Here comes the bonito…

The fishing season has started and the bonito fish is knocking on our door. But do not rush to eat the first bonitos of the season that have survived the massacres of illegal fishing. This fish will become much tastier in one week. For one week, try to absorb this information about bonito and hang on…

Do not believe those who say, "This year, there will be plenty of fish." Illegal fishing has destroyed the young fish since the beginning of August. They did not give them the opportunity to grow into full bonitos. The first bonitos that escaped the massacre are now in fish market stands. But I would recommend you be patient for one week because, in the meanwhile, the fish will fatten and become tastier. The bonito is extremely delicious starting mid-September to mid-February. 

One of Istanbul's symbols 

The bonito is the heritage of Byzantium and one of the symbols of Istanbul. According to the history books, a bonito was engraved on the back of bronze coins minted between the 1st and 3rd centuries, because it was the bonito that saved the population living inside the city walls during sieges that lasted for years. 

The Black Sea is the gathering place of bonitos. They enter the Bosphorus Strait and follow the route along Istanbul's Sarıyer, Kireçburnu, Tarabya, Bebek and Ortaköy districts to reach the Marmara Sea. They always swim on the right side of the Bosphorus. Fishermen say the left eye of the bonito is blind and for that reason they flow on the right. 

Grilled or baked 

Allegedly, the reason Byzantium was founded not on the Chalcedon (Kadıköy) side but at Sarayburnu was the bonito, because this fish never goes near the Chalcedon shores. It comes from the Black Sea and fills up the Golden Horn....