Off the menu

An Indian friend with whom I have been staying in the Nilgiri Hills was asking what had happened to the whitebait which he used to enjoy years ago in England, during his time at Cambridge. In those far-off days whitebait appeared on restaurant or pub menus as a starter with the same frequency as egg mayonnaise or half an avocado pear. Tiny fish known as whiting in Tamil Nadu made very good whitebait, he said, and I had seen something similar in Kerala (there called mullet) pulled from the sea in those ‘Chinese’ fishing nets introduced from the Far East in the 14th century. Deep-fried whitebait, using whatever fish they may be, and dusted with flour and chilli powder, make a popular dish in the clubs of south India —where steak-and-kidney pie is still to be found on the menu as often as chicken biryani.

The traditionally English whitebait, however, are likely to come frozen from Holland these days.