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Situated on a geographically blessed spot where the waters of the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara meet, Istanbul has long been associated with fishing and, especially, the eating of fish. In culinary terms, after all, is there anything more iconic in Istanbul than eating a freshly grilled fish sandwich sold from one of the bobbing boats down by the Golden Horn?
The fact that most of the boats these days sell fish that arrive frozen from Norway should tell the rest of the story, though. Which is that, due to the effects of overfishing and pollution, several species of fish in the waters around Istanbul are today seriously endangered.
One of the groups that has been raising the alarm about this situation is Fikir Sahibi Damaklar [2] (“Opinionated Palates”), the Slow Food movement’s Istanbul chapter, which has launched a series of initiatives designed to raise local awareness about the fate of some of the fish that have long been a staple of the Istanbul diet. On October 17, the group will hold its first “Slow Fish” conference, a four-day event (program here [3]) that will bring together participants from some ten countries to take a regional look at the issue of sustainable fishing.
The rest of this story can be found on CulinaryBackstreets.com [4].
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