Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

2TASTES VARY—WHY TAILS PREFERRED 255For these reasons, discount as we may the personal predilectionsof an author like Ennius, of a gourmet like Apicius, of abon vivant like Vitellius, any list is perforce approximate, notabsolute. It must be governed by the dictum of the greatGreek epicure, \mpu yap 6 /xtv tovtoiq, o oiKtivoig.But if our opsophagists disagreed as to which was the bestfish, they were fairly unanimous as to which part of a fish wasbest. Setting aside the peculiar partiality of the Greeks forthe head of the Conger, the part near the tail afforded the mostsavour, and found the most favour with ancient (and modern)gourmets.Three reasons for this preference have been suggested :(A) That from Xenocrates. After laying down that fishroasted are more nutritious than fish boiled, that sea fish areeasy of digestion and by their formation of blood impart a goodcolour to the skin, that fish from lakes and rivers are generallybad for the stomach, form thick juices, and are difficult ofevacuation, this great physician affirms emphatically that thepart near the tail of all kinds of fish (Nonnius excepts theTunny) are the most wholesome, on account of it being mostfrequently exercised. 1(B) That from PHny. Writing of the Murcena, he says thatit is quite clear that in its tail abides its a?iinia {' life ' or'being '), because a blow on that part swiftly kills it, while oneon the head is more tedious in effect.(C) That alleged in Scandinavia. To the Norseman themost deUcate part of the salmon was its tail. His choice,now-a-days by no means exceptional, was explained by apretty piece of setiological tradition. Loki, fleeing from thepursuit of the gods whose anger he had provoked, had the witand the time to transform himself into a salmon. Then andin this guise would he have surely escaped, had not Thor caughthim by the tail, " and this is the reason why salmon have hadthe tails so fine and so thin ever since." ^' Cf. Blakey, op. cit., p. 73.2 N. H.. XXXII. 5.' In Krause, op. cit., i-^'j, Loki, originally god of Fire, changes into a salmonfrom his predilection for the red colour of the fish ! The Icelandic Eddasattribute the invention of the Net to Loki.