Jamie’s Italy

An Englishman uncovers rustic Italian cooking

By Jamie Oliver

January 15, 2007

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Title

• Jamie’s Italy

Author

• Jamie Oliver

Publisher

• Hyperion Press

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From the chapter “Fish”

If I’ve learned anything from the Italians about fish, it is definitely that “less is more.”

Even inland, in regions like Le Marche and in Tuscany, they might get fish coming to the market only once a week, but it’s still damn fresh and smells of the sea and is bound to make dinner a bit of an event on that day.

I was quite surprised at the number of seaside restaurants in Italy that don’t have a menu, like La Scaletta, run by my friend Giovanni on the island of Marettimo. He literally waits till eight or nine in the morning, when the boats come in, and says, “Whatever God brings me, I will cook!”

Of course, not having all the choice in the world does make you think cleverly about what you can do with what you’ve got. Even on a rough day when there’s no catch, Giovanni will use preserved fish, which he keeps in his larder. Maybe half the problem these days is that we have too much choice and not enough quality. Which got me thinking that I wanted to keep the recipes in this chapter really simple. I’ve done this by adding some delicate twists to plainly cooked fish. There’s nothing in this chapter that I don’t think you could achieve, so give them all a go.

However, before you get down to cooking, there’s one thing I’d like you to do for me . . . get to know your local fish store, be it a supermarket or an independent. If their fish smells “fishy” and not of the sea, then have a word and tell them you’d support them if they had less choice and better quality. I’m sorry to say there are too many halfwits selling second-rate fish in Britain and the U.S. these days. It shouldn’t have to be like that.

Take a city like London, for example. It’s one of the biggest cities in the world, yet there are only a handful of fishmongers that come up to the mark. (In case you’re wondering, my favorites are Kensington Place and the Fishworks chain.) Young kids growing up all around our country think fish smells fishy, because that’s the reality of the fish on offer to us in most places.

So what I’d like to ask you to do is stop putting up with substandard products — be a bit more Italian and have your say on a regular basis. What fish stores and supermarkets alike will have to start doing then is worrying about quality, not quantity. If we all have a go, you’ll be surprised at how many shops, restaurants, and businesses will look at what they’re doing because they have to listen to their customers. Let’s make it happen!