comedy routine at the Fish market

Shopping for food in Rome can sometime lead either into long discussions on the merit of one type of tomato over another or in this case on the freshness of fish and seafood on offer. Today I went to ELITE one of the supermarkets in our area on Piazza Dalmazia (Dalmatia). They have a new fresh fish market and it is very popular, more so than the meat counter next to it.  This being Friday, there were 6 ladies of mature age waiting to be served. One lady being served was engaged in a long discussion with the fishmonger on the matter of how fresh the fish and seafood she was buying was, she wanted to know when it had arrived and if it really was fresh or previously frozen. The other ladies where all listening, as if this was a soap opera of somekind. The lady had already bought 2 kg of giant shrimps and one kg of clams and now wanted to buy this enormous fish enough to feed 6 adults easily. The seafood was the antipasto before the meal and the clams would certainly go into a pasta dish as a first course, the fish being the second course.

Buying food in Italy is serious adult business and it has nothing to do with the way we buy food in supermarkets in North America, you do not bring the kids, they would be at school or with grandmother or at home with the maid. You do sometimes see a father with one child but that is for quick errands.

All present at the counter were well dressed, going shopping is sort of a social occasion and you would certainly meet the neighbors, so it is important to create a good impression, even if you are only buying a head of salad.

So there she was arguing with the fishmonger, who was all smiles and assured her in a very courteous tone that is fish and seafood was guaranteed absolutely to be the freshest. The lady was not convinced, not to worry he says, I will prove it to you, here he pulls out his ledger of purchases. I was a little alarmed by this, since I was parked in a blue zone with no permit and I really wanted to get on with my shopping before the traffic police came, an illegal parking fine is 57 Euros in Rome. But then again it was 1 pm and lunch time so I thought, what is the likely hood of the traffic police showing up at this time of day, they are most probably off to lunch like everyone else.

So we all went through the ledger with the fishmonger and all the other customers, so that everyone be convinced of his honest intentions and the freshness of his merchandise, it all had been purchased that morning at dawn. The order paper was written in pencil with quantity, name of fish or seafood, weight and grocer's price.  I thought, gee how many countries in the world would a fishmonger or a butcher or a vegetable sales person go through this much trouble to convince his customers. Fish can be expensive, sole was 24 euros a kg, fresh giant shrimps was 20 euros a kg and so on. But it is very fresh and comes from local producers. The lady was finally satisfied, her fish was all cleaned and wrapped for her and the audience convinced that all was on the up and up.  At the same time you can see that a real rapport is established between the customer and the vendor. It's the same with my butcher, either at ELITE or on the corner store where I also go for that special cut. We also have our favorite ice cream (gelateria) store we go too all the time and get new flavors depending on the season or at the fruit and vegetable vendor who always has time to say hello. I also like to get advice at the wine store on what to buy and maybe get a discount in the proceed.

Be sure also that the fishmonger will ask the lady when she returns how she found the fish and was her family happy with the quality. My butcher, Armando, always asks me afterwards, so how was the steak or the lamb, you have to say more than it was good, you have to make a compliment and thank him for the service, it's all part of the experience of shopping.

Two stories

Rombo = Turbot
Spigola = sea bass.
Alici = Anchovy
cozze = mussel

These are the fish most commonly found in Italy in restaurants. The alici = anchovy is the other common fish, this is not the salty anchovy found in North America and so disliked, who has not heard the famous whine no anchovy on my pizza. This is a fresh fish bought at the market like any other fresh fish, it is often simply grilled or it is served in a lemon and fresh parsley dressing. The Alici is larger than a sardine same color. As for the Spigola or the Rombo, most often they are grilled or baked and served with roast potatoes with some rosemary, there is also a Sardinian recipe which comes with a sauce made of celery, black olives, fresh tomatoes. As for pasta very often and by far the most popular dish is spaghetti with fresh tomato and mussel = cozze sauce.

Spigola baked with roasted potatoes.

So last night we had a spigola baked and served with roasted potatoes, one spigola is enough for 2 adults. It's a very good fish, rich texture, a little fat, in a word delicious. Very easy to do at home and simply served with a bit of lemon juice. We had a rosé Emira from the Lazio, the province around Rome, Tenuta Tre Cancelli Vineyard.

Today we went to visit the newly renovated Braschi Palace which houses a branch of the Rome Museum. Because this year Italy is celebrating 150 years of Unity as a country, (1861-2011) with the victory of the Italian people and the forces of Garibaldi putting an end of the theocratic government of Pope Pius IX. The Holy See installed a theocratic government from the 4th century to 1860 and put down many revolts by the Italians who wanted a democratic government. Currently there is a special exhibit on the Risorgimento (re-birth). The exhibit shows the many battles, all very bloody opposing the Pope to the Italian people. The Pope called on Spain, France and Austria, 3 Catholic countries to suppress the Italians.

Triumphal return of the Pope to Rome, April 1850, escorted by French troops. Notice the lack of ordinary folk.

(from Wikipedia)
Palazzo Braschi is a large Neoclassical palace in Rome and is located between the Piazza Navona, the Campo de' Fiori, the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and the Piazza di Pasquino. It presently houses the Museo di Roma, the civic museum of Rome.

The famous Bersagliere regiment breaking through Porta Pia 20 September 1860, thus liberating Rome.

It was built by the papal nephew Duke Luigi Braschi Onesti, to designs by Cosimo Morelli. The site was purchased in 1790 by Braschi, supported by funds from Pope Pius VI; Braschi demolished the 16th-century palace that Giuliano da Sangallo the Younger had built for Francesco Orsini in order to erect his own from the ground up. Construction was suspended in February 1798 during the Napoleonic occupation of the city, when the French temporarily took possession of it until 1802 and confiscated the recently-acquired collection of antiquities it contained (though Braschi was reimbursed for them). In 1809, when Rome was declared an Imperial city by Napoleon, Duke Luigi moved into the palace and was declared mayor.

The new King of Italy, Vittorio Emmanuelle II of Savoy, pointing to Rome City Hall, Campidoglio.

On his death in 1816 the palace remained unfinished and the family funds depleted. In 1871 the Braschi Onesti heirs sold the building to the Italian State. During the Italian fascist period, it was used as the political headquarters of Benito Mussolini. After the war, it housed 300 refugee families and many of the interior frescoes were seriously damaged by the fires they lit to keep warm. 

Piazza Navona, looking at the Palazzo of the Embassy of Brazil and the church of St-Agnes in Agony.

Afterwards we had lunch in Piazza Navona, something we never do because the prices are x2 what they would  be in any other restaurants in Rome, you pay for the view, but we did not feel like walking around. It was a very nice warm day today around 16 C not bad for winter in Rome.