Fish

In selecting typical recipes from the vast repertory of Italian cooking, the difficulty lies in the fact that many of the national fish dishes are made with fish unknown and unobtainable in this country. The waters of the Mediterranean and the Bay of Naples yield a wealth of edible sea creatures which seems unlimited. The different varieties of shellfish—lobsters, crayfish, “Dublin” prawns, crabs, scallops, clams, oysters, and mussels—not to mention all manner of other fish, ranging in size from the anchovy to the gigantic tunny—are familiar to all those who have been to Venice and sampled some of their incomparable fish dishes. Coming back from any of the coast cities or towns of Italy, the limited and monotonous range of fish displayed at our English fishmongers’ is striking and disappointing, and the price of shellfish prohibitive in many instances.