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queequeg´s heart pekos pantxinet   I  pekos pantxinet This summer I went to sea on the ship Belem. It is the last big commercial sailboat in France. It was built in 1896 to transport cacao from Brazil and The Antilles. Nowadays, there are classes for sailors on the boat and wealthy lovers of this traditional way of navigation also take the occasional spin on board. And you should all know by know that where you can find wealthy tourists, you’ll soon run into Pekos Pantxinet!

As soon as sub-officer David had a caught a skipjack tuna (Atlantic bonito) and reeled it on board, he took a knife from his pocket, cut a hole in the fish and scooped out its heart. Holding the heart in his hand, he turned towards the gunwale. It seemed as if he was going to throw it back into the sea. At that moment, I found David the image of Queequeg the harpooner in Moby Dick as he follows Capitan Ahab. He told me his Polynesian name the day I boarded the boat but I couldn’t remember it. All the crew called him David. He would return the skipjack’s heart to the sea. I was wrong, however. He sliced the heart into little pieces with his knife and began to eat them. His breath smelled of warm heart. David noticed I was watching him and he told me it was a tradition amongst his people. He offered me one of the morsels. I declined, but I told him he had given me an idea on how to prepare a dish with the fish. I brought it straight to the kitchen and marinated it in lemon and the few herbs at hand there. The sub officer David would not get his hands on the skipjack’s soul. That night we had wonderful ¨ceviche¨ for dinner.


Ceviche ¨a la Queequeg¨

recipe:

Finely chop garlic, coriander, black pepper and celery. You then mix it with lemon juice. Cut the fresh bonito into small pieces and marinate it for 30 minutes in the lemon – herb mixture. Add salt before serving. If you want, you can serve it with finely chopped onion