A Czech-Australian family is keeping a traditional Christmas Eve celebration alive by preparing carp, a fish considered a pest in Australia.
Carp is an introduced pest in Australia and when caught must be killed and not returned to the water. It remains, however, an important part of the Christmas meal for Australians of Eastern European heritage.The carp caught by Glen Hill can end up in some very fancy dishes, including the 2024 Melbourne Royal Australian Food Award gold medal-winning smoked carp pate.
But this week the professional fisher who works the Coorong and Murray River received an unusual and specific order, for a Czech-Australian Christmas celebration.In Australia, carp is an introduced pest that's not widely seen as edible. 'People have told me eating carp is disgusting,' said Veronika Seda, who moved to Australia from the Czech Republic 12 years ago.They decided to return to live in Adelaide 18 months ago and Mr Pekhart has introduced Christmas Eve carp and potato salad to his Australian family celebration.Just before Christmas he will head to the Fleurieu Peninsula's Finniss River, near Goolwa, to catch a fresh carp to prepare for them.After filleting and salting the fish, he'll throw it on the barbecue, with a coating of flour and paprika.'There's a way you can disturb the little bones with your knife and cut them so that the meat, the fillet, stays together.' Mr Pekhart won't be following the Czech tradition of keeping the fish alive in a bathtub before preparing it, but fellow expatriate Ms Seda has fond childhood memories of her parents doing this.She said most people would buy a live carp from the market and take it home to keep for several days before it was eaten on Christmas Eve. 'People would line up with their bags with holes in it, like a knitted bag, and carry it home and put it in the bathtub,' she said.'It's part of the Christmas fun for kids to draw pictures and to name it.' The water in the bathtub would be replenished regularly to keep the carp alive and to purge any mud from the fis
CULTURE CHRISTMAS CARP CHRISTMAS TRADITION AUSTRALIA CZECH REPUBLIC
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