Jumping on the Bandwagon
- Small sardines ("petingas" in Portuguese) taste like home. They taste of nostalgia, of grandmothers, farms, orchards, sunny days, board tables and benches under the tangerine tree, contests, friends, lemonade, wheelbarrows, washing tanks with water heated by the sun, wet earth, bare feet, photographs in sepia, hair in the wind, a "come to the table!" shouted from the kitchen door to the street, watering cans, wooden toys, innocent laughter, rope swings, and so much innocence! Childhood summed up in a flash of little more than a handful memories of a time when everything was simple, beautiful, and uncompromising.
Given to few pretensions of appearing on a magazine cover or featuring in the adult world, the petinga shines from the height of its smallness and its enormity in simplicity and taste, proving that not everything is bad when size is not on your side. In a concentration of flavour, firm skin, with bright appearance and characteristic smell, clean, bright, and protruding eyes, the petinga attests that any excuse is good for a gastronomic trip to the past, making every kitchen a homemade tavern where you want to go. And stay. Comur's canned petinga boasts all of this; it has the fish, it has the extra virgin olive oil, it has the salt, and it has all the nostalgia in a magic can that opens to reveal each one's memories.
In the world of Comur, where no-one jumps on the bandwagon simply because they have no opinion (because each preserve is its own person and well knows where it comes from and where it wants to go), one could think that, by its size and simplicity, the petinga would embody this sheep-like personality, devoid of character. But, just as the young horse mackerel would repudiate this personification, this fish jumps on the bandwagon because it wants to go, because it knows that it will reveal itself to the world, exultant and humble, whether she upon a porcelain tray with thin slices of lemon and herbs, or in a full clay pot, stained and cracked from use.
Revisiting old recipes, giving them a personal twist to surprise the palate and still enliven memories, ours, and those around us, is something we always like to do because we will always have a story to tell. And petingas give us that freedom. They are, in fact, the keynote: in the oven, in pickled sauce, enveloped in batter and doused in lemon juice, fried and crunchy with açorda or rice with greens to go with it, in fish stew, or simply in an unpretentious tomato and onion sauce, petingas in olive oil by Comur are versatile and lend themselves to all kinds of creations where your imagination might take you. And that's why Comur petingas taste like home. That home. Jumping on the bandwagon of childhood memories. Yours. Ours.
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