarda, I glia la senopa & mettila amiglio per doi di ‘mutan dogli spesso acqua per eh sia piu biancha, & habi delle amandole monde & piste como vogliono esser, Et quando seranno ben piste metterai con ese ka dlitta senepa, & di nouo lepistarai i seme ‘molto bene, Poi habi di bono agresto 6 vero Aceto pistandogli etiamdio vna ‘mollicha di pan bianeho, poi distemperala ‘& passala pet lastamegnia Et fallo voi lo- dolee 6 forte como tipiare (Musard ‘Take the mustard seed and put it to bathe for two days changing the water often so ‘that it shall be more white and take some clean almonds and grind as will be, and ‘when being well ground put with the said mustard seed, and then newly grind together very well. Then take good agresto™ or true vinegar grinding together also crumbs of ‘one white bread. Then dilute and pass it through the strainer and you make it sweet or strong,” as you please.™} The tangy taste of mustard sauce has been one of the most popular condiments, throughout history. Columella included mustard in De re rustica (c. ab 42) and today a craze for flavored mustards is sweeping eating establishments and gourmet shops. throughout the world,AAFISH RECIPE FROM THE MARTINO MANUSCRIPT 201 In Libro de Arte Coquinaria Martino included two other mustard recipes Mostarda roscia a pauonaza’” and ‘Mostarda da portar in pezi, caualeando’.*” An earlier Italian source, Liber De Coquina (c.1310), includes two mustard recipes ‘De musto et mustarda*' and ‘Del mosto ¢ della mostarda"? both of which are boiled sauces. In Taillevent’ recipe for ‘Mustard the seeds are soaked overnight in vinegar, then ground with the same vinegar. The reader isthen told ‘Ifyou have any spices left from Hippocras or sauces, grind them with it." Le Menagier de Paris lists Mustard as the first sauce in the section titled Sauces made without boiling’ Long-keeping mustard, hastily made mustard, proper mustard and spicy mustard are all included in the same recipe block. Neither of the French sources have breadcrumbs or almonds, but both add spices which are absent in the Martino recipes. Mustard Sauce (Makes approximately 1 cup of sauce) cup mustard seed (more or less) 2 cups water (changing often) + /, cup bread crumbs "Vz cup white wine vinegar or agresto * '/, cup whole blanched almonds '/, cup white wine vinegar or agresto If you find this sauce spicy, reduce the mustard seed. Soak the mustard seed in water for two days. Changing the water every few hours. ‘Soak the bread crumbs in white wine vinegar to soften. In a blender grind the almonds until they are very fine. Drain the mustard seed and add them to the almonds. Continue to grind until the seeds and almonds form a paste Add the soft crumbs and the second amount of vinegar to the mustard and almond paste. With the back of a spoon press this mixture through a fine wire sieve,202 MeDONALD BIBLIOGRAPHY ‘Adamson, Melitta Weis, ed, Fond inthe Middle Ages A Book of Ess, New York: Garland Publishing, 1995, ‘Amn, Mary-lo, ed, ACTA Vol. XXI, Matieval Faod and Drink, Binghamton, New York: Center for Meaieval and Early Renaissince Studies, 1995, ‘Arano, Luisa Coglati ed, The Medieval Health Handbook:Tacuinum Sanita, trans. 0. Rati and A. ‘Westbrook, New York: Geotpe Brazile, 1976, Castelvetr, Giacomo, Phe Fruit, Herbs d Vegtabls of Ia, trans. Gillin Riley, London: Viking, 1989. Epulario, London: AJ. for William Bailey, 1598 [Microfilm copy] Faccili, Emilio, ed. of the collection, LArte della Cucina in Hala, Torino, 1987. Florio, John, A World of Words, London, 1598; reprint, Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 1972. Friedman, David, ed, Colleton of Medieval and Renaisance Cookbooks, Sixth edition, vot I, 1991, vol2, 1993, Privately Published Henisch, Bridget Ann, Fast and Feat, University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State U. P, 1976, Martino, is, Libro de Arte Cquinaria, 1460 (°, Special Colletions Library of Congress, Weshing- ton, D.C. [Microfilm copy]. —, us, Libro de Arte Coquinara, 1460 (), Urb. 1203, Biblioteca Apostolia Vatiana, (Microfilm, copy! ‘The Menager de Paris, trans. fant Hinson Mesisbugo, Cristofaro di, Banchet... Ferrara, 1549 =; Libro Novo nd quel snsega... Venice, 1587; reprint Arnaldo Forni Editore, 1982. Roselli, Giovanni de, Opera Nova Chiamata Epulario, Venice, 1518; reprint, Rome: Bimo, 1973. Sacchi di Piadena, Bartolomeo (Platina), De Honea Valupate et Valaudine, Venice, 1475; original [Latin text and English transiation by Elizabeth Buermann Andrews, Mallinckrodt Food Classics, 1967. Santich, Barbara, The Original Meiterrancan Cuisine: Medieval reipesfr today, Totnes, Devon: Prospect Books, 1995, Scully D, Eleanor and Terence Scully, Early: French Cookery, Ann Arbor: Univesity of Michigan Pres. Scully, Terence, The rt of Cookery in the Middie Ages, Woodbridge, Suffolk The Boydell Press, 1995. ‘ehling, Joseph Dommers, Platina and the Rebirth of Man, Chicago: Walter M. Hill, 1941 The Viandier of Tallent: 4th Century Cooker, ed. and trans. lanes Prescot, Eugene, Oregon: Alfarhaugr Publishing Society, 1987; ed, Terence Scully, Ottawa: The University of Ottawa Pres, 1988. Westbury, Lord, Handlis of Hlian Cookery Books, Rorence: Leo 8, Olscki, 1963,AAFISH RECIPE FROM THE MARTINO MANUSCRIPT 203 REFERENCES * Fora detailed account of fasting practices consult Fat and Faas By Bridget Ann Henisch ® There are four known Martino manuscripts: the Library of Congres, Washington, D.C. (LC. Martino) he Biblioteca Apostotica Vatican (Vat. Martino, the Biblioteca Comunale di Riva del. Garda, Como, and the fourth which until recently was in the private Chess collection in Milan Libro de Ate Coquinaria was written in the mi-1400s and is filled with recipes forthe cooks of upper-class Renaissance Italy. The recipes in Libro de Arte Coquinaria are also found in several other collections. The lat five books of the Latin work De Honea Valuptate «1474 by Bartolomeo Sacchi 4i Piadena (Plarna) utilizes Martino’ recipes almost exclusively. The Epularioc 1516 (Epularc), by possibly fictitious Giovanni Rosselli is identical to the Martino manuscript, but presented in a ferent Kalin dialect. ‘The Epularia, or The Hallan Banquet: (Ep. 1598) was Ytanskated out of alan into English in ‘London’ and was Printed by ALL. for William Bal ..in Gratious street, rere Leaden-fall. 1598". Fora more detailed accounting ofthe relationships between these books, consult "Martino and his De Re Coguinars' by Mary Ella Mlham (included in ACTA Vol. XXD) and Platina and the Rebirth of Man by Soseph Dommers Vebling. > This number is from LC. Martina, The count is based on recipes which have a title header, a cleat start indicated by a capital and/or an indent, ora significant space between the text of one entry and the text ofthe nex. Many ofthe recipes within the manuscript contain one of more variations. These have not been counted. “This figure is for recipes which call fora speciic sh or for generic fish meat. It doesnot include recipes that can be adapted to fast day dishes by the dition of fish broth > ‘Chapter six; To cook every fs. ohn Florio A Worde of Wordes(Hovo) compiled in 1598 was used in the translation ofthese recipes. Florio doesnot use any ofthe Martino manuscripts, latina, Epulario, or Ep.1598 as sources for his ‘Most copious, and exat Dietionarie in Italian and English. However he dos list the cookery hook Dal” arte dla Cucina di Chrisofano Mesasbugo, the manner book Galata di Monsignoredlla Caw, the English herbal of Giouanni Gerardo’ John Gerard), the Spanish herbal of ‘Dottor Laguna! and Tre aluni di Conrado Gestro degli animal, pes, vel ‘Also, Florio is dedicated to Lucie Countess of Bedford to whom Giacomo Casteletro dedicated his "unpublished Brieve accom di tutte le radii, di tutte Therbe ed tut frat, che erudio cat in Italia s mangiano, The use ofthese sources makes John Florio’ dictionary an excellent source for alan cooking tems. © LCMartino #203. Fevio ‘Varoo, as Vaivoo, a fish called a base.” > LCMartino #205, Florio ‘Orata a fish called a guilthead” © LE-Martino #208. Fevio— Palamite, a fish called atunnie before it be a yere old a summer whiting” * LC.Martino #210, Frio Tiga, 35 relia, a fish called a Barble. Some take it co bea mullet” © LCMartino #225. Florio — Merluza, the fish wee call ahaidocke : others sie itis another fish with white and purple spots on his belie” "EC Martino #227. Florio Truta,Trutta a fish called a trout, a Salmon trout ora Salmon peal" © LCMartin #228. Florio ~ Tenca, a fish called a Tench. ® LE-Martino #230, Florio ‘Lampreda, the fish calle a lamprey or luckestone” ° £C-Martino #252. Florio ~ Calamsio, Calamaro, a fish called a ea-cu, or cute" © Vat Martino #217 ‘Per quocere pesce cane’, Epulario #140 ‘Per cuocere pesecane’ and Ep. 1598 {#143 ‘To dresea dogis. There isno corresponding recipe in Patina although several ofthe fish recipes do call for mustard and/or garlic. ™ Florio ~ ‘Ales, boyled or sodden meat. Alesare, 1 boyle or seeth mete’ Ep. 1398 chooses to translate this word as Soden’. When the modern person reads the word ‘boil great vats of bubb- ling water may jump to mind, This snot the intention, The modern concept of poaching, a frm of boiling. is closer tothe desired process, Throughout his book Martino uses the word tapitolo'in several diferent ways, Here tapitol! ‘means the preceding recipe, nt the previous chapter. The preceding recipe, LC Martino #220 “Bessa, suggests you use tez20 vino o aceto & mezzo szqua’ (hall wine, of Vinega, and half water) 2s your liquid for boiling or posching.204 MeDONALD Florio ‘Aelita, a meate used in Tlie made of walnuts and garlic, Florio's meateis not animal Aes, but rather a mixture or condiment. Fp. /598 translates ‘gta simply as garlic ° Florio Impiastci, plasters saves, daubings. These words seem out of plein the modern cooking lexicon, but if thought of asa thick sauce, rather than a medical application, the words ‘become appropriate. Ep. 1598 translates impiasr as ‘in a pan ® When humoral theory is applied tothe final phrase ofthis rave, it becomes clear Martino was telling his reader that garlic sauce and mustard, which are both hot and dry in nature, wil balance the natural cool, wet tendency ofthe fis. Foran in-depth discussion of humoral theory consult The Medieval Health Handbook; Tacuinum Sanitatised Arano, The Art of Cokery inthe Middle Ages Tempering Medieval Food (included in Adamson), Mixing it up in the Medieval Kitchen by Terence Scully (included in ACTA Vol. XXI. Ep. 1598 translates the entire inal phrase as ‘But dress iin ‘what sort you will it will never bee good as being naturally of no good last’ Viandier, Prescott p30. © Menasir. Hinson, p. M-28, ® Va. Martino #116 "er fare alata biancha di noi, o di madorl’, Plating #141 ‘ALLATYM FX INGLANDE AVT Amydaba, pulario #111 ‘Per fare apliata buona, and Ep. 1598 #114 “To make good gale sae’ Fp. 1398 translates Seruit & acomodar’ as keep and vse ® Fp.1598 uses the words fet and lean to describe meat rather than a fat and ean time of year 2p. 1598 translates tomo ti picera! into you thinke good’ Vat Martino #117 ‘Per fare aglista paonazaal tempo di wa o di cera’, Platina #142 ALIATVM COLORATIVS’ Epulario #112 ‘Per fae aglista pavonazzaal tempo di wa o di cers’, Ep. 1598 ALLS “To make garike sce in grape or Chery time. ™ Viandier, Prescott, p. 34 » Ibid, p48. ® Menagier. Hinson, p. M-36, >” bid, p. M-37, » Faocol,p. 33 ™ Libro Novo, Mesisbugo, p. 88. % Casteheto, p. 92. Var Martino #111 ‘er fare mostarat, Platina #135 ‘SIN APIVin, Epulario #106 ‘er fare smostarda, and Ep. 1598 #109 Yo make mustard’. Agresto isa souring agent made from grapes. I is known in the English corpus as verjuice. Martino includes several recipes fr resto in Libro de Arte Caguinaria » ER1598 does not include sweet and translates Torte as Sharpe ™ See note 26, » Var Martino #12 ‘Pe fare mostarda rosa padouans’, latina #137 SIN APIVim RVBEVi”, Epulario W107 ‘ec fare mostarda podovana buona, and Ep.1598 #110 “To ake mustard after the ‘manner of Pados “Vai Martino #113 ‘Pe fare mostarda che si poss portare in pezi chaualeando', Patina #138 ‘SINAPIVm IN FR¥STA, Epulario #108 Per fare mostarda che si poss poortae in pezzi’, and £Ep.1598 #110 To make mustard which m 4 Faccioi p38 © hid, p. 39. © Viandie, Prescot, p. 49. Thi. © Menager, Hinson, p. M-36. IbidThe Buoyant, Slippery Lipids of the Snake Mackerels and Orange Roughy Harold McGee ‘Asa home for living things, the earth’s waters are a world apart from its surface. The house rules are very different. Water is nearly a thousand times denser than air and a hundred times more viscous; it resists movement and demands streamlining. Water's density partly relieves the drag of gravity, s0 its inhabitants can do without a strong skeleton, yet they must constantly swim or they will sink; they are always negotiating ‘movement in athird dimension that land dwellers can usually ignore. Water transmits litte of the sun's radiation to its depths, yet conducts away creaturely heat a hundred times more rapidly than air, so biological machinery must be adjusted to work well in the cold. The fundamental nature of water has shaped its creatures in many ways, and is often the source of their distinctive qualities as foods, from their form and ccolor and flavor to their perishability and nutritional value. ‘One well-known example of this environmental influence is the manufacture by ‘ocean fish of highly unsaturated fats that turn out ~ quite by accident ~ to help thwart the development of human heart disease and cancer. Why do fish provide these unsaturated fats, and not Angus steers? Because oceanic waters are far colder than pastures and barns, and fish are cold-blooded. Throw a beefsteak in the ocean and it congeals: itis tissue adapted to operate around 35°C. The cell membranes and ‘energy stores of ocean fish must remain fluid and workable at temperatures that can approach 0°C. Their fatty acids are therefore very long and irregular in structure (unsaturated bonds throw kinks into the otherwise straight backbone of carbon atoms), so that they solidify into orderly crystals only at very low temperatures. My subject is another fishy adaptation of fatty materials to life in the ocean. This isan adjustment to the vertical dimension of the waters, and it turns out to be less salubrious for humans than the adaptation to the cold, though it too has its uses. Unlike inhabitants of the earth's surface, which are supported by that surface, ‘most water creatures must work to support themselves. The reason for this is that with their complement of salts, proteins, sugars, and other chemical paraphernalia, living cells are denser than either fresh or seawater. Ordinary fish muscle, for example, hasadensity of about 1.05 grams per milllitre, while seawater isless than 1.03 g/ml, and fresh water is 1.0 g/ml. ItS estimated that of the energy a fish expends to cruise at constant depth, as much as a fifth goes simply to avoid sinking. Some means of becoming neutrally buoyant would make a fish a more efficient swimmer and conserve a substantial amount ofits energy. Different fish have come up with different arrangements to approach neutral buoyancy. One isa reduction of tissue protein, Some mid-ocean fish have less than a 205206 MoceE third of the protein in their muscle than do coastal species. Another common strategy is to reduce the proportion of bone, whose minerals make it heavier than either muscle or cartilage. A third strategy is the swim bladder. This is essentially a bag that ‘can be filled with something lighter than water, often oxygen or a mixture of gases However, any gas has the disadvantage that it is compressible. A fish that dives from the surface to 10 meters will compress its swim bladder to half its original volume and therefore lose half of its buoyancy. Fish that move up and down must expend ‘considerable energy to pump gas in and out of a swim bladder. ‘A lighter-than-water alternative to gas is a fatty material of some sort, whose large, bulky carbon chains dont pack together as closely as H 0 molecules do (this is ‘why cooking oils and fats rise to the surface of stocks and sauces). The general term for such compoundsis lipids. Fats and oils are a particular type of lipid; cholesterol is a different type, the lecithin in egg yolk yet another. Lipids have the advantage that they are not compressible, so their lift doesnt depend on water depth, and they needntt be adjusted asa fish moves up or down. Itstrue that a much larger volume of fat is required to give the same buoyancy asa small bag of gas, but fatty materials can be stored almost anywhere in the fish’ body: in a swim bladder, or in porous bones (chum salmon and mackerel bones are approximately one-third oil), or in the liver, ‘or the skin, or in true fat deposits, or throughout the muscle tissue, Lipids are clearly ‘more versatile than gases, and are used to provide buoyancy in phytoplankton, fish ‘eggs, crustaceans, sharks (liver oil), in alhost of fish, and even in sperm whales, whose heads contain massive lipid-filled chambers. It tus out that fats and oils proper — triglycerides, or three long fatty acids ‘connected to a short glycerol base — are not the best lipids for providing buoyancy. Some shark liver oils, for example, are mainly squalene, a relative of cholesterol whose density is just 0.86 g/ml, compared to 0.92 for triglycerides. Another efficient class ‘of buoyant lipids are the ‘wax esters, which are a combination of a long-chain fatty acid and a long-chain alcohol. Wax esters have the same low density as squalene and provide nearly double the uplift per gram that an ordinary oil does. They are found in zooplankton that make extensive vertical migrations, in the liver oil of some sharks, in whale blubber and the spermaceti oil of sperm whales, and in the skin, muscle, and eggs of many mid- to deep- ocean fish. However, wax esters provide a substantial fraction of muscle weight in only three fish that are at all commonly eaten. These are the orange roughy, the escolar and the walu, The orange roughy, Hoplogethusatlanticus, became popular in the 1980s, so much so that its Pacific catch is now restricted. It is alo found in the North Atlantic. The fish reaches 0.25-0.5 meter in length, and is usually caught at a depth of about 1000 meters. Escolar and walu are less familiar. Their family, the Gempylidae or snake rmackerels (16 genera, 22 species), are cousinsto the mackerels, barracudas, and tunas, and are generally large, swift predators that sojourn between 200 and 500 meters, but often surface at night. Lepidorybium flavobrunneum, known as ‘escolar’ and ‘butterfish’(aburasokomutse in Japan), reaches 2 meters in length, and can exceed 45 kg (100 Ib). It was first formally described off South Africa 150 years ago, and has since been found in modest numbers in tropical and subtropical waters ofall oceans,‘SAKE MACKERELS AND ORANGE ROUGHY 207 including those near the Canary Islands, the Atlantic coast of Spain, and the Mediterranean. Escolar and its close relative, Ruvettus pretiotus, known as walu in Hawaii and California, the same names, have long been consumed locally. It was reported in 1906 that the Cubans go ‘a-scholaring’ after the fishing for the spearfish has ceased and before that for the red snapper begins’~ and over the last twenty years both escolar and walu have begun to reach more distant markets. R. pretiotushas two common names that indicate the problem with flesh rich in wax esters. It is sometimes called ‘castor oil fish’ ot Scour fish.” Like the oil of the ‘castor bean, wax esters are a purgative. Humans lack the digestive enzymes necessary to break these unfamiliar composite molecules into their smaller, absorbable components. The wax esters therefore pass intact, their lubricating properties undiminished, from the small intestine into the colon, where a sufficient quantity will defeat our normal control over the ultimate disposition of food residues. ‘Walu. and escolar are sufficiently rich in wax esters that they are used as folk rmedicinals in the Canaries. Escolar has been banned from sale in Japan since around 1977, when a study found that it caused seborrhea and accumulation of the wax esters in the tissues of animals, and described the wax as Toxic’. Subsequent studies in anumber of countries have found only that escolar flesh causes diarrhea; it is not generally thought to be toxic. