Fish, Household and Fellowship – Life-style

My host, who doubled as my foodie hero this weekend, goes by many names. Mama, Auntie C, however extra generally Ouma, stands because the matriarch of her massive, loud and loving household that has summarily adopted me as one in every of their very own.

Carrying each Namibian and Portuguese heritage, with added sprinklings of South African in addition to different traits by affiliation, Ouma’s household is nothing in need of smile and laugh-inducing, albeit dramatic at any time limit they collect.

I had the pleasure of being invited to Sunday lunch, and, in fact, the foodie in me was not about to reject such a suggestion, particularly contemplating what was on the menu. I don’t assume I might’ve succeeded a lot, even when I had tried.

No, in the case of meals, ‘no’ is just not normally a definitive response that’s acknowledged on this explicit family. If it’s provided, you eat it, as a result of will probably be provided seven extra instances. Nine out of 10 instances you’ll take pleasure in it anyway.

Being welcomed into somebody’s residence for a meal is a really private factor that I really feel most of us are inclined to take without any consideration nowadays. Access to 1’s private area, household and atmosphere is a mirrored image of each love and belief, and I strongly really feel we have to begin doing it extra typically.

You see, Sunday lunch in lots of households stands because the postcard meal of the week, the place everybody can collect, even these that don’t essentially keep in that family, for a time to commune, catch up and dine, earlier than the craziness of the week forward.

The African ‘seven colours’ idea is as a lot alive in lots of properties on a Sunday as it’s prevalent at weddings and funerals.

My hosts’ goal was two-fold after they hosted me: contact base and reconnect as we had not seen one another in a very long time, in addition to introduce me to a Portuguese-Namibian dish they’ve been having fun with for years.

On the menu? Sardines.

No, I’m not speaking about these tiny little pesky fish that are available a random pink tin can laden with a ‘tomato sauce’ of kinds and that leaves you feeling all kinds. I’m speaking sardines the dimensions of your hand, ready properly within the oven, and consumed by a shoal of people.

The supply of this nice bounty? Sea Source in Windhoek.

I do know on this platform I at all times preserve I don’t devour fish inland, as a result of we now have a coast and that’s what it’s for, however Sea Source has managed to excellent what most have failed: fixed provide of nice high quality recent and saltwater fish that has you pondering you’re dockside at Walvis Bay or Lüderitz.

Curious as ever, I requested how the fish are ready, how they’re consumed and 1,000,000 different questions.

Ouma, with a heat coronary heart and a never-fading smile, narrates how by the years, she and her now late husband and youngsters would take pleasure in sardines, whereas others tried dodging them due to their fishiness.

Plain coarse salt utilized to the gills of the fish is the key, and since they’re a really oily fish, you throw them within the oven and let the warmth do the work. Surely, I believed to myself, it might probably’t be that easy, however in precise truth, it’s.

Lay them out on an ovenproof roasting tray and grill till the pores and skin begins to tug away from the flesh, or indicators of crispy goodness seem.

Everyone however me, accustomed to the consumption, stored reiterating how it’s an acquired style, to which I agree, however I maintained how you shouldn’t trash it until you attempt it.

I used to be walked by the best way to correctly debone the fish and eat it. I loved it with a boiled potato smothered in olive oil and a chickpea salad.

Tray after tray graced the desk, and I, being one of many newbies, was sanctioned to devour as a lot as doable. I ate six, and was happy with myself as I earned the praises of ‘my big, loud, loving Namibian-Portuguese family’.

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