Percebes, Galicia and sisterhood

[JohnnieWalker]

http://roadsandkingdoms.com/2016/barnacle-queens-of-the-seaside/

Fantastic article!

 

[SabsP]

Fantastic article.

 

[wayfarer]

Very interesting article. Noble women.

 

[amsimoes]

You can see (minute 5:00 to 9:40).

 

[peregrina2000]

Sorry, but I'm going to ramble on a bit. If I could give a hundred likes, I would. This article is deserving of so much more than one little "like."

I confess that I hit the like button after skimming the first few paragraphs, thinking this was going to be a good feminist story (after all, how often do three women get to rescue a macho fisherman?). But then I settled in, had a cup of coffee and realized that it is about so much more than that. As the title suggests, it's about the sisters' struggle to achieve equality in the percebes industry against a long macho tradition. And that in and of itself is a great story, giving you hope that things can and do change. But it's also about Galicia, about the pain that decreasing populations of seafood cause for those who rely on it for their livelihood, about gallego character, about family ties, about honesty, the human spirit, and integrity. It is, IMHO, a wonderful piece of writing. Just wow. Thank you so much, John, for posting it. You get the gold star of the day.

Buen camino, Laurie

p.s. I have sat at many tables as my Spanish friends gobbled up their percebes and have never eaten one, preferring to stick with the tamer offerings. I will have to be brave next time!

 

[KinkyOne]

A gem of an article indeed! Thanks for posting such topics.

I tried percebes for the first time in Los Tres Golpes in Fisterra. Yummy

 

[amancio]

Laurie, do not miss percebes next time you have a chance! In the South of Spain, they are usually served cold, and they are nice enough, but last September my friend Josinho brought 3 kilos (90 euros) for a family meeting where I was invited and I tried them hot, directly after having been boiled in clean sea water, and it was absolutely SOMETHING ELSE.

Regarding gender distribution of work, the "gallegas" (Galicia women) are the bravest of all, they work very hard in sea food harvesting (barnacles, cockles, clams) and also in the fields, you see so many grannies with their wellies working in the family plots and picking leaves from the huge cabbage plants!

You just have to love Galicia!!!!!

 

[Anemone del Camino]

Loved the story. Rarely do we realise what goes into bringing us the food we enjoy, and the great risk involved in fishing, including percebes, especially. They don't call the Galicean sea the Mar do Morte for nothing.

Now, Laurie, get yourself some percebes soon! In Muxia I was sent by the hospie at Bella Muxia to O Prestige. Because of his recommendation percebes were free, I was only charged for the 2€ bottle of wine! So I feel an obligation to let everyone know about them. ;0) It really looks like a tavern, not very welcoming to women, but it is far from that, with wonderful Gallegas running it. I sat outside watching the Corpus Christi march, enjoying the best the sea gives us.

 

[Pelegrin]

Yes very good article! I have learnt a lot about this hard task .
I know very well, the capacity of work of Galician women In rural Gaicia they usually do the same work as men in the field and also the home tasks. In familiar business (bars, restaurants) women usually take the iniatitive.
But I desagree in this point
"Gallegos are known throughout Spain for their special disposition—direct, emotional, capable of swinging from good-natured to punishing in a flash—and those traits spill out constantly onto the auction floor, the meeting hall, the ocean-battered rocks".
That behaviour can happen at action floors, but we (Galegos) are known throughout Spain especially for not beeing direct, don´t tell clearly our opinions, and don´t swing easily our character . In rural Galicia telling a stranger clearly what you think about politics or religion is considered bad manners.

 

[amancio]

That particular trait of not wanting to commit themselves in anything they say is part of the Gallician character. In fact, in the rest of Spain we say that if you see a Gallician on a ladder, you can never tell whether he is going up or down.

I remember once, arriving in Cadavo Baleiro, I asked a local who was walking a dog

ME: Excuse me, do you happen to know where Pensión La Moneda is?
HIM: Yes, I do.

and with that, he turned on his back and continued to walk his dog!

 

[JohnnieWalker]

La retranca!

 

[peregrina2000]

We have similar stereotypes in the US. For us, it´s the crusty New Englanders who get picked on for that taciturn nature.

ME (standing at a fork on a path in the woods): Does it matter which way I go here to get to the campground?
HIM: Not to me, it don't.

 

[TerryB]

, but we (Galegos) are known throughout Spain especially for not beeing direct, don´t tell clearly our opinions, and don´t swing easily our character . In rural Galicia telling a stranger clearly what you think about politics or religion is considered bad manners.

Sounds just like Yorkshire folk Maybe that is why I get on O.K. with Gallegos!!!