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration issued an advisory in 1992 that fish purveyors should not sell escolar or walu due to their laxative and purgative properties, but compliance with the advisory is voluntary, and FDA has taken no further action. These fish are sporadically available in the US, where I was able to obtain a sample of walu last December and confirm its reported physiological effects. Its flesh, by the way, is milky white even when raw, and dense and delicious when cooked. ‘Why have the US and other countries not followed Japan's lead in banning wavy fish’ Perhaps because they are still a very minor item of commerce, Perhaps because ‘many consumers never notice the effects, or dont associate the effects with the fish, so complaints are few. And, quite probably, because there are often no effects to notice, Surely wax esters, like castor oil, cause no disturbance below a certain threshold dose. This seemed to be true in our December experiment. And an individual fish ‘can contain far less wax than the reported average. In the absence ofa definitive dose-response study in the medical literature, I have madle some very rough estimates (see the table below) based on the quantities of ‘castor oil recommended for laxative and purgative effects. It appears that a modest portion of 115 grams (0.25 pound) of escolar or walu can be a laxative dose. Seconds ‘would be asking for trouble. These are large fish, and it is not impossible to imagine ahungry fish lover overdosing badly. But in moderation they are probably innocuous, and even mildly helpful for the many people whose diet lacks sufficient fiber. Iforange roughy is also rich in indigestible wax esters, then why has this far more popular fish not been ostracized for causing digestive acceleration The answer is that the commonly fished Pacific roughy has an average wax content about one-third that of escolar. It is also a smaller fish, and the portion normally available, a 170-225 g (6-8 02) filet, is innocuous. However, the Pacific catch is now restricted, and males208, MoceE in the Atlantic population off Scotland have a wax content comparable to escolar’s (though there is great variation among individual males). If the fisheries for deep- water species like the Atlantic roughy and the snake mackerels continue to expand, it ‘may not be long before the subject of fish wax bobs into more prominent public n, there is no need for health authorities to ban the sale of unusual but harmless fish like the snake mackerels and roughy. However, I think that the authorities and the fishing industry should work together to ensure that people who sell and buy these fish are aware of the possible side effects. (These may even prove to be an attraction; the FDA advisory notice grouped escolar with fugu!) They should also sponsor further research on the fate of buoyant waxes in fish and in humans, so that fans of deep-sea creatures will know just how much they can comfortably serve. Estimated Waxy Fish Portions Likely to Cause Digestive Effects Indigetible —“Esimacd eLautivedoe = Etimtcd = Fargstive lipid, % —matinedow: gin 11Sy/0.25% pungtnedoe,g — dowin 115y/0.25 b Casor oi 8 n - 33 E (prsaited) (preeribed) coke 1824 95-130 90-120 93-260 45-60 Onngerughy 1-12 190-2300 50 390-4700 20 xi) Orngeroughy 3.40 070 Iso 120-1600 so (Atkntiy (male 36; ‘male 12-40)‘SAKE MACKERELS AND ORANGE ROUGHY 209 Selected Sources Bakes, M. J. tal, “Variation in lipid composition of some deep-sea fish (Tleatel: Orenematidae ‘and Trachihthyidae)' Comparative Blochamistry and Physiology B. 1995, Il (8): 633-682, Denny, M. W.,Airand Water: The Biology and PlysicsofLifesMadia. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Pres, 1993. Haley N. F, ‘The Adaptive Role of Lipids in Biological Systems. New York: Wiley, 1985, James, K. A.C, and Trelor, B, P, ‘Comparative effets of orange roughy (Hoplasethus atlanticus) ‘and snapper (Chisephnys auratus in the diets of growing rats" New Zealand Journal of Science 1984, 27 (3): 295.308, (Abstract). Jordan, D. S.and Evermann, B. W., American Faad and Game Fishes New York, 1902. ‘Kinumaki,T; Ari, Ks Sup, K. Iseki, S., (Nutritional value of fish containing high levels of alkoxytigljceride or wax este) Bullatin of the Takai Regional Fisheries Rewarch Laboratory (Tok Sula Kenyusho Kenkyu Hokoku) 1977 (91): 73-91. (Abstae) Perez-Zarza, M. C.; Rui-Gutierez, Vs Bravo, L., (Lipid composition of two purgative fi: -Rusettus presios and Lepidocybium flarcbrannewn.) Grassy Actes 1993, 44 (I): 47-52, (Abstract), Phieger,C. F, ‘Biochemical aspects of buoyancy in fishes” Pages 209-48 in Hochachka, PW, and Mommsen,T. Peds, Blachomiary and Moleadar Biclog of Fides: Phylogoatic and Bio- hamical Perpeetives. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1991. Smith, M- and PC. Heemstra, eds, Smith Sax Fshex 6th ed. Besln: Springer, 1986, Spark, A.A. and Wit, A.A. de, Wax esters inedible ish." Klentification of fish. Annual Report, Fishing Indusry Resarch Insitute 1980 (34): 45. (Abstract. —, ‘Wax esters in edible fish, Identification of wax esters Thid., 45-47. (Abstract ‘Ukishima, ¥, eral, Wax components of escolar (Lepidecybium flavabrunnaun) and its application to base of medicine and cosmetics" Yaga Zasdi. 1987 107 (11): 883-890. (Abstract).Little Fish and Large Appetites. Victorian Whitebait Dinners at Blackwall, Gravesend and Greenwich Valerie Mars This isan account of how a traditional local delicacy, whitebait, became a base from which grew a new dining fashion, based at Blackwall, Greenwich and Gravesend. I will consider the social context in which this occurred, as well as offering some ‘comments on its culinary aspects. Why did Londoners travel so far for whitebait dinners when there were $0 many clubs and eating places in London’ Fish may have been alittle fresher than that served in London, but it does not seem a complete explanation. Contemporary comments suggest that whitebait dinners were ‘a night ‘out for the boys’ — an escape from an increase in rule-bound formality at London dinners. ile Dinner at Gremvih Fish Swell. “Hor, Waisw!— Ave the Whitmer Pray caaie (Panchs Almanack for 1858) British whitebait: some definitions ‘Alan Davidson begins his definition of whitebait: ‘So far as Britain is concerned, it ‘can be answered in two lines by saying that the name applies to the fry of various, " John Maddison Morton, Whitebit at Gramvch, a farce in one act, Thomas Hales Lacy London, 1853 . First performed atthe Adelphi Theatre, 13th November 1853. ® Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend. it published in 20 monthly numbers, London, 1864, © The New Monhly Magazine, July 1844 pp. 337-543. » Kamish Mercury, — uly 1894. N, Newnham-Davis, Dinners and Diners, N-and A. Bastar, London, 1899, pp 175-181The Hassar, an Armoured Tropical Fish Gaitri Pagrach-Chandra The hassar (Hoplosternum littorale) is a freshwater fish which lives in shallow, slow moving water in northern South America and Central America. The male fish can reach a length of about 20 cm and the female a length of 15 em. Apart from the size there sno marked difference in the outward appearance of the male and female fish. ‘The hassar has fins like any other fish and has two pairs of tactile barbels by its mouth, which enable it to detect food. Its armour consists of a double row of dark grey to black platelike scales interlocked in a herringbone pattern — not a very fortunate choice of words, but the only one which gives the right visual image. The fish feeds on decaying vegetable matter of the kind that is found in shallow rivers and canals, swamps and large natural reservoirs. The hassar breeds in the rainy season, which may vary from country to country, and may spawn more than once each season. The fish collects floating debris for its nest which is built on a mass of bubbles. These bubbles will also house the fertilized eggs. The male hassar protects the nest which may be used by up to six females. It grows a sharp spine on its pectoral fin which will be used as a ‘weapon against predators. However, quite a large percentage of eges and fry is always, lost to insect larvae and other fish. The eggs are yellow to start with and darken to black at hatching time, Newly hatched fry use their yolk sacs asa source of nutrients for the first five days or so. By the time the yolk sac is absorbed they are ready to start foraging for themselves. The natural supply israpidly diminishing as itis outstripped by growing demand, both local and from immigrant communities in North America and Europe, and a few countries are experimenting with farming the fish on a commercial scale. Trinidad ‘sone of these and the fish i called caxcadura there. The two components of the word ‘come from the Spanish and mean ‘hard shell’. In Surinam the same fish is known as, kowie-kwie. The name I use in the heading — hassar ~ is the Guyanese name, and I ‘would like to discuss the fish in its Guyanese context. Allsopp’s Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage (OUP 1996) defines the word hassar as a derivative of the Arawak asa, ‘meaning ‘2 small highly-prized edible fish’. The Arawak presence in contemporary Guyana is embodied in two tribes: the Lokono and the Wapishana. These ‘Amerindians, as they are generally called in Guyana, are known to be a peaceful and retiring people who keep very much to themselves. Surprisingly litle is nown about their culinary habits apart from the fact that they make a fermented sauce from rmasticated cassava called cassareep which is delicious in stews and stir-fries. It is veryTHE HASSAR 221 probable that they still prize the hassar highly, but no other Guyanese prize it quite as highly as the other Indians ~ those referred to as East Indians to distinguish them from the native Amerindians. It is very unlikely that the indentured labourers who came from India at the turn of the last century were familiar with the hassar before they came to Guyana. They ‘came to live near the sugar plantations where they worked and must soon have ‘welcomed this seasonal supplement to their meagre diets. The hassar, the Indians and the sugar plantations remain almost inextricably bound together. Hassars can be bought at fish markets when they are in season but more urbanized Indians never scem be as eager for them as those with a rural upbringing, especially those who grew up near the plantations. ‘The sugar plantations were large-scale operations from the very beginning, even when many were still privately owned. Several square kilometres were under ‘cultivation and after the cane was burned and harvested it had to be transported to the sugar factory. A very efficient network of canals was laid out on the plantation ‘These canals served the dual purpose of transportation and irrigation and had the added benefit of being an ideal breeding ground for fish. Once a year the flat- bottomed punts, shaped like outsized sardine tins, travel with their burden of freshly harvested sugarcane through the canals. For the rest of the year there is little or no ‘movement on the water because people, animals and vehicles use the dams between the canals. The hassar betrays its presence by the air bubbles which float to the surface. Plantation workers on their way home from work often catch a few fish to take home, ‘The catch is usually mixed, but consists mainly of hassar and tilapia. The fishing is done in a very Indian way, using a cast-net. This net is rather like a drawstring-bag without a bottom. Iti several metres wide and is made of hand-knitted string. The ‘outer edges are weighted with lead pellets which are knitted into the net. It takes ‘considerable skill to cast one of these nets and it isa beautiful sight to watch someone ‘who does it well. The net is rolled up in a particular way and is swung in the air several times, rather like cowboys do with a lasso in Westerns. Then it is east onto the water ‘here it forms a huge circke which diminishes asthe lead pellets sink. Itis slowly drawn towards the fisherman and releases a multitude of fish as it is spread on the ground, But the canals are not the only source of fish on the plantation: the canefields can yield an even easier catch. Sugar-cane cultivation in Guyana uses the flood-fallowing system. After five or six annual crops a field is ploughed and flooded with about 25 ‘em of water. Its left fallow for six months, and the water level is topped up regularly. This is an ideal environment for the hassar. When the water is drawn back into the canals after six months, the fish either land in the canals or are left flopping around in the muddy field. The fieldworkers can gather fish to their hearts’ content. In Guyana, much of the arable land that is not used for sugarcane is used for rice, Itis perhaps unfortunate that the rice swamps are too shallow (5~10 em) for the hassar to be able to complete its life cycle. Rice farmers must rely on canals and reservoirs for their supply. Quite often a small reservoir or pond will be stocked by a farmer but the fish never seem to do as well as when they are left to their own habits.22 PAGRACH-CHANDRA Nothing tastes quite like a hassar freshly brought out from a muddy pond or canal. For this reason itis very much a country dish. In keeping with its rural Indian aura, itis usually eaten curried, but my favourite dish is cooked very simply in coconut milk. Ifyou ever want to try hassars, you might like to use the following recipe as a starting point. Hassars can be bought frozen from well-stocked West Indian groceries. Fussy Guyanese look down on these as being inferior Brazilian import. However, one has to make do with what is available, and unless you live in or near Queens in New York, it will have to do for most people. Liberty Avenue in Queens seems to be almost exclusively populated by Guyanese and itis a mass of small groceries and other food. shops. Several ofthese shops have gleaming piles of fresh Guyanese hassarsin varying sizes, cheek by jowl with tilapia, gilbacka, queriman and bangamary. A visit to one of these shops is always an interesting, if somewhat odorous experience. Hassars Cooked in Coconut Milk ‘This recipe will serve 4 as a main dish or 8 as acomponent course ofa large meal. Serve with boiled rice and a crisp salad. For arural Guyanese touch you might like to replace the salad with sautéed bora (yard-long beans), and for those who are fond of very hot food, some lime pickle would round it off nicely. 8 hassars, gutted and trimmed, with the heads let on 2-3 tbsp salt + 2 limes 3 tbsp neutral tasting oil 1 large onion, finely chopped + 3 cloves of garlic, crushed ‘4a tgp chili paste or to taste * 2 dl (tinned) coconut milk 2.dl water Wash the hassars thoroughly — remember that they come from a muddy environment. Pat them dry and place them in a non-reactive bowl, Rub with salt; be quite generous with the cavity. Squeeze the lime over the fish and turn them over several times to distribute the juice. Cover and set aside in a cool place for about an hour. Rinse the marinade off the fish and dry them thoroughly. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onion, garlic and chili paste. Stir well and add the hassars. Cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat, turning the hassars from time to time, Add the ‘coconut milk and water, a litte ata time. Bring to the boil. Cover the pan and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. Add salt to taste before serving. But how does one actually get at the fish? it is actually much simpler to do than to explain, Remove the dorsal finbone and the tal bits. Starting at the tail end, use your index finger to slide the armour away. it should come offin one piece. Turn the hhassar over and repeat.Waterblommetjie, an Unusual Aquatic Food Plant, New Crop and Cultural Symbol in the Cape of South Africa Robert W. Pemberton Som Although animals provide the most obvious food from the waters, plants also contribute substantially, especially if one considers marine algae and paddy rice. Fresh- water food plants feature most prominently in the monsoonal regions of Asia where an aquatic agriculture has evolved. In the Yangtze River Delta of China, cultivated water plants include, in addition to rice, familiar plants like lotus and Chinese water chestnut (Eleocharis dulcis (Berm.f.) Henshel, Cyperaceae). There is also an array of Jess familiar aquatic crop plants like West Lake vegetable (Braenia chreberi J. Gmelin, ‘Cabombaceae) harvested for young shoots that are covered with a thick layer of a clear ¢gelatin-like material which creates an unusual texture for those who enjoy it. Wild rice (Zizania latifolia) (Griseb.) Stapf., Poaceae) is grown for the stems which are infected by Usilago exulenta Henn.., a smut fungus that fills the hollow stems solid with a dense cream-colored hyphae. The horned water chestnuts or caltrops (Trapa spp.. Trapaceac) are cultivated on a large scale for the starchy, nutty contents of the horned fruits. There are many others including arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia L.. Alismataceae) tubers, and Gordon fruit (Euryale ferar Salisb., Nymphaeaceae) a kind of spiny water lily grown for seed used in confections and medicine, and for its underwater stem which is used as a vegetable. 22324 PEMBERTON Aquatic food plants, as one would expect, are rarer in the drier part ofthe world In this contribution, I deal with a unique aquatic food plant called waterblommetjie that is native to the relatively dry Mediterranean climate area of the Cape of South Africa (Bond and Goldblatt, 1984). Waterblommetje, which means water flower in ins, is an unusual flower food that has undergone a number of interesting ccultural-political shifts and environmental impacts as well as recent development into crop. I studied the plant during a visit to the Cape in 1996. Waterblommetjieis a herbaceous perennial rooted in the hydrosoil in waters usually ‘one to two meters deep. It has starchy storage corms also in the hydrosoi. Its lance shaped leaves, resembling those of pond weed (Rotamogeton spp., Potamogetonaceae), float on the water's surface. Projecting just above the water are forked inflorescences that bear clusters of small flowers inside overlapping fleshy bracts. After the fragrant flowers are pollinated by bees and other insects, they develop into groups of small green fruits, Whole inflorescences (hereafter called flowers) are collected and used as 8 vegetable both in the flower and fruit stages. Waterblommetie is also known as waterunintjie (water onion) and vleikos in Afrikaans. It is called Cape hawthorn, Cape pondweed, and Cape asparagus in English. The scientific name of waterblammetjieis Aponogeton disachyos Lf. one of 44 Aponogeton species belonging to the monogeneric Aponogetonaceae, a family restricted to the Old World tropics (Mabberley, 1993). Thhree other Aponogeton species ‘occur in the Cape including two, A. angustifolius Aiton and A. junceus Lehm.ex Schldl., which are also called waterunintjie (Bond and Goldblatt, 1984), suggesting similar human food use. Aponogeton angustfolius has smaller flowers that have been eaten in the Cape (S. McVeigh, personal communication), but the scant information suggests minor use. The corms of A. junceus are used in other parts of Africa (Peters et al., 1992), Waterblommetje lowers are attractive and pleasantly scented. The plant has been ‘cultivated in temperate water gardens for many years and still is commonly listed in specialty nursery catalogues. It has escaped from gardens and naturalized in Argentina, New Zealand, France, Peru, and England (Van Bruggen, 1995). It ‘completely established itself as if it were native’ in areas of southern England during the last century (Paxton and Lindley, 1883) and has been growing in the Lez River of southern France for about 150 years (Van Bruggen, 1995). ‘The Bushman or San, now extinct in the Cape, used the plant for food (Fox and Norwood Young, 1982). Early European settlers probably learned to use the plant from them. The Swedish Botanist Carl Thunberg visited the Cape in the 1770s, ‘observed the plants and noted that the roasted roots were considered a great delicacy (Thunberg, 1796). The settlers also used the flowers to make a pickle of high repute (Hooker, 1831) and as an asparagus-like vegetable (Fox and Norwood Young, 1982). ‘Watt and Breyer-Brandwijk (1962) reported that the rootstock (the corm) is eaten by blacks, but none of the informed South Africans I spoke with knew of any present day use of the corm. The flower is the part that has been used for many years. The ‘most common way waterblommetje lowers are prepared is in alamb or mutton stew called a waterblommetjie bredie. This is like a Dutch green bean stew (a type ofWATERBLOMMETIE, AN UNUSUAL FOOD PLANT. 