All this week hundreds of people have been making their way down to the Johhny Moscardini sports stadium to enjoy this year’s annual Fish and Chip Festival. The new covered seating has meant that many more people can now enjoy the very best that is on offer come rain or shine. (those quick summer storms that can sometimes hit Barga)
Freshly cooked pasta, grilled steak and sausages are on the menu but all eyes are on those freshly crisp fried fish and chips that you can only get once a year prepared by the expert hands of the AS Barga cooking team who have now been serving up pesce e patate for 28 glorious years.
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Some of the story behind the Fish and Chip festival: It was from this town, population 10,000, that harsh economic conditions caused an exodus to the industrial centres of Scotland at the end of the 19th century.
In such places as Ayr, Largs, Glasgow and Greenock, to hungry dockers and shipbuilders Italian immigrants sold fish and chips in the winter and ice-cream in the summer and so created a culinary culture that continues to this day.
The names of Nardini, Conti and Marchetti became high street fixtures as the Italians grafted unremittingly. Some of the settlers returned upon retirement and, by way of homage, started the Pesce e Patate festival 28 years ago as a greasy-lipped celebration of emigration and homecoming. source and more from the article about the fish and chip festival from Oliver Bennett
I’m proud to be the son of a fish fryer from Scotland/Barga. Last year my wife and I went to this wonderful festival to pay homage to that hard working breed of Scots Italians. Just for the record, you can’t get a fish supper that good in the whole of the North East of Scotland. Go you will love it it’s worth the flight!
Well done and thanks folks.
Carlo Zambonini (wee Carlo)
My dad was big Carlo