cipura

When we eat fish here I have to find a dictionary to learn what it is I'm eating. Then I have to search it because I often still don't know what I'm eating. Here's what I've learned:

Hamsi is actually an anchovy. I thought I hated anchovies because I had only accidentally had it put on top of a pizza once in Rome. The slices were hairy and spiny and the fish smell permeated the entire pizza so even when I decided I couldn't stand it and scraped them all off, I still couldn't stomach the pizza. In Turkey it is fried in oil and eaten whole. I don't mind them as much here, but I pick out the meat and leave the bones, head, and tails for the cats.

Istavrit is horse mackerel. Levrek is sea bass and cipura is the gilt-head bream.

I know, it still doesn't mean much to me - but Tolga barbecued some cipura tonight and they were very tasty and I felt very Mediterranean.