225 ‘uisepot) in which the waterblammetje lowers are used instead of green beans (D. van ‘Tubbergh, personal communication). A waterblommetjie bredie recipe described as traditional includes mutton, onions, potatoes, alarge quantity of sorrel, white wine, salt, pepper and waterblommetjie (Robins, 1994). The wife of an early grower of waterblommetje wrote an Afrikaans language cook book titled Waterblammetjie which has recipes that use the flowers in salads, souffle, casseroles, fritters, on toast, in sweet ‘cakes, and others (Louw, 1981). The unusual variety of recipes in this book suggests, that many may have been recently created rather than traditional, although Louis Leipoldt, a medical doctor and writer who wrote about Cape cookery, included recipe for a waterblommetjie souffé (in his writings prior to the Second World War) (Goosen, 1981). Hilda Gerber gives a waterblommetje bredie recipe in her Traditional Cookery of the Cape Malaystthat includes garlic and green chilies but omits the white wine Gerber, 1957). Another Cape Malay recipe for this dish calls for allspice and cloves in addition to garlic, but stil without wine (Abrahams, 1995). (Cape Malays, ‘of Indonesian descent and Moslem, entered the Cape several hundred years ago. They have a distinctive cuisine, that employs more spices than do other kinds of traditional South African cookery.) I was able o eat two waterblommetjie bredies during my visit. These were pleasant hardy homemade stews with a long-cooked green bean taste component. Since my visit ended at the beginning of the flowering season (March to October), the waterblommetjie used in the bredies were canned or frozen. Fresh waterblommetje are superior products (Robins, 1994). I also ate freshly dug corms. These were very irregularly shaped, from 1 '/: to 6 cm in length and covered with dense black hair. Even after boiling, the hair and tough skins were difficult to remove. The peeled, ‘cooked corms were a creamy white with an appealing nutty, slightly sweet taste and. an interesting dense texture. These were even better with salt. At least seven other Aponogeton species have edible corms, including the esteemed A. monastachys Lf. of tropical east Asia (Hedrick, 1919; Tanaka, 1976; Peters et al., 1992). Aponogeton Junceus occurs in the Cape, but reports of human use of its corms are from other parts, of Africa (Peters et al, 1992), Traditionally, waterblommetjie was collected from fresh water marshes and other shallow water bodies for private use or to sell at roadside stands and markets. Cultivation appears to have begun in the 1970s. Steve McVeigh, a writer for a South African publication called Farmer’ Weekly, has studied this development and believes that cultivation began not longer than twenty years ago (S. McVeigh, personal ‘communication). A waterblommetjie symposium involving growers (including Vossie Louw who is credited with doing the pioneering work on the plant's cultivation), agronomists, and others interested in the food and marketing aspects of the plant first ‘met at Stellenbosch in 1981 (Gossen, 1981) and then again in 1986. To see and learn about waterblommetje cultivation, I visited Danie van Tubbergh, an important grower, at his Riverside farm in Worcester. I also interviewed Stephen MeVeigh, and Eddie Laubsher, a retired Stellenbosch University agronomist who studied the plant’s cultivation. The following description of cultivation is based on these interviews and articles in Farmer’s Weekly (McVeigh, 1989, 1994: and Viljoen,226 PEMBERTON 1994), No technical agronomic literature relating to waterblommetjie cultivation appears to have been written Cultivation of the plants occurs in shallow (1 to 1.5 m) ponds (50 by 50 m or less) ‘created by earthen dams, The corms are planted in regularly spaced rows late in the South African summer (January or February). The ponds are filled artificially or by autumn rains. First picking begins in March or April. Production declines in winter (May to July) and then increases to peak production from August to October, depending on the area. In early summer (usually November) the ponds dry or are drained. The soil is then plowed to remove most or all of the corms; if many are left they will produce high densities of smaller plants with smaller flowers. Many cultivation practices are intended to produce larger, heavier flowers. These bring higher prices and are more economical to harvest since a picker can pick a kilogram of large flowers more quickly than a kilogram of small flowers. When harvesting waterblommetjie, the flower stem is pulled vertically which snaps it at the hydrosoi surface, stimulating another stem to grow and enabling repeat harvests throughout the season, It isimportant to pick the flowers after pollination and seed set but before the seed are shed into the water. This results in heavier flowers and prevents too many seedlings the following year. Fertilizers are used to induce faster growth that results in larger plants with more tender flowers. Flowers are picked when the bracts are green, which then ripen to shades of pink, yellow and red. During the harvest period, guards are needed to protect the flowers from Egyptian geese and ducks that eat them. Algae, pondweeds, and insects are also troublesome, problems worsened by the plant's sensitivity to pesticides. Corms for planting are selected from the dry ponds or nursery beds planted with seed from the largest flowers. In both cases, larger corms with single ‘growth points (or cut to have a single growth point), are selected since these will produce larger plants. Danie van Tubbergh, who isone of the ten or so largest growers, has seventeen hectares of waterblommetjie which produces five to ten tons of edible flowers per hectare per year. He markets these to chain supermarkets and cans them under the Riverside Farm label. He has sold as much as 800-900 kg/week to one of the chains. Waterblommetje cultivation is a good complement to other crops such as wheat or wine grapes since its labor intense harvest occurs in late winter and early spring, a period when labor is less needed in other crops. Cultivation of waterblommetjie is a complex but profitable crop. During the relatively brief cultivation history of waterblommetje, the average size and weight of the flowers has increased substantially. One wonders ifthis economically riven selection for large flowers has affected their taste. Stephen McVeigh (personal ‘communication) thinks that they may not be as tasty as they used to be. Cultivation probably makes waterblommetjie more widely available and less expensive. Dotestication of waterblommetjie as a crop appears to have begun for a variety of reasons, some of which must be novel in the history of agriculture. Habitat loss due to urban development, particularly in the Cape Flas, greatly limited collections, of the flowers from wild populations of the plant (S. McVeigh, personal communication). Herbicides made their way into water bodies where wildWATERBLOMMETIE, AN UNUSUAL FOOD PLANT. 227 wwaterblommetjie grew and killed the plants (E. Laubscher, personal communication), In addition, a greatly increased demand for waterblommetjie, described as a craze, ‘caused severe over-collecting of wild plants which threatened the plant’s continued existence (Gossen, 1981). While waterblommetjie has a long history of use in the Cape, it evolved into a kind ‘ofcultural symbol of the Cape, particularly for Affikaaners. People of English descent fare more urban than Afrikaaners and they saw waterblommetjie as unsophisticated ‘country fare, atleast prior to its transition into a new gourmet food (D. van Tubbergh, personal communication). Two Afrikaans-language singers, Sonja Hergoldth and Anton Gossen, made recordings of song called Waterblommeaje in die Boland that were very popular around 1980-83 (D. van Tubbergh, personal communication). This song is about the pride of living in the western Cape (die Boland) and mentions famous places in the region. The chorus of the song is: Waterblonmasie, e's make a stew of it, Tell me you love me before we sleep. ‘The waterblommetjie food craze and associated increased cultivation of the plant may have been stimulated, in part, by Sonja Hergoldth’ hit recording of this song (Gossen, 1981). Not surprisingly, some of the Cape people of mixed race and of English ancestry, with whom I spoke, had little fondness for the song, even though they may enjoy waterblommesje. But waterblommerjie still has prominence in new South Africa, a time when Afrikaans culture is subdued. The plant is promoted as a unique South African food and appears in recent South African Government tourist literature. When it is in season (primarily August to October), Waterblommetjie appears in upscale restaurants, such as the Kaapse Tafel in Cape Town, and is common in chain supermarkets and produce stands, Leisure magazines such as Country Life (March 1996) write about the plant and give recipes. Despite the enormous richness of the Cape’ flora, relatively few plants are edible and no other plant that I am aware of is cultivated for food. Rooibos (Agalanthus linearis (Burm. f.) R. Dahlgren, Leguminosae) isa shrub that is cultivated for use as, tea. The fruits of sea fig (Carpobrotusedule ., Aimaceae) are gathered and sold in Cape ‘Town markets. The claimed uniqueness of waterblommetje is real. It isa food from the waters that mirrors the complex cultural-historical and environmental change of its homeland.28 PEMBERTON ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1 wish to thank Danie van Tubbergh for inviting me to ee his waterblammayjie ponds and for providing information and fruitful discusion, and his wife for making me a waterblammetjie brad. T thank also Stephen MeVeigh and Eddie Laubsher for helpful information and discussion. 1 acknowledge the use ofthe libraries and kind help of the librarians at the Krstenbosch Botanical Garden and the Department of Botaay and Zoology, University of Cape Town. I wish to thank my colleague Jeremy Midgeley, Univ of Cape Town, and his family for assisting with and participating in my culinary adventures with waterblommaje: David Suton and Lita Balls kindly reviewed the smanvserpt. BIBLIOGRAPHY Abrahams, C1995, The culture and cuisine of the Cape Malays, Metz Press, Welgemoed, SA. Bond, P and P Goldblatt. 1984, Pantsof the Cape Flora, a dexviptive catalogue. Journal of South African Botany, Supplementary vol. no. 13. Fox, FW. and M.E. Norwood Young 1982, Fad om the veld. Delta Books, Craighall, SA. Gerber. H. 1957, Traditional cooker ofthe Cape Malays. A.A. Balkema, Amsterdam & Cape Town. Gossen, H. 1981, Cape water flowers bloon’. Saurh African Panorama (South Affca), Dec., 19-23. Hedrick, U.P 1919, Sturtevant edible plans ofthe word. Dover, New York. Hooker, W. 1831, Botanical Mieallany. vol. 2. London. Lousy, M, 1981, Waterblommatfiex Cumbocke Roodepoort, Pretoria, South ica, [in Afrikaans] Mabberiey, DJ. 1993, The Plant Book. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, U.K. MeVeigh,S. 1989, “Viable waterblommetje. Farmers Weekly SA), April 14, pp. 18-19, MeVeigh, S. 1994, ‘Dedicated to quality on the shelf. Farmers Weekly (SA), May 20, pp. 48-49. Paxton, J and P Lindley (revised by T. Baines) 1883, Paxton flower garden. vol2. Cassell and Co. Lid, London. Peters, C.P, EM, O'Brien and R.B, Drummond 1992, Edible wld plants of Sub-Saharan Africa Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. Robins, M, 1994, The Cape cookbook. Chameleon Press, Diep River, South Alia, Thunberg, C. P1796, Travels in Europe, Africa, and Asa, made bee the years 1770 and 1779. 3rd. ed, vol. 2-4, London, ‘Van Brugpen 1985, ‘Monograph ofthe genus Apomogeon (Aponogetonaceae)’. Bibliotheca Botanica (Gtuttgart, Germany) 33 (no. 137) pp. 52.5369. Viljoen, B. 1994, ‘Waterblommegjis for extra cash. Farmer's Weskly (SA), Sep. 9, pp. 44-8. Walt, IM. and M.G. Breyer-Brandwik 1962, Matial and poignaus plants of ether and eater Africa, 2nd ed. Livingstone, Edinburgh and London.Medieval Arab Fish: Fresh, Dried and Dyed Charles Perry By nature, fish is an extremely local ingredient. In Iraq, river fish from the Tigris and Euphrates play a significant part in the diet, whereas in Syria — particularly in inland cities such as Aleppo and Damascus — the fish supply is scanty. For Spain and Tunisia, with their rich Mediterranean fishing grounds, fish is a major food. During the Middle Ages, there was already a marked difference between the cookery of North Africa and Moorish Spain, on one hand, and of the eastern Araby ‘countries on the other, and nowhere was the distinetion as great asin fish cookery. A fair number of meat dishes were made in both east and west, and the repertoire of sweets was almost the same everywhere. But t0 judge from the cookbooks, only one fish recipe was universal in the medieval Arab world: manga, cooked fish marinated in vinegar and spices Varieties of fish ‘The book Kitdb al-Tabtkh, compiled in the tenth century from ninth-century Baghdad sources, declares that the best fish are river fish, particularly those from cold, stony rivers. Conveniently for the Iraqi gourmet, the first quality come from the Tigris and the second from the Euphrates, with Nile fish bringing up the rear. (Saltwater fish are mentioned only in a chapter heading which distinguishes ‘fish’ from Salted marine fist.) The book quotes a poem mentioning three varieties of fish (cajar, sturgeon; ‘bunni or bandni, carp: and the most admired variety, the famous shabbiit), but none of its ten fish recipes call for a specific variety of fish Nor do any of the 13 recipes in a thirteenth-century Iraqi book which is usually known by its author’ name as ‘al-Baghdadi” or the five in the thirteenth century Syrian Kitdb al-Wusda ila al-Habtb. In fact, only one recipe in the eastern cookbooks namesa specific fish: bfri mukaffan, where striped mullet is fied and laid in a marinade of vinegar boiled with onions, herbs and spices. It is one of the recipes that were added to al-Baghdadi to make an expanded work entitled Kitab Way al-Atima al- ‘Mutddda, A similar bari mukaffan recipe (with the addition of walnuts, hazelnuts and raisins) is found in Kitab Zahr al-Hadiga, a rather haphazard compilation of uncertain date that includes recipes from both al-Baghdadi and Wusla. K. Wasf and K. Zahr have ten fish recipes each, bringing the total number of fish recipes in five eastern books t0 48. By contrast, two thirteenth-century Moorish books, Manusrito Anénimo and. Kitab Fadélat al-Khiwan, give 56 fish recipes between them, not counting variations, and specify a total of seventeen species of fish, probably all marine: sardine (sardin), 229230 PERRY pilchard (sunla), anchovy (shutin), sad (shdbal), sole (shi), grouper (mann), striped ‘mullet (bari), red mullet (tardanis),thick-lipped gray mullet (kahila), gilthead bream (iarnifa), tunny (tun), ee (silba) and several unidentified species: gabtin (the Spani ‘capitan, gray mullet?) fahl Stallion’: equivalent to the Spanish caballa, Atlantic mackerel, jabiil,jarkam andkammin (cumin’, probably referring to its color). Fish dishes ‘The tenth-century K. al-Tabikh represents the court cookery of Baghdad during the ‘great age of the caliphs, and its fish recipes are appropriately recherché: a fish skin stuffed with fish forcemeat, a fish drowned in grape juice to give its meat a savor, a fish Whose head isroasted, whose middle is baked and whose tall i fried” (the middle is wrapped in cloth and the tail is wrapped in coarse cloth soaked in oil, the whole thing being put in a clay oven). There are fried, roasted and boiled dishes and a number of condiments (sdgh) for fish, Al-Baghdadi’s book, compiled in thirteenth-century Iraq, is much less ambitious. Apart from a stuffed fish roasted on a spit in aclay oven, there are only four recipes for fresh fish and all are fried. The emphasis ison dried and salted fish (cight recipes, all fried), To these recipes of al-Baghdadi, K,Way adds a peculiar miscellany. One calls for deep-sea fish (smak lujji). One says to bake fish in the European-style bread. ‘oven (fur), rather than the clay oven (tanndir) which was more common in the east. Samak madhkhir is raw fish fillets sprinkled with salt and spices, rolled up in orange and citron leaves and stored in vinegar until you want to fry them. There are also some peculiar recipes for dried fish which will be discussed below. ‘The thirteenth-century Syrian book K. Wasa gives no recipes at all for fresh fish but five for condiments made from small dried fish (sr). Some of the treatments are so simple they seem contemporary, rather than medieval: oil, lemon juice and thyme; garlic, herbs and lemon juice: fried onions, pepper and vinegar. K, Wusa, K. Wag and K. Zahr give a number of sauces for fish called sals or salt They must have been learned from the Crusaders, because no etymology but the Romance word sul is at all plausible. However, the only one that seems specifically Frankish is black sls toasted breadcrumbs cooked with vinegar, pounded and flavored with cinnamon, ginger and saffron, Most of the rest, like several ofthe sibdghsin the tenth-century book, consist of ground nuts mixed with herbs and/or spices and a sour ingredient such as vinegar or lime juice. (The idea of flavoring fish with nuts and a our ingredient was not limited to sauces. Nearly all the stuffed fish in eastern books are stuffed with walnuts mixed with sumac or salted lemons.) ‘The recipes suggest that essential quality of a sals was a certain consistency and texture, probably like the thick sauces of fahineh (sesame paste) and lemon juice ‘made in the eastern Mediterranean today (the breadcrumb sauce, by contrast, is said to have a ‘coarse’ texture, ‘like an electuary’). But several are not thickened at all and ‘consist of garlic, vinegar, herbs and spices. What made a condiment a salsrather than a sibdgh is evidently one of those purely conventional distinctions that cookbooks ‘consider unnecessary to discuss.[MEDIEVAL ARAB FISH 231 In addition to its four sals recipes, K. Zahr remarks that there are many ways to ‘cook fresh fish, Swith sumac, rahineh, dates and raisins.’ It observes that fried fish is, the basis of such dishes as skbdj (a vinegared dish from which the Spanish eeabeche is derived), laim@niyya (flavored with lemon), summagiyya (with sumac), tabdhaja (spiced fillets) and kuzbariya (flavored with coriander, still a current dish in Egypt and Syria). The book gives six complete recipes for fresh fish, four of them with walnut stuffings. ‘The medieval Moorish books present a completely different picture. They show a vast variety of cooking methods, little discussion of condiments and almost none of — ‘68, Manusrito Anénimo, edited by Ambrosio Huici Miranda, Reviaa del Insituo de EsudiosIddmicos ‘en Madrid, voLS, pp-48, 54, 75,91, 136, 137, 183-189.Poke. The Survival and Evolution of a Traditional Native Food in a Changing, Multi-Cultural Society Nancy Piianaia Poke isthe slicing or cutting of raw fresh fish into eubesor bite-size pieces. Today it is loosely translated to mean a marinated Hawaiian dish or raw, seared, and cooked seafood (Sam Chays Poke Festival) A favorite pastime for visitors to Hawaii — as with travelers to any ‘exotic’ locale ~ is strolling through the aisles of local supermarkets. Intuitively they know that much can be learned by observing both the products that are for sale and the local shoppers who frequent the store. For the most part, because the world is becoming a smaller place and because almost all of Hawai’s food supply is brought by container ship from the Mainland,’ what they find is familiar ~ the canned goods and spices, the breads, the ‘cheeses, the detergents and cleansers, the cat food, the overwhelming array of cereals. Even the vegetables and fruits look like the ones at home — a cabbage raised in Hawaii has the same appearance, and the apples come from Washington, although with a higher price tag. Their interest may be piqued by huge taro brought in from anearby valley, bags of gray pei, fuzzy green Chinese melons, or the delicate local strawberries, but these are just a small portion of the produce that is displayed, ‘When they arrive atthe meat and fish counter, however, most visitors pause to gaze in awe at the huge refrigerated display case filled with rows of more than twenty of raw fish, each mounded high in its own stainless steel tray with a sign displaying the daily price per pound, the type of preparation and the variety of fish. ‘Ahi Poke Hawaiian,’ * Marlin Poke Shoyu with Pepper,’ ‘Tako Poke Sesame,’ ‘Blue Crab Poke Kim Chee’ ~ the ingredients hint at the variety and complexity of local Hawaiian food, and especially fish. If these curious visitors were to arrive at the counter in the late afternoon, around the time when work ends, they would be astonished at the lines of people waiting to purchase their favorite types of poke, as this type of raw fish preparation is called, to bring home for snacks or for weekend parties. Poke isthe term used for the varieties of fresh fish that are cut in small, bite-sized pieces and seasoned with a wide range of condiments and sauces. It has become so popular that it is now the appetizer of choice for most people to take to parties and family get-togethers in Hawaii. For beer drinkers, itis the favorite food to combine with a cold brew. It costs between $8 and $9 a pound, although in many stores the cost of poke will increase up to $16 or $17 a pound during the Christmas/New Year holiday season.POKE 235 ‘The quantities of fish that are prepared for each community market illustrate the popularity of poke nowadays in Hawaii. In the small town of Waimea (population 8,000), where I live, two supermarkets do a booming business in poke sales. At KTA, part of a chain of markets owned by a local Japanese family, an average of 2,000 pounds of ahi or yellowfin tuna is sold every week. Some of the fish is made into filets ‘or blocks for sastimi, but the bulk is cut up, seasoned, and displayed in the poke ‘counter. At Christmas and New Year, when raw fish in either sashimi or poke form is, an absolute necessity for island families, the fish department gets an average of 300 ‘orders in a space of three or four days. On New Year’ eve, 800-900 pounds are sold in a single day. One worker simply cuts all day, every day, in order to satisfy the insatiable demand for raw fish. ‘Tunais not the only fish used for poke, The display case features a variety of fish and shellfish which demonstrate both the growing scarcity of tuna and other coastal fish, and, concurrently, the increasing availability of fish and shellfish that have been brought in from more distant waters, thanks to improvements in the worldwide fishing industry. Striped marlin and Pacific blue marlin make excellent poke and are second in popularity to tuna for raw fish preparation. Recently, imported fako or ‘octopus, blue crab, and clams have become popular as well. Occasionally, fish counters vill also display smoked salmon, mussels, and oysters, all prepared in poke form. Fish prepared as poke is now seen in restaurants, served raw and slightly seasoned, lightly fried, or even asa filing for Japanese sushi. A restaurant on the Kona coast of the island of Hawaii has become famous for its fried marlin poke, serving 1,000 pounds in an average week. Seared Chinese-style in a wok for only a minute or two, itis prepared with small amounts of soy sauce, green onion, fresh seaweed, and alittle sesame oil. Served on a bed of bean sprouts and Chinese cabbage with a generous helping of white rice, it is one of the most popular entrees in this popular restaurant frequented by both locals and visitors to the island. ‘The well-known owner and namesake of the restaurant, Sam Choy, also sponsors ‘an annual Aloha Festivals Poke Recipe Contest, an event which he created in 1992 (o stimulate an awareness of Hawaiian-style raw fish. The 1995 competition had more than 70 finalists who competed for $10,000 worth of prizes More than 600 poke recipes were received from the South Pacific, Canada, and the United States. Entries reflected the enormous variety of ingredients and styles of preparation that have ‘emerged in the world of poke. Although some entries were traditional, the majority included wild and exotic combinations of seafood, fruits, vegetables, noodles, chillies, and seasonings. The winning entry in the chef or professional category featured pineapple skewered with pieces of chilled native shrimp, seasoned with small yellow tomatoes, lime juice, sweet chilli sauce, ginger, Chinese parsley (cilantro or fresh coriander), and sesame oil. While amazed and enthralled by the exotic creations and preparations of poke that they now find, many people are not aware that what they are now eating as a snack ‘or pupu’ was, until recently, a subsistence dish for Hawaiians ~ a practical and simple way of preparing raw fish in a warm, semi-tropical climate where refrigeration was236 PILANAIA, impossible, Poke has come a long way in its evolution from its original form. As it ‘changed, it moved from the simple to the complex in its seasonings and sauces. The many varieties of poke today also reflect the wide diversity of cultures which have settled in Hawaii each with its unique seasonings, sauces, and tastes. The preparation ‘of poke has also moved from the home kitchen to the supermarket — from the family to the professional cook. The story of the evolution of poke reveals much about the ‘changes in Hawaii its fish, and its eating habits. Traditional Poke Fish Hawaii is made up ofa group of seven major islands which are located in the central Pacific, nearly 2,500 miles from the closest continent or major island group. Its isolation has permitted the development of a unique island-based society peopled by the descendants of seafaring voyagers who migrated from the South Pacific, bringing. with them the tools for survival in the form of a small variety of animals and plants and equally important, their vast knowledge ofthe sea and its resources. Undiscovered until the late eighteenth century asa result of this isolation, the Hawaiians were able to develop acomplex society which depended to a great degree on the sharing of the products of the land and the sea In ancient Hawai, the bulk of the population lived along the seacoast in small ‘coastal communities. Fish was the most important source of protein in their diet, and they were skilled both as fishermen and as cultivators of fish which were raised in large ponds to supplement the varieties that were available from the ocean. In pre-contact Hawaii, fish was generally abundant. Its continuity was insured by the practice of, setting aside certain periods when the catching of certain varieties of fish was forbidden ‘or kapu (taboo). These laws were strictly enforced by the chiefs of each area who were supported by priests or kahunas They in turn were carrying out the will of the gods who were intimately connected to the people and theie fish. Fishing was prohibited during the spawning seasons, especially for aku, a form of tuna, and ‘opel, a type of mackerel. These were so important to the food supply that they could not be fished at the same time. According to David Malo, an early Hawaiian historian, or six months of the year, the gpelu might be eaten and the aku ‘was tabu, and was not to be eaten by chiefs or commoners, Then again, for the other six months, the aku might be eaten, and ‘opelu in turn was tabu. Thus it was every year Conservation was important. The fishing grounds were never depleted, and the primary rule of the fisherman was o take only part of the supply of the fish. Fish that grew in good spots were even fed sweet potatoes and pumpkins to enable them to remain and increase.‘ An isolated society, Hawaiians by necessity depended on the sharing of food from the sea and food from the land. Different areas, seaside and upland, specialized in different aspects of the food supply. Constant sharing and exchange of food made it possible for the Hawaiians to maintain a healthy and balanced dict. Taro was raised inland and used to supply carbohydrates and other nutrients in the diet. Cleaned, cooked, and pounded into a paste, it became the potPOKE 237 which was exchanged for fresh or dried fish. People living inland, raising taro, sweet potato, and needing coconuts and sea foods would exchange their produce with relatives or ‘ohana living along the shoreline and receive in return fish, salt, or other marine products Hawaiians had a large variety of fish available for their consumption. The Pacific ‘waters around the islands abounded with more than 600 species of fish, including four species of tuna, four species of billfish and other open ocean species, and numerous, forms of bottomfish including sea bass or grouper, long-tail snapper or onaga, ‘opakapaka or crimson snapper, and uku or snapper. The Hawaiians not only fished the ocean, they also cultivated fish in extensive systems of coastal fishponds. The favorite pond fish was mullet which was raised in a series of smaller ponds for protection until it reached maturity. It was then let out into the large ponds where it ‘was combined with other species which would not feed on each other or destroy the mallet, Hawaiians were acutely aware of the need to consume their fish fresh or to carefully preserve it by means other than refrigeration in the warm tropical climate. They developed different ways of preparing and cating their fresh catch which was ‘consumed raw, cooked, salted, or dried. Great pride was taken in eating fish as fresh as possible, and oral traditions tell of runners who brought special fish long distances to deliver them alive to persons of high rank: ‘The chiefess yearned again for the pul ish that hides in the sand of Kalapana and. the fat aholeiae fish of Waiakole. It is far from Hilo to Puna, but because the chiefess had a craving, the distance was nothing. The ‘pule fish was brought to her ave still, breathing, inside ofa wrapping of pakaien (seaweed). Theaholeholefish wasstll moving, ‘wrapped in some limu-kala found in the pond.” ‘Whether for achief or a commoner, there were many ways of preparing fish. It was baked over coals after being wrapped in 1 leaves, or broiled, or placed in a gourd ‘container with alittle water into which were dropped red hot stones. Fish not cooked was either dried and preserved for travel or times when the supplies of fresh fish were scarce, or it was eaten raw after carefully cleaning, cutting and salting. Modern poke fish has its origins in this method, Hawaiians carefully cleaned and cut their fish before salting. All parts of the fish were saved and used for different purposes. For poke, the guts were removed, either pressed out in the smaller fish or cut out from the larger ones. The fish were then cut into small, bite-sized pieces, using sharp implements such as bamboo, shell, or stone blades. Salt, so essential to poke, was one of the most important components of the Hawaiian diet. It was gathered along the shore where it crystallized naturally from salt water. In many locations, special stones or red clay-lined earth pans were placed near the high water mark and trenches were formed to channel the sea water into the drying. pans. It was handled carefully, and great care was taken to keep it clean and stored in gourds or covered baskets in dry locations such as the lava caves which abounded near the ocean.238 PILANAIA, In making traditional poke, the process of rubbing in salt was crucial. No fish could be eaten until some salt had been rubbed into its flesh, a process termed kapi or kapi.” ‘Timing and the amount of salt used was a skill passed down by specialists in each family. Fish were salted to different degrees, depending upon when they were to be ‘eaten and their species. Ifthe fish were to be eaten soon, they were salted lightly. More salt was used and for a longer period ifa fish were to be preserved longer. Long-salted fish was held until it actually became stiff and hard. Just before serving the excess salt was washed off. In a warm climate where refrigeration was not possible, this salting process was a crucial means of preserving fresh fish until it could be eaten Although most raw fish served in Hawaiian markets today is cut, seasoned, and sold as poke, a favorite traditional method was to massage or lomi a small fish by ‘mashing it between the thumb and index or third finger in order to soften it before salting. Many Hawaiians still prefer this technique although itis usually done with the smaller fish such as mullet or pelu. The style is seen most often in a dish served at feasts and luaus~ lomi salmon ~ utilizing a fish which was imported in its salted form from the Pacific Northwest after Hawaiians began to ship out as crew on sailing vessels in the early to mid-nineteenth century. In some cases, the salt salmon was also prepared by rinsing and cutting into bite-sized chunks, to be eaten as.a type of poke with poi. In the traditional method of preparing poke, the cut fish pieces are salted as described above and then allowed to sit until the proper taste and consistency are reached. Close to eating, two characteristic seasonings are added. The first is a form of seaweed called limu kotu,* and the second is a condiment called ‘inamona which hasbeen ground from roasted kukui or candlenuts. A third seasoning which was added after contact with the West, but has come to be considered a part of traditional poke, is fresh or dried chilli peppers (Capsicum species). The extensive seacoast of the Hawaiian islands has supported the growth of a great variety of seaweed. Hawaiians had names for more than 80 types of seaweed, while scientists have only identified a little more than 30.” Limu, as it was called, was an important nutritional component of the diet, although today only fourteen types of seaweed are commonly used in the istands.” When limu was eaten together with fish, poi, and vegetables, Hawaiians received the protein, carbohydrates, and minerals for adequate nutrition. Most limu was consumed in the raw state, either fresh and lightly salted, or more heavily salted for storage. Because it gelatinized after being heated, seaweed was also used as a thickener for stews or in the imu, or fire pit, where other foods were being prepared. Different seaweed grew abundantly in various sections of the islands. Limu kale from Kauai was especially prized, although it can be found on the other islands as well. Limu kohu is a soft, reddish-brown seaweed which is found in rough water areas. It has a strong marine or iodine scent and flavor, making it a good balance for the delicate taste of tuna used in poke. In ancient Hawaii, the gathering of limu generally was the responsibility of women. Until recently, they were the experts on the names, locations, lore, and methods of ‘gathering different varieties of seaweed. In addition to gathering seaweed along thePOKE 230 coast, Hawaiians found fimu in upland taro patches, streams, and brackish water pools. Coastal fishponds were also an excellent source for many types of limu where it provided nutrition for the fish as wel as the gatherers. Coastal limu was gathered directly from the reef when it was exposed at low tide. It was also picked up along the shore at places where deposits of seaweed frequently ‘occurred. As with all other ingredients, cleanliness was extremely important. Even today, Hawaiians like to know where the limu they have been given or purchased has been harvested in order to be certain of its quality and cleanliness. Cleaning imu was along process which required sitting by the edge of the water and rinsing the seaweed in a succession of gourds or buckets to remove sand, bits of coral, and pieces of imperfect limu. Cleaned seaweed was then placed in baskets or gourds and divided up among members of the community. The final preparation inyolved washing the seaweed in fresh water and draining, chopping and pounding with a stone mortar. Seaweed with a strong iodine flavor like limu kohu was also frequently soaked and rinsed for 24 hours to remove the bitter iodine taste. It was then mixed with salt for flavor and preservation — about one teaspoonful for each cup — or a larger amount, as much as a half-cup for each cup of seaweed when it was necessary to preserve the limu fora longer period of time." This was especially so with the coming of winter when rough seas made the collection of limu dangerous. Salted imu was wrapped in ti leaves and stored away for several weeks or longer. The second condiment important for making traditional poke was made from the roasted kukui (candlenut) tree which had been brought from the South Pacific by early Polynesian settlers. Kckui trees once grew up to heights of 90 fet, thriving in the lower mountains, wet gulches, ravines, and valleysall over the islands." In pre-contact time, before the cultivation of large sugar plantations, broad slopes of the wet windward coast of the island of Hawaii were covered completely by kukui forest. Hawaiian planters made efficient use of the open glades or areas between the large trees by digging holes and planting taro, or by planting the taro in the rotting wood of the ancient trees. ‘The fruit or nut of the tree is round with a light green color when it is young, turning to grayish-black when it ripens. The shell of the nut is white when young, becoming hard and black as it matures. Inside the shell or seed-coat is the meat or kernel the flesh of the nut which is used in the preparation of inamona. In addition to its preparation as a seasoning for food, the nut had traditionally many uses. It was important in native medicine. Its leaves, flowers, rind, and bark were used in addition to the nut which, when eaten raw, is a powerful cathartic. Dyes from the bark were used for coloring fishnets and canoe bottoms. Leis (garlands) were strung from the highly polished nuts. Because it was extremely oily, the kernel was used as a candle ‘or a torch when strung together and ignited. Hawaiian fishermen also chewed its kernels and blew them out over their fishing grounds, using the oil to quiet the sea." In the preparation of inamona, nuts were roasted in their shells in hot ashes, After ‘cooling, they were cracked, shelled., pounded, and mashed. A small amount of salt ‘was sprinkled into the ground nuts to create the seasoning which was either added240 PILANAIA, to the poke just before eating or placed beside adiner to use as desired to season other types of food, Change ‘The coming of Western explorers, traders, sailors, and missionaries brought ‘overwhelming changes to Hawai traditional society, environment, and diet. In 1778, ‘Captain James Cook arrived in the islands, ending the centuries of isolation which had enabled the Hawaiians to create a hierarchic society governed by an elaborate set ‘of taboos which included the separation of men and women while eating as well as the prohibition of the eating of many foods by women. By 1819, the system of prohibitions governing eating had broken down sufficiently to permit the eating together of both the female chiefs and their young ruler. With ai noa, or free eating, the taboo system was broken and all manner of change became possible. Cook and the other explorers were followed by European and American traders and missionaries ‘who brought with them new foods as well as new beliefs and lifestyles. Eventually, the elaborate set of rules which governed Hawaiian society and its eating habits broke down. Hawaiians began to try unfamiliar foods and flavors, supplementing their traditional diet with newly introduced meats, vegetables, and seasonings. They discovered that there was no punishment by their traditional gods for the breaking ‘of the taboos, and increasingly, experiments in tasting new foods occurred. Even traditional poke was impacted by the introduction of new foods. The chilli pepper was brought to Honolulu in 1815 by Don Francisco de Paula y Marin, a Spanish explorer and friend of Hawaii’ unifier and first king, Kamehameha I. The chillies he planted (in addition to grapes and other fruits) rapidly became popular and were chopped and added in their raw form to the traditional poke. When prepared in today’s markets and homes, poke today usually contains a moderate amount of chillies to add extra heat and spice to the fish. Chillies have become an important part of the Hawaiian palate and are found most often in the form of chilli pepper water,” a combination of freshly cut chillies that have been boiled and cooled, garlic, alittle vinegar, and Hawaiian salt for flavoring. They are still made at home and stored in glass bottles in many Hawaiian household refrigerators Chilli pepper water is so popular that there are at least six brands made locally and sold commercially. The shock of the early Western arrivals to Hawaii and the massive social and ‘economic changes that they stimulated was followed by the development of a sugar plantation economy throughout the islands in the mid-nineteenth