Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Far East Fish and Rat Farming Practices


Do you buy frozen catfish and eat them, thinking that they're safe to eat? Maybe that they are healthy? 85,000,000 lbs Vietnamese catfish was sold to the US in 2009.

It's not a good idea to consume fish that are raised in the Far East. Often when ordering a fish in Asia, the live fish will be brought to your table for your approval, it will be cleaned and cooked table-side so that another fish can't be substituted. 

I know of a company that tried to sell frozen rats to the USA, and was shocked when he found that there was no market for his wares. 

Before cooking

After cooking

There may be a lesson in this.

h/t BR Man

6 comments:

Race Bannon said...

I'll have the Poo Ping Platter...I think Dr Seuss saw this coming.

Opus #6 said...

There is something unkosher about the whole idea.

WoFat said...

No market for frozen rats? What's the world coming to.

LL said...

Race - Poo Ping indeed!

Opus#6 - I beg to differ. Gefilte Fish is made of carp, also farmed heavily in Viet Nam. This Galitzainer and Litvak can be prepared (usually from frozen fish from Viet Nam) and pronounced kosher. Yes, I had to research this, not being very kosher myself. Vietnamese carp are considered "parve" (neither milk nor meat) according to kosher law - although halakha fish and meat shouldn't be eaten together.

When the stipulated head of a sheep isn't available for Rosh Hashana, according to Wikipedia, many Jews substitute it with gefilte fish (Vietnamese carp).

I think you're right that rat is never kosher.

WoFat- There is apparently a demand for frozen rat in Asia. Back in your time and my time, nobody had refrigerators or freezers there but times are changing. It's apparently more like the Land of the Big PX these days - though I think that the restaurants still serve drinks with ice made from Mekong River water (pinkish brown ice).

WoFat said...

Please, don't tell me that Bambi and Leather have
been replaced in the new society.

LL said...

WoFat - today they are called Bob and LeRoy. And with the new progressive trend to embrace homosexuality above all, I don't know how you could call yourself a progressive and not be a sodomite. Ah, the modern world of tainted catfish and strange combinations.

I'm impossibly old fashioned in a world where "heterosexual" is becoming a dirty word.

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