(622) Making Fish Floss

Many years ago, I lived in a poor neighbourhood. We were rich in terms of playmates, good neighbours, fellowship and much enjoyable communal activities.


A few of our male neighbours are die-hard hobby fishermen. Every possible opportunity they would go to the mining ponds to catch fish. When they returned, all muddy, sweaty and tired, the rest of the families would come into action. Those who could wield knives would defin and gut the catch. The women folks would each take a portion back to their houses to steam the fishes. Later we kids with good eye sight would sit around the long table to take out every bone, whether big or small. After that the women would return to their kitchens to fry the cooked fish meat into floss. The entire operation involved everyone; from old granny to a boy of four year old, under the vigilant care of an elder sister. Once we had a bumper catch of two hundred over fish. The processing involved working from eight pm until one am. Some of the catch had to be frozen in the nearest coffee shop's freezer. The next day, we went on processing the catch.


After many hours of work, each family would get a share of the tasty floss. Closing my eyes now, I can recall how watery porridge would taste with the sweet and salty floss. That was a very happy part of my childhood that money could not buy which no one could take away from me. Sad to say, my children would not have a chance to experience this!

* BoarFish009.jpg from glaucus.org.uk