century. Initially, Hawaiians were recruited to provide a workforce on the first plantations. When it became apparent that their lifestyle was not conducive to the long hours and backbreaking work required in the sugar cane fields, they were replaced by groups of ‘Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, and Korean immigrants who were recruited from their home countries as contract laborers. Each ethnic group brought new foods and seasonings when they arrived in Haw: Living together on the rural plantation camps, each had ample opportunities to acquaint themselves with the cuisine ofthe other. There was much sharing, especiallyPOE 24 in the fields when workers sat together and tasted the foods which each had brought from home. A typical worker’ lunch might include rice balls, or musubi, filled with salted, pickled plum or umebashi from the Japanese, sweet bread from the Portuguese, stir-fried vegetables from the Chinese, and pickled cabbage, or kim chee, and barbecued meat from the Koreans. This sharing of ethnic foods was also reinforced by the festivals and holidays which were observed in the rural communities, and which included in addition to dances, religious programs, and athletic events, opportunities to share feast foods which were consumed only on special occasions. In Hawaii, the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were generally characterized by the maintenance of separate ethnic food traditions despite the appreciation and sharing of foods between ethnic groups. Strong cultural ties, combined with the pressure to marry within one’ own ethnic group as well as the ‘reation of separate camps for each nationality within the plantation villages, helped to perpetuate these strong food traditions. Despite annexation by the United States in 1898, the arrival of even more ethnic groups including Koreans and Filipinos after 1900, and the impact of World War II with the sudden arrival of 400,000-500,000 Gis in the islands, Hawaii's ethnic food traditions continued with only slight modifications. The preparation of raw fish remained in the domain of the Japanese, who con- tinued their tradition of sastimi, and the Hawaiians, who continued to make poke and raw fish at home with very few changes in their basic recipes. Poke made with aku, ‘ahi, and diu or marlin was prepared by family cooks with ingredients gathered by mothers and children who went down to the seashore to collect their fimu Kahu. It ‘was made as well with special salt received from friends on Kauai and kukui nut that was roasted and pounded for each family’s inamana. Others, without access to the sea of forest, depended on friends and family to provide them with these essential seasonings and ingredients. Although fish markets existed in all of the major towns and in the city of Honolulu, the preparation of poke was still handled within the family. Many Havaiians continued to live by the sea in a relatively self-sufficient lifestyle. They caught their own fish, storing it underground in stone crocks after the cleaning, and salting process was completed. Taro was brought by friends who lived in nearby valleys and pounded into poi. Salt was collected and dried on sections of the beach which were reserved, by tradition, for family use. Limu was still collected by family ‘members, although finding isolated and clean supplies of seaweed became increasingly difficult. Most families still knew where there were groves of kukui, and at least one child had the responsibility of roasting and pounding the nuts, although an adult mixed and completed the careful salting of the finished product. Others who did not have access to the ocean continued the practice of making poke at home using fish that was either given by friends or purchased in the local fish market. Hawaii continued to evolve, however. A variety of factors combined to change the ceating habits of people in the islands. One of the greatest factors in changing food in Hawaii was World War IL, From the shock of Pearl Harbor through the years of war with the influx of troops on all ofthe islands and rationing for residents, Hawaii was242 PILANAIA, ‘exposed to all manner of new foods. The commercial fishing flet, in particular, was impacted by wartime regulations limiting the areas which could be fished and the nationalities who were allowed to fish. In 1941, there were 778 fishing boats which were part of the Hawaii-based fleet. Within one year, this had shrunk to only 233, after the Japanese, who were declared enemy aliens, were prohibited from operating their fishing vessels." Fish and many other staple foods, especially those which had been imported from Japan, became scarce, and other foods were substituted. Shortages of rice resulted in the substitution of potatoes for the first time for many Asian families. Increasingly, American-style dishes with meats and starches were served instead of nine-course Chinese meals. Soldiers stationed in Hawaii begged for the foods of home, and many cooks obliged, making their first attempts at hamburgers and French fries, And soldiers returning after the war continued to introduce the foods and flavors to which they had become accustomed while in camps on the Mainland or in Europe. Hawaii has changed so rapidly in the years since World War Il that it is nearly impossible for those born after 1950, or those who have moved to the islands in the last 20 or 30 years to imagine life in a simpler, less congested and more isolated en- vironment. During this period, the rural sugar plantations dectined and finally closed, ‘ending a long chapter in island life. Hawaii became a state in 1959, accelerating the process of interaction with the rest ofthe United States. By the 1970s and 1980s, the sugar industry was replaced, primarily by tourism and the multitude of businesses which provide the materials and services necessary to support that industry."* Population increased on Oahu as a result of both employment opportunities in the city as the plantations closed and the influx of new residents from the mainland, United States. Waikiki was transformed from a smal, friendly beach area with a few classic hotels and eateries personified by the Royal Hawaiian Hotel and enjoyed mutually by visitors and local residents, alike. Today itis a huge, sprawling island of hotels, high-rises, flashy shops, and restaurants catering almost exclusively to the transient visitor. Wandering down the broad expanse of Kalakaua Avenue, with itshi- tech trafic lights and four lanes of traffic, one is more apt to hear Japanese spoken than English, and the only local pedestrians are workers travelling to and from work on buses that cruise the avenue because there is simply no parking available for ‘commuters. ‘The impact ofthe Japanese tourist in Hawaii has been greater in terms of food than in language or culture. Sushi bars and noodle stands are found at almost every location accessible to the tourist. Quality sushi bars and Japanese restaurants have gradually spread throughout the city of Honolulu. Residents of Hawaii have discovered that in addition to the sashimi they grew up with at parties, there isa greater variety of raw fish preparations available and accessible to them. Already comfortable with the ‘concept of raw fish, people in Hawaii have embraced the sushi bar. There is now at Jeast one in every sizable town in the islands. Indirectly, this has been a factor in the increasing popularity of poke and other forms of raw fish as well Family lifehas also changed in Hawaii in the post war years. As with the remainder of the United States, both parents work in the majority of families. In Hawaii thePOE 243 percentage is high ~ more than 80 per cent of women with children aged six to seventeen are employed: this may be due to the fact that the cost of living in Hawaii is one of the highest in the United States. Concurrently, the majority of families are nuclear, unlike the earlier days when grandparents lived with their children and ‘grandchildren in extended families. Lifestyles have changed dramatically — there is less time to prepare food from scratch, to gather ingredients from the sea, and even to learn skills which are necessary in the making of traditional foods like poke. Increasingly, islanders have become more dependent upon others to provide that which was once made at home. Another development in Hawaii that has had an enormous impact on the type and way in which food is consumed has been the development of the supermarket. Hawaii’ first large markets were owned by local families, usually Chinese or Japanese with names like Chun Hoon in Honolulu or K. Taniguchi (KTA) in Hilo. The markets began as small general stores offering discounted merchandise and quality service. They expanded gradually o fill the needs of busy shoppers who did not have the time to buy their groceries from the small farmers’ markets in downtown Honolulu or Hilo."* These new supermarkets acquired a clientele of loyal customers, although many still went to the fish or meat markets for their special cuts of beef, pork, or fish, Gradually, the supermarket replaced the small general store, and large supermarket chains such as Safeway entered the Hawaii market in the 1960s. It is no accident that some of the largest selections of poke are found in many of these markets, for they provide the convenience of one-stop shopping for the working parent. ‘The fishing industry in Hawaii has also been affected by the worldwide demand for fish that were traditionally abundant in Pacific waters. Since the late 1980s, Hawaii has become a popular destination for the longline fleets, some of which come from as far away as Mexico to fish in the Hawaiian waters for tuna and swordfish. In three years, Hawaii’ longline flet tripled, growing from 37 vesselsin 1987, to 80 in 1989, to more than 150 in 1990." As a result, local longliners experienced increasing shortages of fish and further regulation by the government was required. Hawaii’ bottomfish have also been overfished and have become increasingly scarce. The catches ‘of onaga, or red snapper, and opakapaka or pink snapper, two of Hawaii's most prized fishes, have declined markedly since 1988, from 141,000 pounds for onaga in that year 0 68,500 pounds in 1992."* Decline in the availability of the fish commonly served in Jocal homes has brought, out of necessity, changes in the type of fish eaten in the islands. Flash frozen fish that has been brought in from distant waters as well as new types of fish, shellfish, and even imitation fish such as svrimi, a type of imitation erab, have become acceptable, and even popular. For poke and raw fish, these new varieties have been used in many preparations. Poke made with surimi, frozen tako, clams, and frozen blue crab is now featured in the fish display counters at the markets, supplementing the more traditional forms of raw fish preparation. On the Kona coast, fresh crab and seaweed are being produced through an extremely successful ‘ocean thermal energy conversion project’ (OTEC) as well. Finally, the development of the poke market has been fueled by the development in Hawai of alocal cuisine. In Rachel Laudan’s recent book, The Food of Paradise, she244 PILANAIA, describes how local food emerged first in public, rather than in private homes where traditional ethnic foods have continued to be prepared." It is exemplified by the ‘numerous lunch wagons seen on busy streets and in industrial areas in Honolulu and the larger towns on the outer islands. Lunch wagons offer hot food in the form of an inexpensive ‘plate lunch’ which is aconglomeration of Asian, Hawaiian, and haole or western foods. Fried fish, teriyaki chicken, or beef stew, combined with huge portions, of white rice and macaroni salad, are heaped in portioned Styrofoam containers and served with a variety of ice-cold canned drinks out of the window of converted trucks and vans. Seasonings on the side include soy sauce, the ever-present freshly made bottles of chilli water, Ketchup, and Tabasco. Other local foods which show the blending of different cuisines include SPAM musvbi — an evolution of Japanese sushi which was traditionally raw fish rolled in rice and wrapped in sheets of dried, seasoned seaweed. SPAM, frst popularized in Hawaii during the food shortages of World War I, iscombined with a thick slice of omelet and substituted for the raw fish wrapped in rice and seaweed. Other favorites which have evolved from the blending of different ‘ethnic food traditions include szimin or teriyaki beef and chicken. Asian in origin, they have evolved in Hawaii into foods which no longer can be called distinctly Chinese or Japanese. ‘Similarly, in more elegant surroundings, another type of local ct developed. A group of young island chefs has banded together to create a ‘Pacific Rim’ ‘cuisine, Featuring locally grown and produced ingredients ~ meat, fish, vegetables and fruits— and incorporating Pacific and Asian tastes and ingredients, they have excited the food world with their creativity. Poke has appeared on their menus in new forms — tossed with a vinaigrette in a salad, inside a delicate spring roll, or combined with other ingredients. It has traveled a long way from the simple, sustaining preparation of the ancient Hawaiians. Poke Today By the 1980s, a combination of the changes described above made possible the ‘emergence of poke as a food produced increasingly by professionals in restaurants, supermarkets or fish markets rather than a food prepared at home as a means of preserving fresh fish. Poke has been transformed from a staple food to a party dish ~ the great variety of ingredients and types of fish that are used are testimony to its role as a party or pupu dish. Similarly, poke has also emerged as a ‘local’ rather than a traditional Hawaiian food, and as such it has been embraced by both those born in Hawaii and more recent arrivals as a sign of their belonging or being ‘ocal.’. Poke varied ingredients illustrate the different ethnic groups which have contributed to its flavors — soy sauce from Japan and China, kim chee and sesame oil from Korea, miso sauce from Japan, garlic from both the west and Asia each type of poke tells a story Of the innovative sharing of food. ‘The continued evolution of poke is good for local cuisine. It enables local cooks and chef to showcase their abilities it comes from a traditional Hawaiian food preparation, and in its many varieties, it can be shared and enjoyed by all differentPOE 245 ethnic groups. Unfortunately, however, itis becoming a los art for most, asthe skill of catching the fish, gathering and preparing the ingredients and seasonings, and the ‘making of the poke has moved from the home into the market. There is also the threat that the highly sauced and seasoned varieties of poke will outlive the simple, clean, traditional poke which was the basis of much of the Hawaiian diet. But at the present time, poke in all of its forms can still be sampled and enjoyed throughout the Hawaiian islands. Glossary Reference: Pukui, Mary K. and Samuct H. Elbert. Hawatian Dictionary. Honolulu: University of Hawai Press, 1984. Hn. = Hawaian) ahi, Hn., yellowfin tna Atholehoe, Hi. a young endemic Hasan fish found in both fresh and sak water aku, Hn. bonito, skipjack tuna, The deep red flesh is bolder in favor than abi. ‘alae, Hn, coarse sea salt colored red with a water-soluble ferruginous earth. ‘a, Ho., marin. Jao, Hin, white peson, American, Englishman, Caveasian; formerly, any foreigner. Jiu, Hin, underground oven, food cooked in anim ‘namona, Hn. oasted, pounded kuku! nuts mised with st and seasoning in traditional Hawaiian die. ‘apihopi, Hin, to sprinkle as sat oF sand, to sat fsh or meat ‘kim chee, Korean pickled cabbage or other picked vegetables mixed with garlic and chillies ‘kochu jang, Korean, paste of chilli pepper, soy beans and glutinous sweet rice paste, Juki, Hn, candlenut tre; kanii in Indonesia. imu, H., any kind of seaweed, More than 350,000 pounds consumed annually ia Hawai imu koh, Ho., small, ed, spicy edible seaweed, grows on edge of ret rolled into balls after soaking for storage ima og, ois te Japanese word for limu manauen, grows in small bushes Tomi, Ho. to rub, press, squeeze, crush, mash fine; masge, rub out. Slt salmon or fi, usually ravi, worked with the fingers and mixed with onions and seaweed. ‘Wau, Ho., Havaiian feast named for the taro topsalways served at one; this snot an ancient name but goes back atleast until 1856 when so used by the Pacific Commercial Advertiser. Formerly feast was pina or ahaina. ‘musubi, Japanese, short-gran white rice cooked and shaped into a ball or triangle, sometimes wrapped in seaweed and eaten asa snack, ‘olana, Hn., family relative, kin; related or extended family, lan ‘naga, Japanese, ruby or long tail snappee. Ulaula kee in Hawaiian, ‘ono, Hin, wahay; a sweet, delicate mackerel sed for sashimi and poke as well as cooked, ‘opakapaka, Ho. blue snapper ‘ope, Fin., mackerel sead, prized for fmt raw fish, ‘Pai, Ho, cooked taro corms, occasionally breadfruit, pounded and mixed with water. ‘poke, Hin. (0 slice, cut crosswise into pieoes, as fish or wood; to press out, section, slice or piece, ‘Pupu, Ho. appetizer. ‘sashimi, panese, sliced raw fish accompanied by seasonings surimi, Japanese, imitation crabmeat, made primarily from Alaskan pollock. tako, Jspanese, smal squid ‘uku, Ho, gray snapper or jobfish. tumeboshi, panes, pickled fruits from the Prunus muome, often called a plum te, eaten a 9 ‘condiment for breakfast or inserted into rice ball for favor,246 PILANAIA, Traditional Hawaiian-Style Poke Yield, 6 ('/, cup) servings 1 Ib fresh aku (skipjack tuna) and ahi (yellowfin tuna), cut in bite-size cubes 1 small ball imu kohu (about '/2 cup) chopped ‘namona (roasted kukui nut) to taste fresh red chilli peppers, minced to taste salt to taste Mix salt and ‘namana. Add fimu and chillies and mix again. Combine with fish and toss until pieces are well coated with the mixture, Taste and adjust salt and chilli peppers. Chill until eaten. ‘Sam Choy’s Marlin Poke For each serving, take 46 ounces of raw marlin (no other fish works as well as marlin in this recipe), and cut into ‘/s inch cubes. Place cubes in a mixing bowl with 1 teaspoon sioyt (Soy sauce), '/s cup chopped round onion, 1 teaspoon chopped green ‘onion, /« cup agp seaweed, and 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Mix well, then quickly sear in 1 tablespoon hot oil or enough to cover bottom of pan) on high heat in a wok. Dont ‘cook for more than a minute or two, as you want the center raw: Serve on a bed of bean sprouts, chopped cabbage, or greens. Sam Choy’s Korean-Style Tako Poke 2b fresh ogo seaweed * 1 Ib rako (squid) 1 Maui or sweet onion 1 cup rice vinegar * '/; cup soy sauce ‘Ye cup sugar 3 tbsproasted sesame seeds 2 tbsp bottled Korean hot chilli paste(kaohu jang) 1 tsp minced fresh ginger * 2 cloves garlic, minced Cut ogo seaweed into 2 inch lengths. Cook tako until tender and slice. In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and refrigerate until ready to serve.POE 247 REFERENCES * common term used by islanders to refer to the continental United States. 2 Hawaii Tribune Herald, October 20, 1996, 24 » Malo, David. Hawatian Antiquities Honolulu: Bernice P Bishop Museum, (1898) 1991, 189. + Titcomb, Margact. Narve Us of Fi in Hawaii. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1972, p 13. 5 Tid, 19. ® Them, Thomas. ‘Hawaian Salt Making.’ Thrums Hawaiian Annual. Honolulu: 1924, 13 » Titeom, 21 * Other varieties of seaweed are added to poke according to the variety offi, but imu koh is most widely used, * Abbott, IsbellaAiona. atau Hawai: Traditional Ue of Hawaiian Plants Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1992, 46, © Abbott, Isabella Avona and Eleanor Horswill Williamson, Limu, Honolulu: Pfc Tropical Botanical Garden: 1974, 2. 