I could call this page Neeraja and it would not be entirely inappropriate because that’s what my name means: “born of the water,” which is what is true after all of seafood, or frutti de mare (fruits of the sea) as they are called in Italian. But much as I love seafood, my name is not a synonym for seafood, it refers to the lotus flower. Nevertheless I though my title more fitting than seafood, because a lot of very good fishies and other edibles actually come from freshwater. What’s more this category is not confined to fish and seafood by any means – some all-vegetarian ingredients such as lotus roots, water chestnuts and seaweed also fall under this category in my opinion.