Years ago I worked as a cook in a couple of restaurants in Les-Baux-de-Provence, France. During my time there, I used to go into a nearby village on saturday mornings to visit the local market. I didn’t buy food at the market - after all, I worked in a fully stocked restaurant and was living in quarters without a kitchen. Instead, I would just sit and watch the women who ran the fish stall. There were three of them working in a caravan with an open side, and they spent the whole morning preparing the fish for sale - cleaning, de-scaling, breaking down whole fish into fillets, doing all things to all sorts of fish. They were masterful with their knives, slicing the fish with grace and precision. They worked quickly and quietly as they prepared their display. I admired their skill and thought at the time that I might like a future working as a fishwife. Strange to some, I suppose, but that’s what I thought at the time.

Well, time passes and plans change. My career path has never been predictable, and I never did become a fishwife. Perhaps now, however, I’ve come as close as I ever have to realizing my dream of selling fish. No, I’m not actually fishing, cleaning or preparing the fish, but for the first time I’m about to provide access to the freshest, tastiest fish many people will ever taste (unless they visit a seaside town and buy fish off a boat). Here’s how I came to this… Continue reading »