5 pbot, 46, "= Handy. E.S.Craighill and Blzabeth Green Handy. Native Planters of Old Hawaii. Honolulu: Bernice P Bishop Museum, 1978, 231 © Ibid, 232 % Schmitt, Rober C. Hisorical Statistics of Hawaii. Honolulu: University of Hawai, 1977, 372. ° In 1995, a total of 6,633,840 tourists visited Hawaii, compared to 130,437 in 1951 and 9,676 in 1922. Hawaii Visitors Bureau, Annual Resarch Report and Records ° Tronially, farmers’ markets are now resurging with great succes, both in Hawaii and in popu lated areat ofthe United States mainland, © Environment Hawaii 14, number 10, April 1994, 10 % Environment Hawaii, vol. 4, number 9, March 1994, 1 ° Laudan, Rachel, The Food of Paradis, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1996, 17,Fish in Art Gillian Riley ‘The original intention of this paper wasto investigate information in works of art about fish and its preparation, and try and collect as much data as possible that could be analyzed by those with more knowledge than myself of varieties of fish and the history of the fishing industry. The Golden Age of the Netherlands seemed to be arich source, with its kitchen and market scenes and combinations of genre and sea paintings ~ fishscapes, Seventeenth-century Naples provided a promising haul, Late medieval health handbooks and manuscript illumination were useful. Still lifes from cighteenth-century France and Spain had helpful details, and Monet's luminous red mullet recalled the ‘gastronomic enthusiasms of the Impressionists. But it soon became apparent that the pitfalls areas plentiful as the images. The fish asicon appears throughout history, fraught with meaning long before its abundant use as a Christian symbol. Its appearance in a biblical meal may not be a simple ‘uncomplicated indication of what people ate and when. Fish in sil life paintings could have symbolic meaning, or their presence may be part of a convention of representing things rather than straightforward, uncomplicated images of reality. The shadow cast by aleafin a fruit bowl, a neatly defined fish tal, dark on the white damask table cloth, cannot have been an accidental presence in Caravaggio’ Supper at Emaus, where guinea fowl rather than fish was on the menu. The intense theological preoccupations of ‘Counter Reformation Rome were familiar to Caravaggio and his patrons, In the many kitchen scenes from both Protestant and Catholic Low Countries the salt herrings, served apparently casually in a small dish, apart from theres ofthe display, are arranged most precisely in the form of across, asin a detail from The Meat Stall by Pieter Aertsen. Preserved fish are most apt for a sense of immortality and resurrection, but what are we to make of the neatly sliced pickled herring in so many ‘Breakfast’ pieces? Together with bread and wine we could see a reference to the sacraments, but in a monochrome onibijtje by Pieter Claesz, a simple meal of herring, beer and bread is also acelebration of the proud independence of Holland, a sea-faring nation whose frugality and honest hard work won salvation from hostile sea and foreign domination, Herring is now anational symbol, and honoured in asl life by Joseph de Bray, showing verses in praise of this noble fish inscribed on a baroque plaque ornamented with a voluptuous swag of vine leaves, pickled fish and lemons, with bread, butter, onions and beer accompanying a succulent groene having on a simple earthenware dish In opposition to thisis the pronk banquet still life, where a rich trading nation flaunts its wealth, proudly, displaying hothouse produce and a priceless lute, a fine oriental ‘carpet, Chinese porcelain and embossed silver cups and jugs alongside posh lobster and. salmon. A frank enjoyment of al that money can buy. with the luxury of the freshest, ‘most expensive fish on the market. Fish appear to be used here as part of a statement about the power of money and commerce, not an instrument of morality. But things 248,FISH IN ART 249 are not always what they seem; when the over-ripe fruit appears to be slithering off its precariously tilted blue and white plate towards the bridge of a priceless viol, and the Jobster drools incontinently over shot silk and velvet, the intimations of corruption and dissolution might have been intended as a warning about the way an over-abundance ‘of wealth can do moral as well as material harm ~ from lobster as glowing evidence of joyful affluence to lobster, slightly off, as proof of moral and domestic decay. Another pronk still ife does a double whammy and turns the tables on this riot of ‘extravagance and decay. Willem van Aelst displays the humble herring on asilver platter amidst precious glass and silver vessels, along with a few onions and a little bread, on sombre dark brown velvet, to proclaim the survival of traditional virtues; the old ‘gastronomy brought in to redress the balance of the new. ‘The new gastronomy, implicit in a still life by Clara Peeters, was based on the products of affluent country house kitchen gardens ~ asparagus, artichokes, fresh herbs, hothouse fruit, as well as imported luxuries like oranges, lemons and spices. It was in line with the general trend in Europe in the seventeenth century towards a lighter, less strongly flavoured cuisine, with an emphasis on freshness and simplicity. Contemporary ‘cookery books do not tell us much about fish cookery in the Netherlands. You do not need abook to tell you how to fry, grill or bake a fine fresh fish; afew suggestions towards sauces and seasonings, perhaps, but few graphic descriptions of what must have been going on in countless kitchens. However some paintings delight us with images of ‘cooked rather than raw fish: a salmon, plainly grilled and served with a scattering of, ‘capers or gooseberries, although itis sometimes hard to identify the berry. ‘What we do not see in painting is the cooked version of the different cuts of fish portrayed on fishmongers’ slabs: cod steaks, or a fish gutted and slashed to absorb seasonings or marinade, prior to baking or grilling. This gutting and slashing becomes a sadistic thing the graphic rendering of a disemboweled living creature, writhing in agony asit gaspsits last breath. A reminder perhaps of the sacrifices the young republic made to survive, the flooding of reclaimed land to thwart the invading Spaniards, the reununciation of individualism to the overweening discipline ofthe nation state. Who knows? But compare the calm seascapes of Joris van Son, in which the element water ‘comprises sea, sky and the fruits of the sea in a harmonious composition to the disturbing fishscapes of Alexander van Adriaesen where slaughtered creatures agonize in paroxysms of pain on the kitchen table. Both yield information about fish in seventeenth-century Holland, and something about the mentality of the clients who bought these paintings. ‘A market stall by Joachim Beuckelacr i a feast for the eyes, a profusion of fruit and vegetables from the first tender young peas of spring to the nuts, medlars and quinces Of late autumn. But it is also a rich source of confusion. Are we to conclude that the horticultural achievements of the Low Countries were as successful as the purchasing power of a modern supermarket, filing chilled cabinets with prime products from around the globe and around the calendar, an early manifestation ofthis deadly negation of the seasons? It is more likely that the painter had a bank of reference material in his studio, small studies that could be copied into larger compositions as required. The ‘exquisite paintings by Adriaen Corte, a bunch of asparagus, a bowl of strawberries or250 RILEY three medlars on a stone ledge are like small details from one of these vast panoramic ‘market scenes. Plant historians in the Netherlands have however found much interest in these market and kitchen scenes and have been able to supplement archival and archaeological records with clear images of roots and fruits. Paintings of fish, even more able and often cqually seasonal, need to be used with similar caution. It would have been interesting to identify all the marine life in a certain fishscape, ‘or the different cuts of fish on a particular market stall, but even more valuable if this analysis could cover as much as possible ofthe fishy art of the Golden Age. An overview of fish as an alimentary resource with reference to the fishing industry, houschold accounts, from private papers to the archives of hospitals and charitable institutions, recipe books, medical works, would obviously be more useful than conclusions drawn in haste from one or two paintings seen in isolation. It soon became painfully obvious that my attempts to land a picturesque minnow had left me plying a line stretched to breaking point by alarge, amorphous and most unruly whale. Time and resources are needed to complete the task. Meanwhile the contemplation of minnow and whale gave rise to other trains of thought. If paintings can be plundered for information about the harvesting and cuisine of fish they can alo be a source of information about the artists and the society which saw fish in particular ways. So the portrayal of fish can tellus perhaps more about personality than gastronomy, more about culture than kitehen manners. ‘The uncanny calm of the kitchens painted by Sebastien Stoskopf is beyond explanation; a stillness, a muted intensity, a sense of the one-ness of objects, lies far beyond the trivialties ofthe spot-the-symbol game. We learn that freshwater fish were kept alive in bowls of water, and prepared at the last minute, transposed from bow to ‘chopping block just before being disemboweled, dismembered and cooked. The candle in one painting gutters as the carp breathes its final gasp and there is no means of knowing if this is a comment on a commonplace daily activity or a fairly banal presentation of two ofthe four elements — air and water — or a metaphor for human life itself, Little isknown about Sebastian Stoskopf: he was born in Strasbourg in 1597, worked in Paris and elsewhere, was much esteemed by his patrons, and died in Idstein in the small hours of 11 February 1657 dead drunk on brandy’in the company of dissolute ‘companions, who were doubtless responsible for his hasty and premature burial early the following morning. Talk of involvements in sorcery served only to obfuscate the ircumstances of his death. Perhaps the painful intensity of his vision justified the recourse to brandy. ‘The composition of a stil life by Luis Meléndez centres on some golden bream waiting to be cooked. However, the faultless geometry of this classical arrangement is not just an exercise in balance and harmony, a display of virtuoso technique, nor is it the framework for a moral tale. There is a story here, a tragic one, for the young, Meéndez was, like the fictional gallant Captain Jack Aubrey, the vietim of an impossible ‘old reprobate of a father. Instrumental in the creation of the prestigious Academy of Painting in Madrid, the old boy’ obstreperous behaviour got both father and son ‘expelled, and the ambitious, sf-confident young painter we see in this early self portraitFISH IN ART 251 ‘was denied the brilliant career he had anticipated. He eared only a modest living. failing to get the prestigious commissions he desired and deserved, and is renowned today for brilliant series of still lifes which at the time brought him neither fame nor fortune, Meléndez’ classical training and his own aspirations demanded a heroic theme: high «drama from classical mythology or the bible, and he eventually found his themes, and presumably much comfort and solace, in the chaotic, cavernous, welcoming kitchen of, his wife Maria Redondo. The fish are the principal characters in a drama which is a recipe, and Meléndez’ clients must have recognised and anticipated with pleasure the fragrant dish of fish seasoned with garlic and the feshly ground spiocs in thei paper packet, served with a squeeze of bitter orange juice; no longer marine creatures or natural history, his bream have become gastronomy. Half a century later, Goya aso painted a still life of golden bream, not against the dark background of a fragrant kitchent, but on a sombre, lonely shore, lit by a gibbous moon of the last faint gasp of a pallid sun. The fish are dying in confusion and pain, like the victims of war engraved by Goya during this unhappy period of the Peninsular wars; they are the citizens of Spain, suffering from the marauding armies of Napoleon and Wellington, innocent victims of mindless megalomania and lust for power. Goya, ‘old, deaf, and defiant, raged like Beethoven against the forces of evil that were engulfing hiscountry. He painted salmon steaks that repel like dismembered corps:sin a mortuary. His rack of lamb is from the charne! house. Although we admire with detachment the brilliant portrayal by Meléndez of a brace of partridges, which give pleasure to the eye and stimulate the appetite, the horror of Goyas version ofthe same subject reminds us of Thomas Paine in The Rights of Man: ‘[Burke] is not affected by the reality of distress touching hisheart but by the showy resemblence of t striking hisimagination. He pities the plumage, but forgets the dying bird’. Some of Goya disturbing sill ifes were bought later in the century by avant garde Parisian collectors, and seen by Manet who aso raged against the tyranny of despotism and recorded with raw emotion the painful scenes of civil war in Paris in the seventies. His urbane sill lifes of fish and salmon steaks, however, seem an elegantly ironic homage to Goya, whom he revered, and the Dutch masters he must have seen on visits to his wife’ family in Holland. In the calm before the storm, Chardin, who died before the French Revolution swept away the comfortable domestic sculleries and parlours of his genre scenes, painted, from within, the realities of sober, bourgeois domestic life. He was a participant not a spectactor, working within this feminine space, where the daily tasks of kitchen and living room were comparable to lous but soft focus craftsmanship. Chardin’ self portrait shows a benign personality, head enveloped in a soft turban, bespectacled gaze twinkling from under a green eye shade, comfortable rather than heroic. His fish, from the huge luminous skate in the Louvre, to the sime fish suspended in another kitchen scene, are neither symbols nor statements but simply part of the furniture and fittings, edible decor. ‘The search for fish in rt became a source of information about much more than fish, about society and the role of painters within society. Meanwhile the task continues, to find out more about the fish themselves, in the hope that interdisciplinary studies will ‘eventually supplement the tentative approach outlined here.A Carp Wearing Lipstick. The Role of Fish in Bengali Cuisine and Culture Joe Roberts and Colleen Taylor Sen Introduction Football is a popular sport in Calcutta and the rivalry is especially fierce between the teams Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. Mohun Bagan supporters are traditionally natives of Calcutta, while East Bengal fans are descendants of refugees who came here following the partition of the Indian Subcontinent in 1947. The two sides have an unique way of celebrating a victory. When Mohun Bagan wins, supporters rush to their local fish markets to buy shrimps, whereas an East Bengal victory means a run on hilsa, a bony shadlike fish considered a great delicacy. So great is the demand that fish merchants speculate on the outcome of a game and fortunes are made and lost. While fish are considered auspicious throughout India (a fish is the first of the ten incamations of Vishnu). in Bengal fish are an essential component ofthe cuisine, an integral part of social, cultural and religious life and, indeed, a marker of Bengali identity. Maaacher bhate bangali’, says a proverb.’ Fish +rice = Bengali.” West Bengal (and the neighboring state of Assam which is gastronomically and culturally similar to Bengal) is the only state in India where Hindus belonging to the priestly caste of Brahmins (elsewhere totally vegetarian) catfish, though they may shun onions and garlic. Religious texts dating back to the twelfth century condone the eating of fish by Bengali Brahmins, with the exception of fish that have no scales or 1ook like snakes, crabs and tortoises.* Even the great Bengali spiritual leaders Ramakrishna Paramahasa and Swami Vivekananda openly relished fish Likewise, Bengali Muslims have no prohibitions against shrimp and other forms Of seafood, which the orthodox in other parts of the Muslim world avoid. Animals without blood and fish without scales fall into the category makrut or mash—booh, a ncutral category which means they are neither haram, forbidden, nor halim, allowed, and it is up to the discretion of the individual Muslim whether to eat them.’ Shia Muslims tend to be stricter on this score than the Sunni Muslims that constitute the majority of the population of Bangladesh. Bengali fish and seafood By Bengal, we mean the Indian state of West Bengal and the sovereign country of Bangladesh (formerly known as East Bengal). Together they occupy some 88,000 square miles in the northeast part of the Indian subcontinent. The official language 252A.CARP WEARING LIPSTICK 253 of both West Bengal and Bangladesh is Bengali, an Indo-European language. If Bengalis were united in a single political entity, it would be the world’s fifth largest ‘country (tied with Indonesia). West Bengalis predominantly Hindu and Bangladesh predominantly Muslim. ‘The prevalence of fish eating in the region reflects the sheer abundance of freshwater and sea fish due to Bengals geographical location; fish are sometimes called the fruit of the rivers” Bengal isa flat fertile region crisscrossed with waterways, and bordered by the Himalayas to the north and the rocky plateau of Chhotanagpur ‘on the west. At Farakka in the Sahibganj district of West Bengal, the Ganges spits into two major branches: the Hooghly, which passes through Calcutta on its way to the sea, and the Padma, which flows eastward into Bangladesh where itis joined by the Brahmaputra (at places the world’s widest river) at Aricha Ghat. These rivers create the western and eastern limits of the world’s largest delta ~ a landscape of ‘marshes, wetlands, and mangrove swamps, known as the Sunderbans, where hundreds Of tidal crecks seep in and out of the Bay of Bengal In Calcutta, most of the fish on sale in local markets come from the great all- night market at Port Canning, the gateway to the Sunderbans. Here the jeleys (fishermen), who in West Bengal are mainly low-caste Hindus, deliver their catch to dadandars, the financiers who ‘book’ the catch against advance payment. ‘Commission agents (some dadandarsfil both roles) then auction the fish to patkars wholesalers who truck the fish to the market retailers of Calcutta. The process is swift, streamlined, and conducted in close physical proximity to the fish. Freshwater fish are generally sold alive. Often fish is purchased by the men of the houschold, although the actual cooking is done by the women, ‘Tables 1 and 2 are lists of freshwater fish sold in Calcutta with their English, Bengali (in italics), and scientific names. Table 1: Common Bengali freshwater fish (Carp: rui (Labeo rohita), mrigal (Cirrhinia mrigala), catla (Catla buchanani), kalbase or aatbouse (Labeo calbasi) Catfish: Aar or aar tangra (Osteogeneiosus militaris), the freshwater shark boyari (Wallagonia attu), pabda (Callichrous pabda), tengra (Macrones cavasius), sing or singee (Saccobranchus fosilis), medkanta (Tachysurus jlla) Herring and shad: The hilsz or ilish (Hilsailishi), chandane ili or silver hilt (Hilsa toli), dhala (Ishi dongate). A small hilsa measures 9-12 inches long, medium 12-15 inches, and large 15-18 inches. Related fish included khaira, chapila, and hela, ‘The featherback fish: chizal (Notopterus chitala) Koi: The tlimbing perch’: (Anabas restudinens), the ‘American koi’, also known as talapia. Giant prawn or freshwater lobster: colda chingri or galda chingri (Poloemon).254 ROBERTS & SEN Table 2: Common Bengali estuarine and foreshore fish Perch: bekti, bhetki (Latescalcarifer), tuladana (Sillago domina), A delicate fish that resembles a cod in size and appearance. Breams and threadfins: gryjwali or tarva, (Polynemua), the tasselfish or the Indian Salmon’, lowka, sel, or seller (Polynemusindicus, the mango fish tops, tops riche, or rita (Polynemus paradisus). Groupers: the rock cod, bhol or bhol kara! (Epinephalus spp) (Croakers: bhola (Pama pama), norebhola (Sciaena biauritus), aso bhola (Sciaena miles), the jew fish, poz or poma (Sciaenidae) Grey mullet: bhangan, bhangone (Mugil tade), kharshool or khorsula (Mugil corsila), parse (Mugil parsia) Catfish: magur (Clarias magur), pangas (Pangasius pangasius) gagra or gagla (Arius), aun magur (Plotosus canis), silund (Silundia gangetica) Prawns: chingri or chingdi (chiefly Penaeus carinatus, Penaeus indicus) Pomfret: chanda (Stromateus cinereus) Scabbard fish: nupavati or nupapatiya (Trichiurus pantilui) Murrel: stol (Ophocephalus striatus), lata (Nandus marmoratus) Categories and values Like everything gastronomical in India, fish are part of a complicated web of values and categories related to health, purity, aesthetics, ete. In Bengal, an important distinction is between fish from fresh water, or mishtijoh! (literally sweet water), and salt water, nun jhol (salty water). Freshwater fish, which includes fish from rivers and ponds, are considered desirable by Muslims and caste Hindus while sea fish are not.