Jun 22, 2009

Eating lies.

Over the past couple of years, I've learned a little bit on how fish are caught, how they're sold, and how they end up on our plate. Some of you may already know this, but we may not be eating what we think we're eating. We're being fooled, even at our favorite seafood restaurant or fish market. Seafood can be re-labeled or renamed as something that sounds familiar or more appealing, farm raised seafood can be sold as wild caught, and restaurants will right out lie and serve you lower quality food with the top shelf name and the top shelf price.

Renaming a fish to something that sounds more delicious has been a clever marketing ploy. Ever heard of Patagonian toothfish? You might know it as Chilean Sea Bass. Channel catfish are sometimes renamed Southern Trout. And my personal favorite, Slimeheads... which have been renamed, Orange Roughy. Many species have zero market value until their names are changed. Just by renaming them, they go from trash fish to upscale dining.

Here are some popular seafood items that are susceptible to the bait and switch. And by bait and switch, I mean douchebaggery. It's almost like ordering a filet mignon, and getting a piece of bologna (aka, Alabama round steak).


What you order:

Sea Scallops


What you get:

Frequently, sea scallops are plugs of muscle punched out of stingray/skate wings or shark fins.





What you order:

Pacific Red Snapper

What you get:

No such thing as a pacific red snapper. You'll be served one of several species of rockfish.



What you order:

White tuna in sushi restaurants, Grouper, red snapper



What you get:

Farm raised Tilapia, Catfish, Pollock





What you order:

Swordfish



What you get:

Mako shark



What you order:
Lobster



What you get:
Langoustine


What you order:
Wild Salmon



What you get:
Farmed Salmon


What you order:
Fish and Chips


What you get:
Expecting cod? If you're eating it in the UK, it's likely spiny dogfish. If they also give you fake potatoes, that would also add to your embarrassment.




What you order:
Blue Crab, Rock Crab



What you get:
Krab. A crab-like product made from fish. Failure nuggets.


This is the part where I tell you handy tips to ensure that you buy the right seafood. Honestly, its really hard. Going to a higher quality restaurant or fish market obviously helps. Even I still fall for the 12 dollar 'fried grouper' sandwich... and end up with a mouthful of cheap tilapia whilst hating my life.
The more you know.

4 comments:

  1. mmmmmm...failure nuggets...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Man, I love slimehead. It's a little piece of heaven in my mouth.

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  3. enjoyed the info, thanks.....i forwarded it to the boys. will check back often. jill

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  4. Had a "grouper" sandwich the other day, I've cleaned enough grouper to know that wasn't anything close. Definitely catfish, the price was also catfish so no rip-off plus it's a BIG sandwich. The wait-staff usually don't know any better either.

    Alex

    ReplyDelete