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Gloucester, Massachusetts, circa 1905. "Cod -- weighing the catch." 5x7 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Were wasted like that, as a child I would have cheered. My grandfather, when asked by my mother what Norwegian dish he'd like to be served on a rare visit to our Bayridge Brooklyn apartment for dinner, replied Pluke Fisk (plooka fisk) - a thick soup made with boiled cod heads ( eyes included ) among many other tasty ingredients which varied from village to village in the old country. When this otherwise very dignified, classy 19th century gentleman with a Van Dyke beard noticed my 7 year old incredulous gaping expression as he sucked at boiled cheek and fish neck morsels - he attempted to coax me into trying a taste by telling me that fish were an ideal brain food and would make me grow up to be very smart. Every one at the table gasped as I replied in childish logic that the fish couldn't be so smart if they all allowed themselves to be caught and eaten. I was whisked away from the table as my mother laid down the law that my dad's father was not to be spoken to in such a disrespectful way and in future not to speak when adults were at the table. I gratefully went to bed without any supper - - -
Finally, we see the formative experience that inspired Mr. Dylan to write the classic "With Cod on Their Side."
Fish heads, fish heads
roly, poly fish heads
fish heads, fish heads
eat 'em up, yum!
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