Fishy
Barceloneta is an old, quite small, quirky district of Barcelona, down by the port and with sea around much of it. It's a place of old, tall houses with washing drying on the balconies:
Sadly I couldn't get a photograph of the most interesting person I saw there: an old man with a wizened face, pushing a child's pushchair full of carrier bags. I thought he looked quirky enough the first time I saw him, but when I saw him again a couple of days later he looked even quirkier, as he was now wearing a kind of bishop's hat. Sadly my Catalan isn't up to "Why are you wearing that hat?"
In the market square in the middle of Barceloneta I found these, on a fish stall (no! really?)
All quite little, about four or five inches long, and all different kinds, and all looking at me reproachfully, especially the big darker-coloured one in the middle (I think it could be a Gurnard but didn't like to ask it).
I'm not generally good at fish. To me, the ideal piece of fish is cod, in batter, with chips. It's true that I do like some shellfish, such as mussels and cockles, and I do like shrimps sometimes. Everyone tells me that fresh tuna is good but I've never tried it because - er - I don't like the look of it raw, so I'd never cook it, and I generally prefer meat to fish, so I'd never order it in a restaurant.
And, especially, anything with its head on and its dead eyes glaring at me accusingly - - - ewww no!
Whilst I was gazing at these poor little fishlings in fascinated horror, a woman came and bought two kilograms of them, picking them out one by one and reserving her special pleasure for Bernard the Gurnard in the middle.
She handed over her money and off she went with a transparent plastic bag full of them in a slithery heap.
Now I know that really, if we're prepared to eat one species of a creature we should be happy to eat another.
My head says that's true: but the rest of me disagrees. I fear that, whatever wonderful local dish that woman had made from her Pick-n-Mix-Fish, I would not have been able to eat it.
Sadly I couldn't get a photograph of the most interesting person I saw there: an old man with a wizened face, pushing a child's pushchair full of carrier bags. I thought he looked quirky enough the first time I saw him, but when I saw him again a couple of days later he looked even quirkier, as he was now wearing a kind of bishop's hat. Sadly my Catalan isn't up to "Why are you wearing that hat?"In the market square in the middle of Barceloneta I found these, on a fish stall (no! really?)
All quite little, about four or five inches long, and all different kinds, and all looking at me reproachfully, especially the big darker-coloured one in the middle (I think it could be a Gurnard but didn't like to ask it).I'm not generally good at fish. To me, the ideal piece of fish is cod, in batter, with chips. It's true that I do like some shellfish, such as mussels and cockles, and I do like shrimps sometimes. Everyone tells me that fresh tuna is good but I've never tried it because - er - I don't like the look of it raw, so I'd never cook it, and I generally prefer meat to fish, so I'd never order it in a restaurant.
And, especially, anything with its head on and its dead eyes glaring at me accusingly - - - ewww no!
Whilst I was gazing at these poor little fishlings in fascinated horror, a woman came and bought two kilograms of them, picking them out one by one and reserving her special pleasure for Bernard the Gurnard in the middle.
She handed over her money and off she went with a transparent plastic bag full of them in a slithery heap.
Now I know that really, if we're prepared to eat one species of a creature we should be happy to eat another.
My head says that's true: but the rest of me disagrees. I fear that, whatever wonderful local dish that woman had made from her Pick-n-Mix-Fish, I would not have been able to eat it.
posted by Daphne at 3:56 pm
3 Comments:
I think that photo is of a street where I stayed back in 2004!
Know what you mean about fish looking at you. When we were little and eating somewhere posh my brother would want to have trout - with the head left on, so that he could talk to it! Maybe that's one of the reasons I am a vegetarian.
I like whitebait. Also, in my Japan days, we'd eat sashimi which is raw fish. I liked it. The texture was 'odd' to say the least, but I liked it.
That said, I too am fussy about what I do and don't eat. I don't eat lamb or chicken these days, but do eat pork and beef. Go figure!
Guess or local fish restaurant is off the list of places to take you when you get here! The best thing I ever had to eat there indeed had eyes looking at me. I didn't care who/what was looking...it was goooooooood!
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