Fesikh
{{short description|Traditional Egyptian fermented fish}}
{{Infobox prepared food
| name = Fesikh
| image = Fesikh of Desouk.JPG
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| country = Egypt
| region =
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| course =
| type = Fermented fish
| served =
| main_ingredient = Gray mullet, salt
| variations =
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Fesikh ({{langx|arz|فسيخ|fesīḵ}}, {{IPA|arz|fɪˈsiːx|pron}}) is a traditional Egyptian dish. It is consumed primarily, though not exclusively, during the Sham el-Nessim festival, a spring celebration that traces its origins to ancient Egyptian times and is observed as a national holiday in Egypt. Fesikh consists of salted, pickled, fermented and dried gray mullet of the genus Mugil, a saltwater fish that lives in both the Mediterranean and the Red Seas.{{cite web |url=http://baheyeldin.com/egypt/feseekh-and-melouha.html |title=Feseekh and Melouha |publisher=Baheyeldin Dynasty }} In western Egypt, whitefish is used as an alternative.{{cn|date=May 2025}}
The consumption of fesikh has roots traceable to antiquity. In his Histories, the Greek historian Herodotus provides a detailed account of Egyptian dietary habits.{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D77 |title=Herodotus, The Histories, 2.77 |author=Herodotus |translator=A. D. Godley |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1920 |access-date=2025-05-15 }}{{cite book |last=Tallet |first=P. |title=A Companion to Food in the Ancient World |year=2015 |pages=319–325 |chapter=Food in Ancient Egypt }} Among other practices, he records that the Egyptians "eat fish either raw and sun-dried, or preserved with brine". The methods described by Herodotus parallel those used in contemporary fesikh, indicating a long-standing culinary tradition maintained from antiquity to the present.
Hazard
Each year, reports of a few cases of food poisoning involving incorrectly prepared fesikh appear in Egyptian periodicals, especially during the Sham el-Nessim festival, when the Egyptians consume this traditional pickled fish.{{Cite web|url=http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/263096/Egypt/Politics-/Egyptians-celebrate-Sham-ElNessim-in-parks-with-pi.aspx|title=Egyptians celebrate Sham El-Nessim in parks with pickled fish - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online|website=english.ahram.org.eg|language=en|access-date=2018-01-18}}{{cite news |title=Fish in a barrel / Feseekh, an Egyptian delicacy that is sometimes deadly |url=https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2019/04/27/feseekh-an-egyptian-delicacy-that-is-sometimes-deadly |access-date=11 June 2019 |issue=27 April 2019, p 42, (1/2 page article) |publisher=The Economist (weekly news magazine) Website requires subscription or simple registration (5 free articles/mo.) to read full articles)}}
In April 2012, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued recalls for whole fesikh mullet, cut up fesikh mullet in oil, and whole fesikh shad that were sold from a store in Toronto. There were three reported illnesses associated with the consumption of the products, which may have been contaminated with Clostridium botulinum bacteria.{{cite web |title=Canadian Food Inspection Agency Health Hazard Alert |url=http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/recarapp/2012/20120424e.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120430081414/http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/recarapp/2012/20120424e.shtml |archive-date=2012-04-30 }}
However, these reports never deterred the Egyptians from eating this celebratory dish, since they pertain only to improperly prepared fesikh and to expired or contaminated fesikh; the Egyptian ministry of health constantly urges the Egyptians to buy their fesikh from known and trusted vendors and to check expiration dates, or to prepare it properly if they do so at home, and stores selling the fish are constantly investigated.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
{{Cuisine of Egypt}}
{{Dried fish}}
{{Egypt-cuisine-stub}}