Editorial - The Fall River Herald News

Codfish group an addition to the area

Here in Fall River, the New England Yankee codfish cakes and beans runs smack into the Portuguese codfish dish called “bacalhau Gomes de Sá.”

This is right and fitting for a city located in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, where there is a codfish on the Statehouse weathervane.

We are people, of the cod.

It is fitting, then, that the New England Academy of Codfish recently joined  the International Academies of Codfish and celebrated the joining at the Beira Alta, a restaurant in Fall River.

The academy is an outgrowth, not just of the Portuguese’ love for codfish, but of the role Portuguese fishermen took as discoverers back in the days when their fishing fleets roamed the world in search of codfish.

The Portuguese got to America chasing the cod, as did British and French fishermen. Routes to the codfish grounds were jealously guarded in those days.

In pre-refrigeration times, some meats could be smoked and some vegetables could be pickled. The codfish could be salted and, wonder of wonders, when soaked in water to remove the salt and then cooked, the cod tasted as good as it did fresh. Cod became important, not only as a fasting food for Catholics who lived far from the sea, but as a staple food that could be preserved.

The Academy of Codfish of New England strives, not only to advertise the health benefits of codfish as a food, but strives to honor the memory of the Portuguese navigators who made it to New England on the frail of the cod.

The academy also extols the benefits of friendship among all peoples. The academy reminds us that centuries ago, Portuguese fishermen called the codfish, “fiel amigo,” or “true friend.”

If you’ve ever eaten a big dish of bacalhau, or Portuguese salt cod, you know well what a friend you can find in the codfish.

That the codfish is delicious, we know, that it is low in fat and loaded with vitamins and minerals is something some of us have yet to learn.

Lest you think that it’s all about the fish, consider that in the first year of its incorporation, the Academy of Codfish of New England gave high schools and colleges some 650 books in English about Portuguese history and culture.

Combining an appreciation of the codfish with a love for the Portuguese culture is a unique, but intellectually sound idea, and the encouragement of friendship is always welcome.

The Academy of Codfish of New England is more than welcome in Fall River, just as welcome as a big plate of codfish cakes and beans or bacalhau Gomes de Sá.

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