Fresh fish. Frozen fish

Butterfish in Butter Sauce Photo by Cynthia Nelson

Hi Everyone,

The one particular aspect about food in Guyana that I miss the most is fish. Fresh fish in a staggering variety, some of which I have never eaten.

There are two major fish-guys here in Barbados who import fish from Guyana. Their lists include: Hassar, Bangamary, Butterfish, Snook, Red Snapper, Grey Snapper, Basha, Curass, Catfish, Gilbaka, Pacoo, Huurree, Trout and Tilapia. While this list is every Guyanese’s (living away from home) dream, it is not quite the same as being able to get these fish fresh with the flesh firm and the skins and scales glistening with the water from the sea. I used to buy a lot of fish at one time here, about US$60 worth of fish each month. But I’ve stopped now for about 3 years because I got tired of the frozen fish not having much taste. The thing is, I’d always try to time my purchases when the new stock would come in but at the end of the day, it was really a gamble because there would always be fish from the previous batch that was not sold, understandably, they’d want to sell you those first.  And, it is not always easy to decipher which packet is fresher than the other when frozen. I had spent way too many moments frowning at the plate of food in front of me because the fish was so very bland and tasteless; it had been in the freezer far too long.

The radical change really came a few years ago whilst on a trip to Guyana sitting down to eat from fried Bangamary my sister had prepared for me. The fish was so tender and flavourful. She hadn’t seasoned the fish in anyway different than I would, nor was it fried in special kind of way, so why did this