First Catch

Overview

For centuries the fishers of Acoria have lived by longstanding traditions. One of the most widespread is the rite of passage simply called the First Catch. When a child is finally old enough to fish themselves and catch their first fish, they must eat every last bit of that fish. If a child refuses to eat part or all of their first catch, it is believed the child will never be a successful fisher.

Preparation

With the fish caught, it must be prepped and cooked. A common way to eat the First Catch is to roast the fish over fire and eat the fish to the bone, scales and all. Once only the bones remain, they are ground up into a paste and then drank.
Other ways include removing the bones before cooking the fish and smearing the paste on the seared fish, cutting the fish into small chunks and eating it in a stew, or eating pieces of the fish raw and making a dessert out of the bone paste.

Origin

The tradition of eating every part of the first catch can be dated back centuries, before even the Elven Empire had been formed. Some people think the simple tradition just started from parents wanting to give their child the sole honor of eating their catch. Others think that long ago there was a boy who caught a beautiful and stunning fish, and after eating it he went on to be the greatest fisherman alive, catching the largest fish there ever was. So future generations wanted their child to eat as much of the fish as possible so they could be like that legendary boy.
In modern days, even if a family isn't particularly superstitious or believe in any deeper meaning behind eating the First Catch, they keep with tradition to mark a milestone in their child's life.