* It israreto find mun jho! fish served in a Bengali home, although it is often served in Calcutta restaurants. A common restaurant dish is bhekti asea fish that was extremely popular among the British, perhaps because its flavor resembles that of many North Atlantic fish ‘There is a certain inconsistency in that the most prized fish, hilw, is, like the salmon, actually a sea fish that swims up river to spawn. It is especially plentiful «during monsoon (June-July) and the winter (December—January). Traditionally ita is not eaten after Bijoya (the end of Durga Puja in October) until Saraswati Puja (late January-carly February) ~ a period of 4 to 4 'fz months. This is probably to allow the fish to spawn but also reflects the belief that the flesh is not so flavorful in those months. Seasonality is extremely important for hilsa, which are considered tastiest during the monsoon (June-July) or winter (December—January). Pond-dwelling fish that are scavengers, such as the rui (buffalo) and magur (catfish), are considered both desirable and healthy by Hindus and Muslims, despiteA.CARP WEARING LIPSTICK 255 their unclean eating habits. Mager is considered beneficial for invalids. Certain fish are prescribed for particular illnesses. In Assam, for instance, a mild curry made with a fish called kandhuli together with a duck egg is given to someone suffering from measles or chicken pox on the fifth day to minimize the intensity and ‘complications of an illness. Features that many westerners consider undesirable in fish — boniness and smelliness — are not considered negative. Both hist and chital are notoriously bony fish, and eating them is comparable to walking through a minefield because of the profusion of tiny bones which appear to be randomly distributed. The ability to eat a hilsa fish gracefully, removing the fish from the needlelike bones inside ones mouth, then placing the clean bones on the side of the thal, is seen as proof of a good upbringing. Size isa virtue when it comes to fish, the bigger the better. Dried fish are eaten only by certain tribes and castes. For example, Bombay duck* (Harpadon nehereus, Bengali nehere, bomla, ot bummalo), a dried fish popular in other regions of India and abroad, is virtually unknown in Calcutta and most of Bengal and is eaten only in certain coastal regions of Bangladesh. Tribal groups and lower castes also cat things avoided by middle class people, such as crabs and tortoises. Ironically, sophisticated Calcutta residents often enjoy these items, probably under the influence of Western cuisine. The place of fish in a Bengali meal Unlike other regions of the subcontinent, where the components are served simultaneously on a thali (platter), in Bengal a meal is served and eaten in courses and follows a progression of flavors from bitter through salty and sour and ending with sweet. A typical Bengali dinner starts with siukto, a bitter vegetable dish intended to stimulate the appetite. The bitterness comes from karela (bitter gourd or bitter melon). Shukto is followed by rice and dal (spiced lentil soup), accompanied by one ‘or more fried, boiled and sautéed vegetable dishes. Fish and meat will come now, followed by one or more vegetable dishes in gravy and perhaps a rice pullao and bread. Plain boiled rice is always available and accompanies every course. The penultimate course isa sweet and sour chutney made with tomatoes, apples, mangoes, ‘or other fruits. Its function is to remove any heaviness from overeating and, like a sorbet in European cuisine, to clear the palate for the pitce de resistance, the sweet ‘or dessert course, ‘Thus, fish plays a relatively small role in the meal, which is predominantly vegetarian. Even affiuent Bengalis will rarely have more than two fish/seafood dishes in a meal. Nonetheless, in most households a meal without a fish course would be ‘considered incomplete to the point that very poor people will flavor the dal or vegetable dishes with fish scales sold in the market for that purpose. Bengalis use a number of methods for preparing fish and seafood, including shallow and deep frying, steaming, and stewing. A favorite frying medium is mustard oil, the pungency of which is believed to bring out the flavor of freshwater fish. Two of the most famous Bengali fish preparations are ilish bhaji, fried hilsa fish, and256 ROBERTS & SEN ‘maaccher jhol — a fish stew made by cutting the fish (often carp) into large pieces, bones and all, frying it with spices in mustard oil, and cooking it in water with vegetables. Yogurt is used in many fish dishes, called doi maacch. Fish head is ‘considered a delicacy, and is prepared with dal, potatos, pumpkin (chorchori), and other vegetables. Roe is likewise valued. ‘The Western influence is apparent in the popular prawn ‘cutlet’— flattened prawns ‘marinated in garlic and ginger, breaded, and fried and ‘ish fry’— fillets of fish (often ‘bhekti) prepared the same way. ‘The following are some typical Bengali fish dishes: Carp: Rui maacoher jhol, carp stew; rui maaccher alu phulkopir jhol, carp stew with potatoes and cauliflower; nui maaccher sore jhol, carp stew with mustard paste: ‘nui maacher doi maachh, fried carp coated in a yoghurt sauce; Ganga Jamuna (carp baked with two graves, one sweet-sour with tamarind, the other a mustard sauce (the two sauces should not be mixed so that their colours contrast and they resemble the confluence of the two rivers in the name of the dish); catla pulao (carp pilau); muri ghanto, carp head, including the brain, broken into cooked with rice and potatoes: a carp head may also be added to moong dal (green lentils); dhane pata maachh, carp with coriander leaves; badam maacch, carp with yoghurt and ground almonds; maacch beguner kalia, carp and eggplant curry: ‘maaccher kalia (fish with carrots, potatoes, and peas in a creamy sauce). Crustaceans: Chingri daab (prawns baked in a green coconut shell) chingri maaccher -abiraj 6 (prawn cutlet with egg batter); chingri alu phulkopir daina (a dry curry of prawns, potatoes, and cauliflower); choto chingrir chorchori (shrimps cooked with potato, onions, and chillies); chingri dhioka dam (steamed prawn cakes with yogurt); chingri bhape (prawns steamed in banana leaf envelopes with onions ‘and chilies); hingri malai kari (prawn and coconut curry, a dish popular among ‘the English in Calcutta, who renamed it ‘moolee); chingri maaccher shauno dhal (pected prawns in masoor dal); lau chingri (bottle gourd with prawns); paryee sagchorchori (Ary spinach and prawn curry); kalmi sag kucho chingy diye (shrimps ‘with water spinach); sambole (sweet and sour vegetable with shrimp); gilda chingri ‘bhaja (stuffed freshwater lobster fried in egg batter); kakkrar chorchori (Ary curried crab with vegetables). Featherback Fish: chital maacoher mondo (chital and potato in a mustard and ginger sauce) Hilsa, Hilsa is rich and oily in texture ~ it has been compared (0 a cross between a salmon and a herring — and the classic way of eating it (Ili bhaja) is coated with turmeric, chili powder and salt and fried. Other hile dishes include ilish tetul (hilsa fried in tamarind), ilish sorse jhol(hilsa in mustard gravy). ist maaccher -kancha johl (hilsa stew spiced with turmeric, chilli paste, fresh chillies, and onion seeds), ilish maaecher tauk jhol (hilsa with tamarind and mustard), ilish maaccher aturi (hilsa with mustard and chili paste smoked in banana leaves), doi ilishA.CARP WEARING LIPSTICK 257 ‘maacch (steamed hilsa coated with a yoghurt and ginger sauce), ilish maaccher polao (hilst pilau with ginger, cardamom, and cinnamon). In the 1930s, a British entrepreneur produced hilsa kippers using the Scottish method. They became popular in hill stations and military cantonments but are now unfortunately extinct. However, smoked and boned hilsa remains the house specialty of the Oberoi Grand Hotel in Calcutta. Boned, fried hilsa was a specialty of the famous Calcutta restaurant Firpos, the boning process remaining a secret. Koi: koi maaccher chorchori, climbing perch curry with potatoes and vegetables; tl koi (fish braised with ginger and red chili puree). Mullet: parshe maaccher jhol, mullet stew; parshe maaccher ros, roast mullet with onion, ginger, chillies, and vinegar Fish in Bengal culture Fish are never used in Bengali Hindu religious ceremonies, although goats and oxen are sacrificed to Kali and other deities and distributed to the worshippers as prasad. In Assam, however, fish do form part of puias Live fish (often a magur) are sacrificed to Durga and Manasa (the goddess of serpents) at temples in Assam during their respective pujas, ‘Though not part of the official ceremonies, fish play an important part in marriage rituals and festivities among Bengali Hindus and Muslims. Wedding invitations are often decorated with a fish motif, a sign of wealth and prosperity. Fish also figure in the festive alpana patterns that women trace in rice, chalk, or coloured powders that decorate walls, thresholds, and seats. There is generally a prenuptial puja to Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune, during which a fish is drawn on the floor. A couple of days. before the wedding, relatives and friends of the bride visit the bridegroom’ house bringing gifts that include a large carp decorated with flowers and a red bindi on its forehead. One Bangladeshi informant described a wedding where two fish were decorated to resemble the bride and the groom, the ‘bride fish’ wearing lipstick and. the ‘groom fish’ holding a cigarette between his lips! The fish were later cooked and distributed to the guests. In Assam, it is the groom’ sie that presents the fish to the bride’ side as a symbol of future happiness in the joint family In some Hindu families, when the newlyweds arrive at the grooms house, his mother places a dead fish in front of the gate post on which a fish is also drawn, According to one source, ‘Although a fish in water is very hard to catch and moves. around a lot, outside its habitat, it now lies calmly on the ground. The women of the house wish that their new daughter in law become like the fish — serene and cool.” It is also customary to distribute fish upon the birth of a son to bring good. luck to the newborn. Conversely, as a symbol of mourning, an orthodox Hindu widow stops eating fish as one of lifeS luxuries just as she gives up wearing jewelery and colored or patterned saris. She may even forego other foods because of their association with fish; for example, pui sak, a type of spinach often seasoned with small shrimps or the head of a fish.258 ROBERTS & SEN ‘The fish is a popular motif in folk and decorative arts. Kalighat pats are folk-art paintings that developed in nineteenth-century Calcutta when many patwas (hereditary sroll painters) migrated from rural areas to the vicinity of the Kali temple 125. icons, and coloured toys which pilgrims bought as auspicious souvenirs. Gradually the patuas diversified their subject matter to take in folk tales, scenes of domestic life, and satirical subjects. Many of the pats and the stylistically related Bat-tala woodcut prints have piscine subjects: fishmongers selling their wares, satisfied customers carrying their purchases home, a cat holding @ large fish in its mouth. Fish are a recurrent motif in quilts embroidered by Bengali women and in certain styles of saris, Most sweet shops sell the most delicious of all Bengali sweets, sundesh, molded into fish shapes. REFERENCES * Bengali is replete with expressions and sayings related to fish. Some examples: ‘To hide a fish with greens (to conceal superficially) to fry a fishin its own ol (to get something for nothing), decomposed fish’ (a person who has fallen from power). Achy, p128. > Hussaini ‘In the 1950s, the Danish government donated a let of fishing trawlers to West Bengal, which enabled the fshermen to bring in rays sharks, and other deepwater fish. The project was aban- ddoned when words spread in Calcutta that they were harmful and fo one woul! buy the fish inthe ‘market. Rather than reflect tradition, this may be due tothe fact that certain deepwater fish have an unpleasant taste and can cause illness unless eaten extremely fresh, "The name may come from the Hindustani word dat, mailing mail o feight, because these dried fish wore sent all over India and, indeed, the world © Although kabiny is the Bengali word for an avurveic doctor, in this ease it appears to be an Indianistion ofthe English word toverage’, ic, coating Fruzaoti, p 91. BIBLIOGRAPHY KT. Achaya, Indian Food, A Historical Companion , Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1994. David Burton, The Ra) at Table, London and Boston: Faber & Faber, 1993. Sukanta Chaudhuri, ed, Calauta: The Living City, Caleutta: Oxford University Press, 1990, Minakshi Das Gupta, Bunny Gupta, and Jaya Chaliha, The Calauta Cook Book. New Debi: Penguin Books, 1995, Lina Fruzoti, The Gift of a Virgin: Women, Marriage, and Rial ina Bengali Society: Rutgers, N., Rutgers University Press. Mohammed Mazhar Husstin, Mamic Dietary Concepts & Practices, The Islamic Food & Nutrition Council of America, 1993. Bharti Kirchner, The Favors of Inia, New York: Galahad Books, 1992. TLK Sarma, Sacio-Rdigicus Lif ofthe Aszamexe Hindus: New Delhi: Raja Publishing House, 1992. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (ur thanks to Profesor Dipesh Chakrabarty, University of Chicago: Profesor Ashish Sen, University of Mlinois at Chicago; and Bhabesh Thakuriah, IAS, Gawahati, Asam, for their contributions to this paperFish in Afghanistan Helen J. Saberi When the subject of this Symposium was announced, I was very pleased but I did wonder whether there would be any point in saying anything about countries where litte fish is eaten. A friend convinced me (almost) that negative reports are sometimes as relevant as positive ones. So here I am again, drawing attention to acountry I have mentioned before at these mectings, but putting spotlight on it this time because fish there has such a low profile, almost invisible you might say. ‘The country is Afghanistan. I draw on my own experience in living there for nine years and on the reference books available to me, As for these sources, I should explain that they provide very little information, except perhaps for Louis Dupree’s book on Afghanistan. In particular my hero-author Aitchison (1890) in his magisterial survey ‘on the Products of Wester Afghanistan and of North-Eastem Persia, docs not mention any fish, nor does Elphinstone, a sub-heroic author whose in-depth study of the Afghans entitled The Kingdom of Caubul (1815, 3rd revised edn 1839) is nonetheless a valuable reference. The factisthat although some fish is, or was, eaten in Afghanistan, the importance of this item to the diet, in both quantitative and qualitative terms, has been slight. One of the problems no doubt has been the difficulty of transporting the fish. The summers are very hot and the journeys long and arduous. There were no refrigerated lorries in Afghanistan, indeed not many reftigerators, so fish-cating was generally restricted to the winter months. (An interesting point to be mentioned here is that, whereas Iranians consider fish a ‘told’ food, Afghans count isas ‘hot’. This is perhaps another reason why they prefer to eat it in the cold winter months.) 259260 SABER Afghanistan isa land-locked country and the nearest ocean, the Indian Ocean, is about 650 miles away. Some marine fish are brought up, or used to come up, from Pakistan in the winter months; but no shellfish, Afghans dont eat shellfish because it is considered by some Muslims to be magrowh, ie not forbidden but discouraged Freshwater fish, on the other hand, do play asmall role in the Afghan diet. Many ofthe rivers teem with fish. Barbels (in the carp family), said to be of the species Barbus capito conocephatus are found in streams both north and south of the Hindu Kush. These are locally called shir-mahi, which means milk fish. These fish have no connection with the better known marine fish of that name ~ the one which is especially popular in the Philippines. The name most probably came about because ofthe milky white ‘underbelly of the fish in southern Afghanistan (it is yellow in the north). This tasty but bony fish is perhaps the most commonly found and eaten all over the country. ‘Carp: four types of carp were introduced to the Darunta Fish-Breeding Centre at the Daruntadam near Jalalabad with the assistance of China in 1967 in the hope that the importance of fish in the diet may increase. ‘Mahi-e-sagan qul: this fish is the stuff of legends. It is a mystery fish, an apparently ‘unidentified species, scientific name unknown and said to live in the Oxus and Kookcha rivers in the north of Afghanistan, It was reputed to be an aphrodisiac and is said to have been much sought after by the kings of Afghanistan (understandably, sinee one had 300 wives). Mahi laga (Glyptodtemum reticulatum) isa large fish found in the Amu Darya (Oxus river) and particularly in the streams and rivers near the town of Kunduz. It is by far the most favoured and popular in the bazaars, including Kabul, in the winter months. But it presents puzzling problems of identification. The scientific name given above is cited by Louis Dupree, but he said that the fish was a type of European catfish which grows up to seven feet in length’. In contrast, Alwyne ‘Wheeler (late of the Fisheries Division of the Natural History Museum in South Kensington) gives the following description in his Fishes of the World (1975): “Glyptogternum reticulatum (family Sisoridae), Turkestan catfish. Length to 25 em 210"). Found only in the mountainous regions of south Turkestan and north east Afghanistan, living in rivers with very rapid currents, hiding under rocks and The Rev Baward Davies. % Jones, 83. © Dawson, Thomas, The Good Hawenifes eve, 1596, Southover Pres reprint, 1996, 50. ® The Hon Mrs Diana Uhiman, Croft Cas, Herefordshire, personal communication, % To Pickle Salmon’ in the eighteenth-century ms receipt book, dated 1801, Mrs Dot Drew, Mocollop Castle. Taken from Irish Traditional Cooking by Darina Allen, Kyle Cathie Ld, 1995, 52.From Garum to Ketchup. A Spicy Tale of Two Fish Sauces Andrew F. Smith Garum and ketchup are two sauces that unite culinary historians in contrasting ways: the former is considered exciting, exotic and mysterious; the later is viewed as bland, ‘commonplace and a culinary atrocity. Garum represents a bygone era that many historians wish wasa culinary reality and have nostalgically tried to recreate; ketchup represents a commercial era that many gourmets wish was history and have unceremoniously tried to forget. Whatever their differences, garam and ketchup share ‘commonalities in their origins, culinary functions, and widespread popularity. And both products have been surrounded by oft repeated myths; garum, for instance, was neither invented by the Romans nor did it disappear when Rome fell; ketchup was neither invented by Americans nor, in the beginning, was it thick, sweet or tomato- based. Garum and ketchup were initially culinary solutions to the problem of how to preserve fish, While highly nutritious, most fish have a pH level below neutral. After death, fish are highly susceptible to decomposition. Several mechanisms were created to preserve fish and avoid loss due to putrefaction. In hot and dry regions, such as Egypt, fish were dried in the sun, In wet and humid regions, such as Southeast Asia, ibid » The Descent of Man. Seton in Relation to Sex * Richard Dawkins promulgates the same theory in The Sdfsh Gene, OUP, 1976. * White, D. Tim, Nature, wl. 371, 1994 © Iris used in curry dishes as farther seasoning, according to Sturtevant, Noteson Edible Plans, Dover Publications, 1972. ” See Tudge. * See Michael Crawiord & David Marsh, The Driving Fore. Food in Evolution and the Pure, Heinemann, 1989.Shellfish for the Table, Farmed or Caught? Nick Turnbull From the outset I have to say that thisis not an academic study but an account based ‘on 27 years fishing and the last six years shellfish farming (growing oysters). After this length of time involved in fishing, itis difficult not to be pessimistic about the future of taking shellfish from the wild. I