Vopa

Just as in Apollona in Naxos, when the caique sailed away with the fish of size, the inhabitants were left with a plate of bony little fishes, so in Apulia I find a deep-seated conviction that the small fish, sardines, anchovies, vope, and the minute rockfish are the ‘destiny’ of working people. The fish of size are something they ignore, their names, their nature and how to cook them. This is confirmed in village markets in summer, where a crowd of people, mostly men, are gazing at a great variety of fish but not acquiring them. Poverty, a tradition now reversed, has severely limited both their choice and their approval, although, strangely enough, they spend fortunes on meat as a symbol of prosperity.