A week ago I mentioned discovering a local ethnic grocery which had a great selection--India Bazaar. Well, lightning struck twice, so to speak. About a mile away, on the same road, and in the same town even, was another exotic supermarket--So It Is African Market. Therefore, over the next few weeks and months you'll be hearing about many of the products from there. So combined with the India Bazaar wares, I have blog fodder until like December. Yay!
We'll start with sardines from Morocco. Specifically, Hot Titus's spiced sardines, from the Unimer company. A sardine, as people may not know, is a catch-all term for over twenty species of small fish that are part of the herring family. The source for this common name is somewhat vague: Most people think it's for the island of Sardinia, where sardines may have been abundant hundreds of years ago. Others think it came from the sardonyx stone, whose reddish-brown color is similar to the flesh of the fish in question. Sardines are renowned for their oily nature. This oil, in fact, has commercial uses, as linoleum, varnish, and paint are sometimes made with it. And, despite their reputation as being cheap, canned, trash fish, sardines are actually surprisingly healthy in some ways. They have decent amounts of Vitamin B2, Vitamin B12, niacin, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus, and small amounts of iron and selenium. They're also chock full of omega 3 fatty acid. Plus, unlike many food fish, they're relatively low in mercury. On that note, famous entrepreneur/venture capitalist Craig Cooper (Boost Mobile) reportedly eats five cans of sardines a day, saying they're the "Number 1 superfood for guys." Although he also is said to take precisely 22 minute naps every day, and to go to sleep every night at exactly 10:24 pm, so he seems to be exhibiting some OCD behaviors. I'm also puzzled by his claim--why wouldn't women also benefit from sardine's alleged awesomeness? Finally, "superfoods" are a questionable concept anyway--see my May 1, 2014 post.
I wasn't able to learn much about the Unimer company, makers of the Hot Titus brand, as I couldn't locate an official company website. I did see that it's part of a larger group, and that this subsidiary specializes in canned fish. One source said that the company started in 1973, but another referenced their products being available for over 80 years, so I don't know which is correct. However, in an article entitled, "5 Moroccan Multi-Millionaires You Should Know," Forbes mentioned Said Alj, who's president of the holding group which owns 80% of Unimer. Also, Unimer distributes to over 30 African nations.
Unimer company, Hot Titus spiced sardines in vegetable oil: These were deboned, headless sardines in soy bean oil, which had an orange-ish color. They were pretty good. Spicy as advertised, and the heat built up as they were eaten. Overall this was an interesting take on sardines, and good. I've had many kinds of sardines over the years--in water, mustard, tomato-based sauces, etc., and this was one of the better kinds.
Since this is my first post concerning Morocco, I thought I'd include a few tidbits about famous Moroccans, or at least folks with Moroccan heritage. Morocco boasts the first female Muslim Olympic gold medal winner, Nawal El Moutawakel, who was victorious in the 400 meter hurdles in the 1984 Summer Games. She was also the first Moroccan overall to win a gold. Said Aouita also won an Olympic gold medal, running in the 5000 meter event. Since this also came in the 1984 Games, he must have won his only a few days after El Moutawakel. He also won the bronze medal in the 800 meters in the 1988 Olympic Summer Games. Staying on the Olympics, Hacham El Guerrouj won gold in both the 1500 meters and the 5000 meters in the 2004 Summer Games. He also won a silver in the 1500 meters in the 2000 Games. Some consider him the greatest middle distance runner ever. Moving to the cinema, Juan Moreno y Herrera-Jimenez, better known by his stage name Jean Reno, was born in Morocco, although his heritage is more Spanish-French. He's known for roles is such films as "La Femme Nikita" (1990), "Leon: The Professional" (1994), "Ronin" (1998), "The Da Vinci Code" (2006), and "Alex Cross" (2012). Emmanuelle Chriqui,who was born in Canada to Moroccan parents, is arguably best known for appearances in "Detroit Rock City" (1999), "Wrong Turn" (2003), "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" (2008), "Entourage" (2015), and "Super Troopers 2" (2018). Two women with Moroccan heritage are directors. Michele Ohayon is best known for her Oscar-nominated documentary "Colors Straight Up" (1997). She also directed such documentaries as "Cowboy del Amor" (2005), and "S.O.S/State of Security" (2011). Sanaa Hamri is famous for directing dozens of music videos, for artists such as Mariah Carey, Prince, Jay-Z, and Nicki Minaj, as well as for directing the movies "Something New" (2006), "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" (2008), "Just Wright" (2010), and various episodes of the television show "Empire" (2015-present). Finally, Ibn Battuta (1304-1368 or 1369) was a notable explorer, visiting many places across Africa and Asia.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment