Classic fish fayre from the man himself and his groundbreaking BBC TV series Floyd on Fish from 1984 which saw the intrepid chef get down and dirty and set foot aboard boats at sea and cook! - a whole new genre of TV cheffery was created overnight amd the term phrase 'my little gastronauts'sliped into everyday conversations ...
see this, one of the most poignant moments in all his programmes, where he asks, in French, a class of primary aged children visiting an oyster farm near Boulogne if they like oysters; he is blown away a collective OUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!... which, as he rightly observes, "says it all" - even today most people in the UK have never eaten oysters...
next up he pays a visit to the fish market in Newlyn where he is met by the late Tony Stevenson, the brother who ran the fish market and shore side of the same name, the UK's biggest fishing company - earlier in the day one wag had written the word 'prick' on a piece of paper and managed to stick it on the unknowing Floyd's back - he makes a reference to it in the clip - the two discuss some of the fish up for auction and Floyd chooses a selection for the classic French dish bouillabaisse including gurnards almost all of which at that time went for crab bait - in the clip you can almost feel the consternation of Floyd as a booted Tony Stevenson walks all over the fish boxes - a practise that has since largely disappeared - partly thanks to people like Floyd making us more aware that the fish in those boxes is actually destined to end up on someone's dinner plate as a meal!...
filmed around the same time, Floyd takes to sea aboard one of the few remaining boats drifting for pilchards, as they were then. With two women in the film crew the night was destined to prove a disaster as far as big hauls of fish go, or so the skipper hinted - Floyd then makes brilliant job of saving an entire nights filming in the closing sequence as he grills the entire catch of four fish down the quay - spot the little cardboard cutout fisherman with the number 13 - the Jonah - aptly placed on the table!
