Sa Merca di Cabras: the traditional mullet from the ponds

There are dishes that tell the story of a region even before you’ve tasted them.

Sa Merca is one of them.

An essential dish, born from the combination of mullet, salt and plants from the lagoon environment, which embodies a profound aspect of the culinary culture of Cabras and the Sinis region.

Behind its apparent simplicity lies the knowledge of the fishing communities, who were able to transform what the ponds provided into a tasty, nutritious and long-lasting food.

Sa Merca is not just a traditional recipe: it is the story of a water-filled landscape, an ancient craft and the day-to-day relationship between people and the environment.

What is Sa Merca?

Sa Merca, also known locally as Sa Mreca, is a speciality made with mullet, boiled in heavily salted water and then wrapped in zibba, a plant typical of brackish environments.

Zibba, also known as obione or sea purslane, has fleshy leaves with a naturally savoury flavour. Used to wrap fish after cooking, it helps to keep it tender and imparts a delicate aroma, closely associated with the environment of the ponds.

The result is a dish with a bold yet simple flavour, in which each ingredient retains a direct link to the local area.

A dish that originated in the ponds of Cabras

The landscape of Cabras is profoundly shaped by the presence of water.

Over the centuries, the ponds, lagoons and proximity to the sea have fostered the development of a fishing culture which remains one of the most recognisable aspects of the local identity to this day.

The mullet plays a central role in this story.

Its eggs are used to make the famous mullet bottarga, whilst its flesh features in numerous traditional dishes, among which Sa Merca holds a particularly ancient significance.

Boiling the fish in salted water and wrapping it in zibba cloth actually allowed it to be preserved for longer, back when fridges and modern refrigeration techniques did not exist.

What we now regard as a culinary speciality thus arose from a practical need: to take pre-cooked food with them and keep it fresh whilst working in the fish ponds or on boats.

The knowledge of the fishermen of Cabras

Sa Merca is part of a culinary tradition in which nothing is left to chance.

The fish comes from lagoon environments; the salt helps to preserve it, and the plant used to wrap it grows in the surrounding wet, brackish lands.

Each element reflects a detailed understanding of the environment.

Over the years, fishing communities have passed down techniques, methods and tips that were not found in cookery books, but stemmed from day-to-day experience.

The amount of salt, the timing of the cooking, the resting time and the way the zibba was arranged might vary slightly from one family to another, whilst still preserving the essence of the dish.

It is precisely this skilful simplicity that makes Sa Merca one of the most authentic expressions of Cabras’s cuisine.

What is the origin of the name Sa Merca?

The origin of the term is not entirely certain.

According to one of the most widely accepted interpretations, the word may be linked to an ancient expression of Phoenician origin referring to ‘salty food’, alluding to the techniques used in the Mediterranean to preserve fish.

Other studies, however, link the name to dishes known in Roman times, which all involved the use of salt as a method of preservation.

Rather than attributing Sa Merca with certainty to a single civilisation, it is therefore prudent to regard it as the result of a long-standing Mediterranean tradition of fish consumption and food preservation.

A tradition which has found particularly favourable conditions in the Cabras area and has been preserved to this day.

The zibba: the plant that perfumes Sa Merca

One of the most distinctive features of the dish is the zibba.

It is a halophyte, that is, a plant adapted to living in salt-rich soils, and is common in lagoon environments and coastal wetlands.

Its fleshy leaves are arranged around the mullet after it has been boiled, forming a sort of natural casing.

The zibba helps to keep the fish moist and imparts an aromatic, briny flavour. It is therefore not merely a decorative element, but a fundamental part of the traditional preparation.

Through this map, too, Sa Merca maintains its connection with the landscape: its story could not be fully told without the ponds, the salt-tolerant vegetation and the natural environment of Sinis.

How to make Sa Merca

The traditional recipe calls for just a few ingredients:

• fresh mullet;

• salt;

• Zibba, or obione.

The mullet are thoroughly cleaned and scaled. After removing the entrails – taking particular care to remove the gallbladder – the fish are cut into slices or left whole, depending on their size and family tradition.

It is then placed in a saucepan with plenty of salted water and cooked until tender.

Once drained, the mullet is left to cool and then placed amongst the zibba leaves. The fish is left to rest, wrapped in the herb, gradually absorbing its aroma.

The quantities, boiling times and resting times may vary depending on the size of the fish and the traditional method used.

How to eat Sa Merca

Sa Merca is usually eaten cold or at room temperature.

Its flesh remains firm and full of flavour, with a strong briny taste softened by the herbaceous aroma of zibba.

It is a dish that does not require elaborate seasoning. Just as with many traditional Sardinian dishes, the quality of the ingredients and the precision of the technique count for more than the number of ingredients.

Tasting it means discovering one of the most authentic flavours of the Cabras area.

Sa Merca and bottarga: two expressions of the same culture

Sa Merca and mullet bottarga are two different products, but they both stem from the same culture of the fish ponds.

Bottarga is made by salting and drying mullet roe. Sa Merca, on the other hand, uses the fish flesh, which is boiled and preserved using salt and zibba.

Both showcase a cuisine that makes respectful use of available resources, minimising waste and transforming the mullet into a recognisable gastronomic treasure.

To truly understand these products, it is therefore not enough to regard them simply as specialities to be tasted.

They need to be observed in their natural setting: the ponds of Cabras, the fish ponds, the fishermen at work, and that part of Sinis where fresh water and salt water meet.

A flavour that tells the story of Cabras

Visiting Cabras means discovering a region where archaeology, nature and culinary traditions coexist in a surprisingly compact area.

Not far from the ponds lie the Sinis Peninsula, the ancient city of Tharros, the quartz beaches and the sites associated with the Giants of Mont’e Prama.

Sa Merca rounds off this story through flavour.

It is a dish without frills, born out of necessity and now part of our collective memory. A dish that continues to remind us that the most authentic cuisine is not separate from the local area, but grows alongside its landscape, its history and the people who live there.

👉 Discovering Sa Merca means tasting Cabras in its purest form: mullet, salt, the ponds and a tradition handed down through the generations.

Sources and further reading

The information contained in this fact sheet has been compiled on the basis of institutional sources, studies on Sardinia’s culinary heritage and documentation relating to the Cabras and Sinis areas.

The main sources consulted include:

• Sinis Peninsula – Mal di Ventre Island Marine Protected Area

• Comune di Cabras

• Mont’e Prama Foundation

• Laore Sardegna Agency

• Autonomous Region of Sardinia

• Acta Plantarum (on the botanical classification of the zibba)

• Texts on the culinary traditions and lagoon fishing of the Sinis region.

AI Disclosure (AI Act 2025 – Italian Law 132/2025):
The text content is AI-assisted, created by Antonio Casu with the support of ChatGPT (GPT-5.2), OpenAI, in accordance with the transparency principles set out in Regulation (EU) 2024/1689.