Fried Fish Tonight!
Market in Uzbekistan 2012
Torie and I always looked for beauty and symmetry when we were scouring the markets for shots. It’s rare.
The whole point of most of the markets we visited was the buying and selling of meat and vegetables. Skinned lamb’s heads, lined up on counters, peered at us with startled blue eyes. Heaps of an unusual sweet potato that turned black when cooked and looked like something you’d dredge from a swamp sat in huge baskets. Our guide told us he didn’t like it. Torie would have died before tasting it, but being southern, I was of the mind that it might just be delicious.
I can’t tell you what kind of fish this is. I think it is some kind of carp. And I think that it is kin to catfish. I can tell you that freshly butchered, heavily salted and thrown into hot fat it produces a gourmet treat.
This photo is interesting to me. I like the colors and the quotidian aspect: the fish head with its bulging eye, the label on the bottle with its splash of orange, the bright blue dishpan, the steaks lying on the messy counter. Taken all together maybe it is beautiful after all.