Bluefin tuna: the black leg of the sea
The record sounds in the background as we arrive in Barbate. the songs evoke the familiar and refreshing landscape that is right next to Mecca pipes . It is the natural park of La Breña where there is a prehistoric and giant dune that is transformed into a mountain of pine trees and ends in the sea. The La Breña pine forest slows down the moving dunes, contains them, and the aroma of pine floods the area and seeps into the car, mixing with the aroma of rosemary and lavender. This aromatic wrapper extends to the edge of the cliff.
At this time of year, the tuna are already entering through the Strait. They are huge creatures that fatten up for months in the abyssal depths until they reach 800 kilos. . "They are silver submarines, true monsters of the sea," explains Nono, who has looked at them from the front since he was a child. “The Japanese have been coming to Barbate for the tuna all their lives and they call them naguro“. It is the delicious bluefin tuna. Its meat is very expensive: almadraba tuna or 'emperor's sushi' is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
It is a delicate delicacy that has united two seemingly disparate lands, and yet, as Nono tells us, tokyo-barbatean couples are a classic . “Astronomical fees have been paid here for one of these loins”, tells us the Barbatean musician, a personal friend of the last two families with permits to continue fishing in traps (owners in turn of the last two large traps on the Cadiz coast Both are in Barbate: the mecca of bluefin tuna.
Tuna fishing in the almadraba
The silver bulls reach the coast of Cadiz during May and June and they come from the cold waters of Norway to spawn in the warm Mediterranean. When they arrive they are very fat, very tight in their meat and, as they pass through the Strait, the fishermen wait for them to catch them in the labyrinth of the almadraba. The show is hard but it is a sustainable fishing that even so, tends to disappear.
If you dare to come these days, we recommend that you stay at the ** Hotel V de Vejer, ** a true oasis of peace in one of the most authentic and beautiful white villages in the area. Don't leave without trying one of their Ayurvedic massages.
To eat, and although Vejer has many options, have lunch at the El Campero restaurant . Its chef, the renowned José Melero, has spent decades portraying tuna in dozens of ways – if you are a virgin when it comes to bluefin tuna, try his tuna monograph to start and learn about the different ways to prepare it: pickled, mormo, contramormo, tarantelo, roe in oil, mojama in oil, smoked tuna, morrillo, belly, hijada tuna ... You can also try it in a more informal way, at El Campero Tavern in Zahara de los Atunes.
Take the opportunity to tour the natural park of La Breña and the Marismas de Barbate on horseback or on foot on one of its trails. The one we like the most is the one that takes you to the Torre del Tajo and culminates in a beautiful panoramic view. This is one of the watchtowers that in the 15th and 16th centuries warned about pirate ships and witnessed the Battle of Trafalgar.
In the walkman it is mandatory to carry the Nono García record. Each song on this album manages to bring us a bit of all this essence, the musician confesses to us. “The songs are capsules that contain all these elements and that work as perfect “Andalusian mantras” to evoke this magical place when we are in the middle of the urban jungle, for example. And, when the waves of everyday life drown you, come and spawn in this holy land.
Cádiz is the land of bluefin tuna