Friday fish

I wonder how many of you eat fish on Fridays? It was a traditional thing to do when I was a child, both at home and at school. My mother used to say people ate fish on Fridays because the fishing boats brought their catches into ports on Thursdays and so it was at its freshest. They probably did this because fish was a Friday dish. In fact the custom dates back centuries and is based on Christian beliefs. (These are explained on the internet so I won't go into detail).

I have always enjoyed fish, so when my son and daughter came along I encouraged them to eat it but sadly with little success. No amount of pleading, bribing or indeed threatening made any difference. Neither did tempting them with small pieces of fish in breadcrumbs generously covered with their favourite tomato ketchup and generous servings of golden chips. Watching them trying to swallow tiny morsels between groans and large gulps of orange juice was painful. Was it, I wondered, because they could visualise the slippery creatures in the water? It wasn't as if they had seen fish being caught or indeed caught their own fish like this happy pair.

After much trying I reluctantly resorted to giving the children chicken whilst my husband and I ate our Friday fish. Admittedly, from time to time I would try again to tempt them but always failed.

We always ate our meals as a family around the table (still do) but when the children's favourite TV programme, 'Thunderbirds', was shown at 6 pm on Fridays our mealtime arrangements had to change. Eating before the programme would have been too early and eating after it too late for the children. So reluctantly I said they could have their evening meal on a tray whilst watching the programme, on one condition....they cleaned their plates. And this they did, every week without fail. I soon realised that they were so engrossed with the story that they didn't really know what they were eating, and so I hatched my plan. The following week I waited for the Thunderbirds programme to start and once the children were totally absorbed in it I passed them their meal on a tray. And so it was that they both ate a full portion of fish (thinking it was chicken) every week and were never any the wiser until I admitted my deception to the them years later. Now, as adults, I'm happy to say they both enjoy fish and eat it regularly.

So all I can say is, "Thank you Thunderbirds and 'International Rescue' for saving my children from what might have been a life without fish".

Comments

[Suzanne]

Your post cracked me up! We did eat fish on Fridays as my Mum was a good Catholic and it was a grave sin to do otherwise...LOL! Now we eat it a couple times a week but the kids like salmon and shrimp, the expensive stuff of course:-) Never heard of the Thunderbirds--is it still a common show?

[carolyn]

Thunderbirds are GO!
Have to confess to not liking fish and never cooking it, my husband sometimes cooks it but only one of our children likes it. One will eat it if he is hungry and the other dislikes it as much as I. Lucky we don't live in the middle ages when nearly half the days of the year were "fish days".

[redwood house]

yes we eat fish on Fridays, love it. When the girls are home we still enjoy eating meals at the table catching up on their news and sorting out the world. A coincidence we have both blogged about fish!!!
Jan