|
Fiseekh sales dip amid health
concerns
Every
year, just after the Sham Al Nessim holiday, fish get a bad rap. The
Egyptian press inevitably reports that such-and-such number of people
got sick after eating improperly treated fiseekh – a dish prepared
from salted fish, traditionally eaten on Sham Al Nessim, the ancient
holiday heralding the arrival of spring. “It isn’t bad fiseekh
these people are eating,” insists fiseekh maker Mahmoud Ahmed Kamal
from his shop in Shubra. “Something else poisoned them and they
blame it on fiseekh.”
The
fish used in preparing fiseekh is gray mullet, locally called bouri.
According to statistics from the Egyptian General Authority of Fish
Resources Development (GAFRD), about 3,000 tons of locally made
fiseekh was sold in 2000 – a relatively small percentage of the
40,000 or so tons of local gray mullet caught and sold annually. Most
of the fish ends up grilled, but the salted variety is what is
regarded as a national delicacy.
Kamal,
whose family has worked with salted fish for 120 years, said
government campaigns warning against consumption of the traditional
fish – in addition to the sluggish economy – were damaging the
ancient industry.
Fiseekh
vendor Abdou Shahyne concurred that economic winds had shifted against
the industry. “People were happier a few years ago, because the
economy was better and things weren’t so expensive,” he said from
his store in Bab Al Louq.
Yet
despite the tough times, he added, price wars are non-existent between
vendors. How well a fiseekh merchant does depends less on price and
more on his store’s cleanliness and the quality of his fish.
Season
is another factor that determines the price of fiseekh. Prices rise
slightly during the Sham Al Nessim period and at Eid Al Fitr. Sales
are usually the lowest during Ramadan when Muslims are fasting during
the day and prefer not to eat fiseekh at all because its saltiness
causes thirst.
Two
types of fiseekh dominate the Egyptian market, said Magdy Saleh, an
official with GAFRD. The first is the fresh variety, prepared by
producers like Kamal and sold by merchants like Shahyne. This kind is
made from Egyptian gray mullet, caught in the northern Delta at places
like Rashid, Damietta and Baltim.
The
other variety is made from imported gray mullet – mostly from the
United States and northern Europe – and costs about a third of the
local variety. Fiseekh made from imported fish costs less, according
to Saleh, because Europe’s market for gray mullet is tiny, despite
an overabundance of the fish. Egyptian fiseekh runs at about £E 30-32
a kilo, while that made from imported fish fetches around £E 10-12 a
kilo.
Shahyne
said there is no competition between the local variety and the kind
made from imported gray mullet, which is frozen before being shipped
to Egypt. “After the imported ones are frozen, they don’t taste as
good anymore, but they are cheaper,” he said. “So certain people
buy them and try to make fiseekh from them – especially in poorer
areas.”
While
many of these frozen, imported gray mullet are grilled, a lot of
people salt them, or at least try to, and some vendors sell fiseekh
made this way. Kamal, however, insists that the frozen variety simply
doesn’t take to being salted. Even if salted for 30 days (the
required minimum), frozen gray mullet won’t absorb the salt. These
fiseekh might taste salty, but the putrefaction process – which
kills bacteria – hasn’t taken place.
This is what can change Sham El Nessim into Sham
ad nauseum. “It was about 10 years ago, after three people died
from eating fiseekh, that the government became more involved in
monitoring its quality,” Saleh said. Today, the ministries of health, agriculture and
internal trade & supply are involved to ensure the salting process
is done correctly. With fresh gray mullet, the salting process should
last anywhere from 30 to 45 days. As soon as the fish are netted,
they are transported to a storage facility, where workers stuff
their bodies and gills with salt and they are layered on top of
each other. Then the fish decompose, releasing a strong odor
that – many claim – is quite enticing. “While putrefying, they produce
a smell that we [Egyptians] don’t find unpleasant,” Saleh said.
“It’s just like Roquefort cheese.” And the memory of this smell keeps a small export
market alive too. Influenced by expatriate Egyptians, some Arabs
in other countries may have also acquired a taste for fiseekh, but
vendors and producers alike doubt there is much room to expand salted-fish
exports. Kamal said that fiseekh was a purely Egyptian phenomena,
and that his customer base proved it. “I have Egyptians who come
to my place from Europe, America and Canada – just to take it back
with them to give to people there,” he said. M. SCOTT
BORTOT
Submit your comment
Top
|
