A Shag at the Seaside

 

Or was it a cormorant?

After the far too intellectual (but rather perceptive), post by Viv after she blagged my phone, imagine my delight at seeing this bird on the seawall of Essaouira yesterday……..the title of the blog wrote itself and brought the blog back to the depths of taste it has navigated over the past few weeks 😜

Essaouira feels like a well balanced town which whilst being hugely welcoming to the Moroccan and foreign tourists who visit, it is, and always will be a traditional fishing town serving the local community.  

I love fresh fish and this trip has really brought home to me how, especially considering we are an island nation, we undervalue the fish and seafood we have in our waters and how relatively difficult it now is to get fresh fish.  It amazes me that collectively we have allowed fishmongers to close and allow supermarkets to have such a sway over price and range that many people’s only experience of fish is either battered with salt and vinegar or processed in a ‘finger’.   I am not going to start on the devastation our fishing fleet has undergone and the sad fact that a huge proportion of the fish and shellfish caught in UK waters is sold overseas….nor that many of these observations could also be made of other sectors of our farming industry!

Across Spain I passed fishmongers in the backstreets of suburban Salamanca….

In the markets of Seville…….

And on the street stalls and local markets of Morocco…..

It is great that the local communities of Spain and here in Morocco still demand (and are prepared to pay a reasonable price), for quality produce.

Enough of a rant (I feel better for it though)…… this place is incredibly chilled and relaxing, the beaches are great, the Souk’s and Medina are beautiful and I have had my first real successes in trying to track down the perfect Merguez and I found both Mutton and Camel varieties……more of that in the next blog 👍