Something fat is cooking on your plate
We travel to As Rías Baixas, from where the best seafood in our country is exported. And also the cheapest. Because paying tribute in Galicia is easy . No excuses needed, nor stop eating the rest of the month. But have you ever wondered where does the seafood you eat come from ? From the estuary, okay, but the work behind it? Shellfishing is an art.
that teaches us Victory , one of the hundreds of shellfishers that there are on the shore of Cambados , the beach with the largest sandy area in the Arousa estuary. And we speak in feminine because until just a few years ago, this activity was exclusively for women. The men of the house dedicated themselves to shellfishing afloat, by boat; while they did it on foot. Boarding a boat was believed to bring bad luck.
More than a profession shellfishing in Galicia is a thousand-year-old tradition as old as hunting or fishing. A way of life that has been passed from one generation to another. In fact, many of them started working when they were only seven years old , without having the option to study or do something else. At that time it was considered a marginal activity, with low wages and abundant intrusiveness. Anyone could go down to the shore and pick clams for their Sunday rice. Although without the police seeing you, of course, since it was penalized (even for professionals). The fines ranged from 1,500 pesetas if they didn't catch you with shellfish on top, 3,000 pesetas if you wore it This led to the need in 1995 to professionalize the sector, create legislation and organize into associations.
We are going to Cambados to investigate how shellfish is
Since then, for to be able to shellfish you need a license and to have completed a previous course . With this, the working conditions of many of these women improved and, instead of working alone, they now help each other. “If one has to go to the doctor, we give her the amount that we have left over so that she can meet her daily quota during her absence,” Victoria tells us, who since her retirement has dedicated herself to being a guide in Guimatur, one of the shellfish associations of Cambados. The day begins with low tide, every twelve hours, although only for fifteen days a month. The rest of the time they spend cleaning and guarding the beaches.
The shellfish gatherers on foot collect clams, razor shells and cockles . To calculate the size of the quota, they carry some containers where they put each piece. Once their day is over, they take it to the warehouses of their association where they weigh them, record their activity for the day and the merchandise is put in boxes to be auctioned that same afternoon at the fish market. If they have exceeded the amount, or do not meet the measurements of each mollusk, then it is returned to the sea.
The best seafood you will eat in your life
A QUESTION OF CLAMS
"Knowing how to tell the difference between clams is important," insists Victoria. “Once, while on vacation, we went to a market where they bragged about having lane clams . I approached him and said: But do you think this is from Carril? If they are dwarfs, they don't even comply with the regulations. The lady kicked me out of her position before the rest found out”, she tells us with her accented Galician. And there are three types of clams that for us are almost the same, but they are not: the skinny clam, the slug and the Japanese.
the fine clam is the one that is white, yellowish or brown. They have a size of 4cm and their stripes on the shell come to draw small squares. Slug , on the other hand, is more gray or cream and his lines are few but they are more marked. Its size is usually 3.8cm. Finally, the Japanese is much darker, being able to reach black. Its lines leave an unmistakable rough surface. It also measures about 4cm.
Shellfishing in the Ría de Vigo
CARRYING A POCKET KNIFE(S) IS ALWAYS CONVENIENT
Razor clams are the most difficult to catch, as they are very quick to hide in the sand. The most effective method, once the hole is distinguished, is by throwing salt on them so that they come to the surface. The small holes left by each of these molluscs are almost invaluable to us, you have to develop a special skill as a Galician shellfish collector to detect them. Do not confuse (although we will) the knife with the longueirón . The first of them has a curved shell, while the second one is completely straight.
The mussels , meanwhile, are not here, but are grown in rafts, just like oysters. Altogether, in the Ría de Arousa there are about 1,800 rafts. To see them up close you need to travel there by boat. There are numerous tours that have windows in the keel (the part that goes below sea level) where you can learn about their cultivation and how they are harvested to sell them, more or less a year later. As a curiosity, he Mussels constantly change sex during their development. To be able to differentiate them is very easy, you just need to look at the color. For example, once cooked and ready to eat, those that have a more orange or reddish body are females; the white ones, those that we always smell thinking if they are bad, are the males; finally there would be those that neither white nor orange, create confusion. Those are the ones that were changing gender at the time they were picked up. A characteristic that they also share with the oyster.
Pans in the Ría de Vigo
CENTOLLOS, LOBSTERS, LOBSTERS AND NECORAS
“ What have you ordered? a lobster No, that's a lobster ”. The typical cuñao is already there. The bad thing is that you are probably right. Tenacitas was a lobster. The problem of our confusion is the Americans, who called their lobster American lobster (and Homer Simpson 'Tenacitas'). And no, it wasn't a lobster. The main difference is in their tongs. The lobster has it, the lobster doesn't. That easy.
Lobster... NO WORDS
What they both have in common is that They are the kings of the sea, along with the spider crab and the crabs. In Galicia they know it well, hence annually export tons of each species . To fish them they do it in boats, with pots, some mesh chests that you will get tired of seeing in the ports. If you look closely, they all have an entrance with a hole, but no exit. The bait is placed inside and these crustaceans enter for them. Once they are at the bottom, they will no longer be able to get out. They are usually fished at night, since that is when they come out to eat. ; the rest of the day they remain hidden among the rocks, just like octopuses. The latter are the ones who have taken all the credit in Galicia. They are also found in rocky areas, where they choose a hole, get into it and cover the exit so that no one sees them; or in sandy terrain, where they are more easily hunted with pots or pulperas. Their main characteristic is that they are able to integrate into the seascape and change color to mislead their predators.
All these curiosities can be visited at the Rías Baixas, the cradle of seafood and albariño that each year attracts hundreds of tourists to enjoy its gastronomic festivals and the Wine Route . We will be well recognized because we will hardly be able to get up from the table. There is no better fishing than what we do on the plate. It does not have as much merit, but it is the most pleasant.
*** You may also be interested in...**
- The festival of Captain Nemo: seafood from Galicia
- Algae: the new ingredient in your tupperware
- Gastronomy, made in Spain?
- Seafood safari in Galicia: Rías Altas
- Seafood safari in Galicia: Rías Baixas
- Galifornia: showing why Galicia is not Winterfell
- Eight ways to eat octopus in Galicia
- Dishes to eat in Galicia in summer
- Five things to eat in Galicia (and they are not seafood)
- You know you are Galician when...
- Five unusual destinations in Galicia
- Galifornia: reasonable resemblances between the two west coasts
- The other gastronomy of Galicia
Small crabs from the estuary