Jean B. wrote:

> Gregory Morrow wrote:
> > Jean B. wrote:
> >
> >> modom (palindrome guy) wrote:
> >>> On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:04:03 -0400, "Jean B." > wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> modom (palindrome guy) wrote:
> >>>>>
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/bu...l?ref=business
> >>>>>
> >>>>> It just ain't right.
> >>>> Sure it is. Farmed fish isn't right. I suppose, though, that
> >>>> given the condition of the seas, and the population of the world,
> >>>> it may be necessary.
> >>> Not sure about that. Catfish farming isn't practiced the same way
> >>> that, say, salmon farming is. For starters it's done in ponds in
> >>> Mississippi's Delta region up by Leland, not in pens off the coast of
> >>> Chile.
> >> I'd have to look into the comparative nutritional benefits, etc.
> >> to come up with a catfish-specific response. I will say that just
> >> as farmed salmon is, to me anyway, noticeably inferior, catfish is
> >> also... different. That is, if one enjoyed the old catfish
> >> flavor. Which we did.
> >
> >
> > That "old catfish flavor" was primarily muddy and dirty, because cats
are
> > scavengers and will so eat *anything*, even excreta...
> >
> > It's only when catfish started being farmed under cleaner controlled
> > conditions did it come to be considered anything other than a "trash
fish",
> > considered fit primarily for poor people...
> >
> >
> So... Farm-raised catfish don't have any excretia to eat?
>


Notice I said "cleaner"...nothing is absolute.

:-)

I grew up near the Mississippi and catfish was often on the menu. Fishermen
friends would sometimes give us some and it could be a real crap
(literally) - shoot as to quality. Sometimes the fish would be fine,
sometimes full of mud and junk...

If we bought from a commercial fishery, no prob, they'd catch those cats and
put them in big horse tanks for a few days with constantly fresh circulated
water and a diet of feed grain. They'd eventually be purged of most
impurities...

That very same fish market now sells catfish - but it's the farm - raised
catfish fillets. If you want wild - caught outta the river, it's a special
order, and thus more expensive...

I notice that my local stupormarket (Treasure Island, Chicago) has whole
catfish "on sale" for $3.98/lb; I don't think it's a whole lot cheaper in
stores on the South Side, which cater to a largely black clientele. So much
for "poor food"...

Anyways, now I have a hankerin' for fried catfish...and at this moment I'm
making coleslaw, so...

;-)


--
Best
Greg