The Fish Fat Cure

When I lived in Canada, I worked out 3-5 times a week. I found that if I increased my running speed above a certain point, my legs felt like they were going to pop out of my hips later that day and I'd get pins and needles in one of my legs. As soon as I brought my speed back down to a reasonable rate, everything was fine.

When I came to Jordan, I found that I couldn't work out for two weeks without going through excruciating pain. Even when I'd run at a reasonable pace, after three to four days of running, my shins would hurt so much that sitting for prayer was difficult. Furthermore, my elbow and forearm would get so sore that I had to stop lifting altogether for some time.

After a while, I remembered that I would eat a lot of fish in Canada. In particular, I'd eat a lot of freshly baked pink salmon. You see, what had a cat named Fahd. It appears to me (and I'm no scholar) that it is not permissible to buy most cat food, as it contains unslaughtered dead animals, which are impure and impermissible to buy. We examined the possibility of buying Fahd canned fish, but being that we were in beautiful British Columbia, the cheapest thing to feed him was pink salmon. My ex-wife had a lot of compassion for Fahd, so she'd always make sure that there was some baked pinked salmon ready to feed him. When I'd come home and find that there wasn't anything else to eat (or at least, no other animal flesh), I'd share a meal with Fahd. Hey, I was paying for this stuff, and if he had issues with it, he could find another owner who would feed him kibble. I was also assured that if I finished his food, my ex-wife would see to it that we bought more fish and prepared it for him. After all, she felt sorry for Fahd, seeing that he couldn't cook for himself. This is not to mention that I worked in downtown Vancouver and, when hungry, I'd often buy sushi, nor the times that my ex-wife cooked a fish meal for human consumption that I also partook in. Overall, I was probably eating fish 3-5 times a week.

Here in Jordan, almost all fish is either frozen or canned. The, "fresh" fish you see in some places has been previously frozen and thawed out. I decided that I was going to start doping myself with fish fat again. I started taking cod liver oil (which one should be careful about, as some brands are contaminated with heavy metals) by the spoon and buying a steady supply of canned fatty fish: salmon, tuna, and sardines. I don't eat most vegetable oils, so I had to search around to find tuna in water. Sardines in water are pretty much impossible to find here, so I had to settle for Thai/Filipino style sardines in tomato sauce. I also want canned mackerel, but I'm unable to find it. At C-Town, I found some smoked mackerel at 2.50 for 0.25 kg. I decided to pass.

After eating a steady diet of fish fat, my joints and bones hurt a lot less. I'm able to continue exercising, though I still do have some pain.

And now, for a recipe. As a master chef, I don't use measurements:

Ingredients

• Canned salmon
• Curry powder
• Raisins or chopped dates
• Ground coconut (optional)

Directions: Mash the canned salmon in its water with a fork in a T-Fal frying pan. Add raisins or dates, curry, and coconut. Stir together on low heat until the raisins become plump or you fear burning the stuff. Serve with pita bread. I personally prefer highly toasted, crispy pita bread with this dish.

Of course, this blog entry would not be complete without me giving you my self-qualified opinion on the best fish money can buy. If you really want the king of fatty and delicious fish, go for a spring (aka chinook) salmon caught off the west coast of Vancouver Island during the winter. These are called, "winter springs." Make sure its flesh is white, and that it has stripes of fat on the inside of it's belly. Bigger is better: as these fish grow in size, their fat content increases. I bought a four-foot fish off the pier in Richmond and sawed steaks off the beast. It would drip fat while baking and was possibly the most succulent fish I've ever eaten. I also bought a nice big tuna off the pier and sawed off steaks. It was also fatty and succulent. If you're into sushi, go for salmon roe and toro (tuna belly meat). Avoid most commercially-served salmon unless you know it's wild caught. It's mainly Atlantic salmon, which is generally farmed. Canned salmon is wild caught, as the flesh of farmed salmon is too soft to can.