Tio Tel

 

[Tia Valeria]

Sounds just like Yorkshire folk Maybe that is why I get on O.K. with Gallegos!!!

Tio Tel

Also maybe why, as well as Gallegos, we got on well with our southern Amerindian friends. They had a single word which, depending on how you said it, could mean one of the following:-
I don't know
I don't know and I don't care
I do know, but I'm not telling you
I don't know and I wouldn't tell you if I did

and a good answer to many questions was 'Maybe'

 

[Tia Valeria]

Thanks for the article @JohnnieWalker - gives us pause for thought about where our food comes from and the hard work and often risks taken to produce it.

 

[Pelegrin]

That particular trait of not wanting to commit themselves in anything they say is part of the Gallician character. In fact, in the rest of Spain we say that if you see a Gallician on a ladder, you can never tell whether he is going up or down.

I remember once, arriving in Cadavo Baleiro, I asked a local who was walking a dog

ME: Excuse me, do you happen to know where Pensión La Moneda is?
HIM: Yes, I do.

and with that, he turned on his back and continued to walk his dog!

That was Retranca (Galician humour), as John said, but by a rude and unfriendly person
(not common in Galicia; I think)

 

[JohnnieWalker]

I agree. I've found that Galician people are very reserved and polite. And always helpful. Somewhat difficult to get to know but when the ice is broken they are warm hearted and generous with a wicked sense of humour - La Retranca has a wicked side. My Gallego friends are the most loyal and dependable. They will be friends for life - but they do keep secrets, even from themselves!

 

[KinkyOne]

That particular trait of not wanting to commit themselves in anything they say is part of the Gallician character. In fact, in the rest of Spain we say that if you see a Gallician on a ladder, you can never tell whether he is going up or down.

I remember once, arriving in Cadavo Baleiro, I asked a local who was walking a dog

ME: Excuse me, do you happen to know where Pensión La Moneda is?
HIM: Yes, I do.

and with that, he turned on his back and continued to walk his dog!

That's me when I'm a bit grumpy walking through the corridors of our national TV broadcaster house and knowing most of the people there. Why not just nod with your head? Do you really have to ask me how was my day and how I feel? And then I asked them how much time did they have. Obvious answer is/was WHY? Well you just asked me how I was and I'm about to take my time to tell you all about it if you have the time to listen to me that is
And then I'm the strange one

PS (I too found Gallegos very friendly and much less complicated about me speaking only "Spanish")

 

[Seabird]

I was so delighted to try them as part of an extravagant seafood dinner. What a wonderful article to remind me of that special time. Thanks for sharing it.

 

[Pelegrin]

Everything with food is a cultural matter. Only 40 years ago in rural areas inside Galicia people didn´t eat seafood at all because didn´t know it. Now in weddings tones of expensive seafood are normative.
But wild mushrooms and snails are still taboo in rural areas.

 

[peregrina2000]

Everything with food is a cultural matter. Only 40 years ago in rural areas inside Galicia people didn´t eat seafood at all because didn´t know it. Now in weddings tones of expensive seafood are normative.
But wild mushrooms and snails are still taboo in rural areas.

Sorry, this is off topic, but it goes to Pelegrin's point. A good friend grew up 70 years ago in Newfoundland as a minister's daughter. Fishing was the mainstay. She remembers that the fisherman's kids were only given the "throwaway" stuff from the catch for their lunches. They came to school with lobster sandwiches, which they ate surreptitiously so no one would make fun of their low class lunch.

 

[Sara M]

http://roadsandkingdoms.com/2016/barnacle-queens-of-the-seaside/

Fantastic article!

Yes fascinating and they're really delicious; I saw old men eating them in a bar in Muxia and tried them out... quite a skill to pull them from their shells.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

It's actually quite easy: hold the nail part in one hand, secure the bottom of the "tube" with the other and gently twist. Black neopreney skin comes off the tube, meat stays attached to the nail. Insert meat in mouth and detach from nail which is still in your hand. Voila!

 

[peregrina2000]

I just came across another story about Galician women doing hard work in the seafood industry. But this time it’s not barnacles/percebes, it’s clams!

Spain's 'peasant farmers of the sea' – DW – 06/10/2023

In the northwestern region of Galicia, clam collecting is a deep-rooted tradition, handed down from generation to generation. And it's mostly done by women.

www.dw.com

One of the women interviewed made it sound like a great job, when she said:

"It's very comfortable, there are no bosses, we have our laughs, you work at your own rhythm, and when you want to rest, you rest."

And if you haven’t read the article linked to in the first post, about barnacles, it’s a wonderful read