Society

Scaly Tales: It Was Said To Swim

An ‘unfishy’ Basa is taking over in the country’s menus. Why do our chefs love this staid blob?

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Scaly Tales: It Was Said To Swim
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“He burnt his fingers, and to cool them he applied them in his booby fashion to his mouth. Some of the crumbs of the scorched skin had come away with his fingers, and for the first time in his life (in the world’s life indeed, for before him no man had known it) he tasted crackling!”

Charles Lamb
in ‘A Dissertation upon Roast Pig’

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If Charles Lamb was around today, it’s unlikely that he would have been exercised enough to embark on even a short piece on the crackling of fried basa fish. As for the aroma, well, there’s hardly any to speak of. So what is it that makes the imported basa or the Asian catfish the preferred seafood even in gourmet kitchens and five-star restaurants? And this when our own snapper, king fish, seer fish etc make it almost a no-contest in the taste stakes. So enamoured are chefs of these processed fillets of it that outside many high-end restaurants even in faraway Delhi there are grandiose signboards announcing that they have basa on the menu!

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Fortunately, there are some who have still not caved in to the cheaper basa. Chef Jose Varkey, corporate mentor chef, CGH Earth Hotels, Kochi, has banned it in any of the CGH Earth restaurants and resorts. “Yes, it is convenient because it comes boneless and skinless as fillets and is cheaper than the local varieties but we at CGH Earth believe we should serve wholesome food. I believe chefs have a dharma: we are the custodians of the health of our customers. For the sake of convenience (basa comes processed in ready-to-cook fillets) we cannot compromise our integrity,” he tells Outlook.

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“Basa is an insipid fish that takes on the taste of the masala and oil that you cook it in. I sometimes do wonder if it is even fish. Kerala has such a long coastline and we try to serve seasonal fish to our customers. Processed basa fillets would be easier, it has a shelf-life of two years and is available through the year. But we don’t want to do that,” he adds.

There is truly nothing fishy about this freshwater fish—it is odourless, tasteless, oil-less and comes in a pure shade of shiny white. As for the texture of the cooked fish, it is somewhere between wobbly and firm. But precisely for its unfishiness and characteristic, well, “stinklessness” it has become popular among both the consumers and chefs all over India. In fact, it has crept into every type of cuisine: Chinese, continental and even our numerous regional cuisines and often sits comfortably with the anchovies, sardines, mackerel, disguised as a local variety in seafood restaurants.

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What price? Fresh catch at Kochi harbour. (Photograph by Sivaram V.)

All very well, one would say, if it works for both the consumer and the restaurateur. But take the case of Jiji Cherian, Kochi, who went down with sores and fever for over two weeks after consuming basa. “I bought a packet of frozen, processed basa and cooked it at home. My whole body swelled up and I had no clue what it was. Finally, a skin specialist diagnosed it as fish allergy. I have avoided basa ever since that day,” she says.

However, that’s not enough to condemn the basa. Doctors in Kochi point out that many people are allergic to proteins and very often fish is the cause but there is not enough data to say basa per se is a singular culprit. Says Dr Sujit Vasudevan, “We do get cases of diarrhoea and vomiting where people have consumed fish. But it’s probably bec­ause the fish has not been stored properly. More common are allergies to shrimps and prawns.”

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Basa, or the Asian catfish (Pangasius) that is farmed in the Mekong delta in Vietnam is one of the 10 most widely consumed fishes in the world today. Much of the basa exported by Vietnam finds its way to the US but in the last decade it has been steadily imported into India and is a much preferred fish to toss and batter-fry in restaurants across all metros, be it Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and even in the high fish-consuming states like West Bengal and Kerala.

One of the biggest importers is the Mumbai-based Empire industries. Their website says they import around 3,000 tonnes of basa per year. Total imports into the country stand today at around 5,000 tonnes, which is likely to double in 2015, say industry sources.

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Meanwhile, a home-grown variety of basa, bred in the farms of Andhra Pradesh, has also entered the market. One of the largest cultivators here is the Ananda group of AP. They commenced cultivation in 2009 after a company visit to Vietnam. In Vietnam, density of basa fish in the ponds is 15-20 tonnes per hectare compared to the local fish varieties that is farmed at 5-6 tonnes per hectare. It made commercial sense to the Ananda group and today they harvest around 12,000 tonnes of basa per annum on their farms. “Most of the whole basa is sent to the Northeast states and sold at Rs 75-90 per kilo. The processed basa fillets are sold at Rs 190 in the supermarket chains,” says a company source. There are other Indian basa cultivators and importers in the fray too. Faraz Javed, director at Abad Fisheries, one of the largest importers of basa in Kerala, says, “To counter the rising cost of local fish, we thought it was a good idea to import basa. It’s akin to chicken and is a great source of protein.”

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Interestingly, a little bird tells us that even importers in Kerala wouldn’t be caught dead eating the basa (Faraz though denies any such thing, claiming he does indulge himself.) The basa tale gets stranger as marine scientists too whisper that they are not too keen on the fillets. They though cite technical reasons, saying the processed basa in Vietnam is bleached with a whitener (metabisulfites and triphosphates) and also that chemicals are injected into the flesh so that it would absorb more water (to increase weight).

Another aspect is that the fish is glazed 20-25 per cent more than the 10-15 per cent prescribed norm. (Glazing is covering the fish with a sheath of water and freezing so that the fish does not dehydrate.) Says a technical expert on fish processing, “The government has set very stringent standards for imported food coming into the country. Every consignment is checked for lead, mercury, antibiotics etc...and Vietnam, which is an exporting nation, is extremely careful and responsible too. However, the onus lies on the importer and the government as a regulating agency cannot check for organoleptic characteristics, which is not strictly enforceable—like the flesh of basa being treated to absorb more water content. Here is where the consumer should be aware of what he is consuming and should be educated.”

Unlike norms in the US, Europe and Australia which check the farms where the fish is cultivated, India only checks the product once it lands on our shores. Our imp­orters also tend to rely on the European Union certification. It is important to check the conditions of the fish farms because basa fish breeds rapidly and the density per hectare is very high (it’s believed that at some farms the fish are so densely packed you can practically walk on the water).

This matters. Unless the water is aerated and cleaned regularly, the faecal matter leads to high bacterial growth, say aqu­a­culture experts. The Mekong, a fast flowing river, has the advantage of clea­nsing the farms if the water flows thr­o­ugh—unlike the Indian farms. But not all farms there have uniformly good con­­­ditions. And few importers check where the fish is coming from, complacent in the belief that there will be no market discrimination: that the same product will be sent to both India and the US.

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Hook, Line And...

  • Domestic fish production: 100 lakh metric tonnes
  • Domestic consumption: 85 lakh tonnes
  • Exports: 10 lakh tonnes worth US $6.6 billion (45 per cent from aquaculture and the rest from the rivers)
  • Imports: 8,000 tonnes of basa, (Asian catfish Pangasius) from Vietnam (Basa grown in Andhra Pradesh caters to N-E states and supermarkets)
  • Suspected agents used in imported processed fish: chemicals like metabisulphates and triphosphates as preservative and anti-oxidant, natural whiteners (allergic reactions possible among those who are sensitive to sulfites)

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By Minu Ittyipe in Kochi

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