need also to make the point that my experience is drawn from the fairly narrow geographic perspective of the West Coast of Scotland. I do not attempt to cover all types of fishing or all types of shellfish farming but base my argument on the products that I personally have dealt with. From ashellfsh consumer'spoint of view there are a number of important questions that should be asked as they tuck into their lobster Thermidor or Tiger Prawn dishes. What are they eating? Where did they come from’ What grade of water? Are they sustainable? In a natural fishery these questions can sometimes be very difficult to answer. Take for example winkle gatherers. I know of one example where winkles (Littorinidae) were gathered at the mouth of a sewer ~ large winkles! Who checks winkles for Ecol? Anything grown on a farm like oysters, mussels, scallops is subjected to regular checks and can only be sold (without purification) from approved graded waters Ido not believe the conception that ‘wild is better quality’ is applicable in the case of shellfish, A wild mussel for example is a very poor cousin to a rope-grown one, both in taste and consistent meat quality. After all, a wild mussel spends most ofits life combating the elements, being battered by waves, drying out and consequently having to build up a heavy shell to protect itself from damage. Rope grown mussels, living mid-water and gaining all the advantages of food and non-disturbance, have ‘good meat and thin shell. I would suggest that grown shellfish is far superior product. Farmed shellfish i still only 5-6 per cent of the total value of shellfish landed in the UK but I would guess that this is due to rise dramatically over the next few years. ‘The 1995 Scottish Office Annual Production shows that 3.4 million oysters were produced for the table (from Scotland) which was a62 per cent increase in production ‘on the previous year. Mussel production was also up 23 per cent in the same period. The 1996 production figures have not so far been officially released but unofficially show another increase on the previous year. Consumers can now buy Scottish oysters and mussels off supermarket shelves, unknown a decade ago. They can also buy them in the knowledge that they are buying a quality product with little or no chance of anyone becoming ill from eating tWodgy shellfish’, something quite common in the past 315316 TURNBULL How then was I converted from fishing to farming of shellfish? give here a brief description of the road to fish farming and a table of pros and cons. ‘These are not exhaustive but perhaps give an indication of the different problems facing the shellfish industry and inevitably the consumer. On an upbeat note [finish my introduction with a quote from the Shellfish Association of Britain Newsletter which states that the first sale value of shellfish in 1995 was £145 million amounting to half the value of the whitefish catch representing £800 million in processed or added-value foods, The past 27 years have been spent fishing virtually every kind of shellfish that surrounds the shores of the Isle of Mull and I give here abrief personal account ofthe precarious nature of fishing. In the early 1970s there were basically three types of commercial shellfish caught round Mull. These were lobsters, prawns (langoustines) and scallops. We initially fished only lobsters, later moving to prawns at certain times of the year Lobsters were caught in a fairly low-tech way allowing stocks to remain reasonably stable but with increased technology, the guesswork was taken out of catching. Colour video sounders gave an extremely accurate visual view of the seabed and its makeup, Old wooden, hand-made lobster pots (creels) were replaced by mass produced steel parlour pots which could be bought off the shelfin their thousands. The steel parlour pot was devastatingly efficient, so much so that it has been banned in the Channel Islands. By the late 1980s the lobsters in our area had all but disappeared. They had gone from a high point of 200 per day to 20 per day during the best part of the season, A brief spell at prawn creels, in which more or less the same thing happened, led to the opening up of the Spanish market and the introduction of new species to catch, for example the brown crab, familiar to British chefs, and the velvet crab, This is asmall swimmer crab much favoured by the Spanish but with a very limited market elsewhere. ‘The velvet crab has been the big success of the 1990s but it too is already showing signs of overfishing. Asother species became scarcer, more boats turned to this lucrative ‘market with the consequent pressure on the available stocks. (There is now a limit on sine of velvet crab, and the crab with eggs are supposed to be returned). Because the market is limited, there are now periods of vast oversupply with dozens of boats ‘competing with each other and prices inevitably drop. The fisherman's answer is to fish harder ~ more gear and more days at sea, thus creating even more oversupply problems Itismy belief that we are running out of species. The lobsters the consumer buys are more than likely from another country, the prawns from the Far East. Are these stocks sustainable? dont know, but quality-wise I believe they do not compare with ‘our own dectining stocks. ‘Whelks (Buccinidae) are the great hope of today for the fisherman, But within a year or o of intensive fishing there is already growing concern that this mollusc ison the endangered list, Little is known of its biology but it is believed to take many yearsSHELLFISH FOR THE TABLE 317 before reaching breeding maturity. These whelks are being processed by the ton and shipped to Korea and Japan where their own natural stocks are in decline. Without strict controls, I fear that the shellfish-catching sector in Scotland, and indeed Britain, has a limited future. I know that some areas are already initiating restocking programmes coupled with conservation methods, for example Orkney and Shetland. Restocking can only be successful if it is coupled with conservation methods. I believe a good example of this is the Canadian lobster fishery which is sustainable fishing with strict controls in place. (Most lobsters for sale in British supermarkets are from Canada.) The Australian crawfishery is another example of strictly regulated, sustainable fishery. So far there has neither been the political will nor enough effort by the fishermen to implement anything in our own waters. There isno tomorrow, only today, as far as they are concerned. Fishermen are more concerned about arguing whether static gear (pots) is less damaging than mobile gear (dredges! nets). I would suggest that at present they are all environmentally unsound. Who ‘can we blame for the demise ofthe lobster? The answer is I suspect, none other than Jobster fishermen themselves. Likewise itis hard to replace a large scallop, perhaps twenty years old, that is taken by a dredger or diver. It then seemed to me a logical step to move from fishing into fish farming. In 1991 we set up Isle of Mull Oysters with the avowed aim of producing a sustainable shellfish. Six years on, we are producing for the table approximately 200,000 Gigas ‘oysters per year; small scale compared with French oyster farms, but inereasing every year, with a projected output of 500,000 by 1999. These oysters, grown carefully in the clear waters off the coast of Mull, are considered by some to be of better quality than their French counterparts, probably due (o a slower growth rate because of the ‘colder water. Despite many bureaucratic setbacks and a constant struggle with so-called ‘conservationists I still believe that the potential for shellfish-growing in Scotland is huge. It is environmentally OK, as most serious groups would recognize. A report was done by Scottish Wildlife and Countryside Link (Shellfish farming and the environment in Scotland) which found little or no evidence of any impact environmentally, However, most ofthe bodies we approached in setting up the farm were negative, despite the fact that the site was non-controversial ‘A much more positive approach to shellfish farming must be achieved if the industry is to become a major one in its own right and this must happen if the ‘consumer base is to be broadened to encompass more of the population. Having set up the farm and got the oysters growing, our next problem was finding markets for the produce. It soon became evident, with EEC regulations concerning dispatch and packaging, that the best way to market shellfish was through a producer organization — hence five years ago the Scottish Shellfish Marketing Group was formed. There are now approximately twenty members including mussel growers, oyster growers and scallop growers, We have our own premises at Bellshill (near Glasgow) and businesscontinues, to grow, with mussels and oysters and to a lesser extent scallops. We now supply two ‘major supermarkets and a number of top restaurants.318. TURNBULL ‘The advantage to the consumer is obvious. The product is packaged in factory conditions, tested for bacteria and purified for those who require it, and because of its position in the central belt of Scotland, distribution becomes easier, ‘To date the concentration has been on selling the product fresh on the live market, but the future may lead to some form of processing or adlded-value products. The future then to my mind is clear. Every encouragement should be given to producing shellfish from sustainable shellfish farms. AS yet no commercial farms have been set up to produce other high quality/high price products such as lobsters. ‘or prawns. The technology exists to produce young lobsters from a hatchery ~ the next step has to be some sort of farming, whether it be ‘ranching! or Several Orders! allowing individuals to harvest and control certain species on the seabed. I believe that what we have done is correct, even although as yet it only provides us with a part-income, and we are still relying on the fishing to provide the rest. I would also like to think that there will still be room for the fishing sector but on avery controlled, limited basis, with the realization that fishermen and shellfish farmers must work together to achieve the sustainable product. ‘This can only be good news for the consumer. To eat a European lobster, and know that you are not eating the very last of the breed, will make the eating more ‘enjoyable. To know that what you eat is coming from a professional farm which can continue to provide shellfish year after year and guarantee the quality of its product, must surely be reassuring. I would suggest that the last of the hunter-gatherers should, like their land predecessors, move with the times, and consider the huge advantages of farming. Fishing advantages + 1. Independence gained from being one of the last hunter/ gatherers + 2. Quicker return on investment (i.e. boat and gear). + 3. Ability to target species of different sorts at the best times, ie. when they are ‘most plentiful or when they are at the highest price. + 4, The fisherman's dream — hitting the jackpot, catching a large quantity of fish at ‘good prices + 5, Flexibility: if one species drops below economic level, the ability to change to an alternative fishery. + 6, Regulations regarding the whole industry difficult to enforce. Farming advantages + 1. Ability to plan the whole development from the outset + 2, The sustainability of the product. + 3. The market more controllable, Less of the boom and bust scenario than in fishing (e.g. oysters available at fixed prices all year).SHELLFISH FOR THE TABLE 319 + 4, Environmentally sound, Not depleting the wild stocks. Shellfish farming requires no feeding and does little or no damage to the ecosystem. + 5, Along term investment with the farm hopefully becoming a valuable asset. Fishing disadvantages +1. Technology: hastened demise of many species (lobster). + 2. Difficulty in controlling stock or implementing conservation methods (fishermen constantly competing with each other). + 3. Lack of sustainability: this means constant investment in new gear either to improve existing catches or move to new species, ic. velvet crab, + 4, Supply and demand: little or no control over market, No consideration given to an over-supplied market, therefore consumer prices can fluctuate wildly + 5. Some forms of shellfish could be considered environmentally unsound (scallop dredging damaging the seabed), + 6, Increasing bureaucracy making it difficult to enter the shelfish-catching sector. Farming disadvantages + 1, Slow return on investment (oysters 3-4 years growing in Scotland). + 2. Conservationists and bureaucracy making it increasingly difficult to find new acceptable sites for shellfish farming, + 3. BU legislation making expensive checks on produce. Not so far done on fishing. produce. + 4, Market-led, not producer-led: makes it difficult to plan long term. + 5, Problems inherent with any type of intensive farming (overstocking can lead to disease etc.) + 6, Labour intensive REFERENCE * Several Order. This isa legal term granting the rights to an individual or a company to harvest the produce (in most cass 50 far, scallops) from the seabed. It may be compared toa farmer ‘owning or renting a fed. Ithas taken a lon time to go through parliament and in general is being opposed by fishermen,Pondoland Oysters, South Africa’s Wild Coast Catch Kathie Webber Oysters from the Indian Ocean? Perhaps not the first choice of those of us born in the temperate climatic zones and brought up on the dense, almost muscular flesh of fish from waters closer to the polar regions than the equator. Fish that swim in warmer seas (or those that do not have to work hard to survive ~ farmed salmon is an obvious ‘example) are often flabby in texture, so Indian Ocean oysters, no thanks. ‘At least that is what I would have said a couple of years ago before we fell on a scene lifted straight from a Graham Greene novel. My husband, Magnum photographer lan Berry, had been working on another apartheid story which, together with his other photographs of apartheid through the years became, at the end of last year, Living Apart, a book about South Africa from Sharpeville to democracy. I was ‘only there for the experience; to be the keeper of the expenses and the notes that I ‘would eventually turn into captions for the Magnum archives. ‘We had driven through most of South Africa for the story, and having shipped the film to London for processing, turned south from Durban towards Capetown and the airport. Driving on the north/south N2 route, we crossed into the Transkei and began to look for roads eastward to the coast. Off the tarmac and on dirt/gravel roads we bumped along through some of the oldest land in the world, hills worn through time to rounded domes and grouped together like a tray-bake of yeast buns. And to make hot cross buns of these hills, the paths went over the crowns, there being no need in this climate for them to hug the lee of the land for shelter and every need for travellers to be as high as possible forthe earliest sight of friends or enemies. Here only the occasional village of rondavels changed the scene. South of Port St Johns, there are few settlements actually on the coast, which is ‘one of high cliffs with occasional sandy beaches, but we turned off the route south and into Pondoland, seduced by the sound of places such as The Haven, Cofiee Bay, Hole in the Wall and Whale Rock. Turning off the tarmac meant miles of dirt road driving with no signposts; we followed the map to where it indicated a hotel, Late in the afternoon we arrived at one of those wooden buildings that become picturesque as the climate attacks them and no one bothers with repairs when pieces of cladding fall off. Here any rules governing extending property had been ignored so we found ‘ourselves gazing at a rather large and eccentric garden shed declaring itself to be a hotel. We were appalled but the alternative was retracing our steps to the main road and striking off again for the coast; hours of driving. 320PONDOLAND OYSTERS 321 ‘We checked in, were given the key for our room, a token we discovered because a child of five could have pushed the locked door open, showered, changed and went to dinner where we found ourselves in company of a motley crew of international travellers, bearded, noisy full of stories and as much beer as they could get down themselves and still stand up. Dinner that evening was to be a buffet, with oysters. I had avoided oysters for years having had a bad one in Ireland that laid me low for three days. No doubt, I ‘could avoid them again, They would be just one item on the menu, a plate of six perhaps; I could choose something else. ‘Six oblong tables were laid end to end down the centre of the dining room and heaped on them to the height of a couple of feet, were oysters, of differing varieties, hundreds of each, slistening with freshness, positively exuding ozone. Well, this was not to be avoided, nor did I want to ~ and so tentatively I tried ‘each variety, finding a freshness I had never experienced before and one that swept away my disquiet about oysters in general and those from the Indian Ocean in particular. Goog322 ‘WEBBER Tides and currents It is worth digressing here to discuss the sea at that part of South Africa. We were on the south-east coast, almost at the Cape of Good Hope. Standing on the Cape point, you can see the line where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet; the peaceful, blue and warm Indian ocean is overwhelmed by the cold grey Atlantic whose currents swirl up from the Antarctic. The oceans crash together, forcing those cold waters, and the turbulence caused by the meeting, north to smash against South Africa’ coastline. ‘The Wild Coast was not named on a romantic whim but because this rocky cliff ‘coast has some of the fiercest currents and prevailing winds, many from the Antarctic, of any part of the world, ‘Tropical storms track from the middle of the Indian Ocean south of India to hit the African coast north of Madagascar, curving round the island to the west and south throughout the summer months from November to March. Prevailing surface winds blow on to this coast virtually all year round. Add to this turbulence the warm Mozambique current that hugs the shore, travelling south to meet the West Wind Drift from Antarctica. This freezing current divides as it approaches the land mass, the Bengucla current running north up the west coast of Aftica, the West Australia Current flowing towards the west coast of Australia while the main current continues, ‘due east, remaining icy as it skirts the Antarctic continent. Into this maelstrom of ‘warm and freezing currents, flows the South Equatorial Current which swings round from Australia to the east coast of South Africa. In these waters fish fight the currents and shellfish cling to the rocks, constantly buffeted by the tides and water masses. Understandably this least disturbed part of Southern Africas coast is a draw for sea fishing, But this is also a coast of mysteries. Many ships are known to have foundered on therocks, several wrecks are still visible from the cifftops, whilst others from a 10,000 ton passenger liner to several small sailing yachts have simply disappeared without trace, Nine ships are known to have been wrecked in the stretch between Port St Johns and Hole in the Wall, including, so itis said, ships carrying vast treasure, so while combing the beaches and rock pools which is enough sport in its own right, you might also solve some of the mysteries of the Transkei coast. With no great Pondo or White population to gather seafood from this coast, the ‘oysters were plentiful and huge and despite the heaps on the tables, I do not suppose their numbers had been seriously depleted. The Pondo women give up their bead and blanket costumes at evening, strip to bras (nowadays) and don sacking skirts to harvest the seafood, including mussels, clams and splendid crayfish. There are rules about the size and how many of which varities of oysters and crayfish can be taken in order to preserve the stocks; one nation learning from the rest of the world’s over-fishing. ‘Of the many kinds of oysters in abundance on the tables that night I believe I have identified four, perhaps five. The best-known oyster belongs to the Crasestrea species, the Pacific, sometimes called the Japanese oyster ~ Craswstrea gigas. Pacific ‘oyster sced has been exported by Seasalter Shellfish in Whitstable to South Aftica.