9 May 2010 Fill the freezer while you can

9 May 2010 Fill the freezer while you can


Sea food, when I was growing up in the land-locked Mid West/low prairie/Ozarks, was more an oxymoron than people today can imagine.

The average restaurant, the type most families could afford, offered catfish in some form and fried shrimp. The shrimp were usually served with tartar and cocktail sauce. The catfish was served with lemon and tartar sauce. Both were often fried to the point of being useful to drive nails.

While coastal-dwelling Americans had access to all manner of fresh or frozen seafood, the fish counters in small cities and towns didn’t exist. Aqua-culture had not made its way into the heartland. It was only after I was stationed in Phoenixville PA that I first saw a decent fish market and, at that point, had too little revenue to afford what it sold.

By the time I graduated university I’d been exposed to some decent seafood by eating at Chinese restaurants. It was not until the 80’s that I was fortunate enough to return to the Atlantic coast on business trips that included being taken out to dinner at real seafood restaurants. About the same time “Red Lobster” made its way into the region. People who grew up with access to real fish/seafood markets can’t begin to imagine how much an improvement “Red Lobster” offered to people who wanted better seafood menus.

It looks like we may see a wide-spread reduction in menu variety and quality at fish restaurants. The unchecked oil spill in the Gulf is, quite possibly, going to return us to the menus of m youth; the only seafood we’ll have much of will be farm-raised catfish and farm-raised shrimp. China may continue to export seafood to other nations but the lack of quality control in other Chinese products makes me extremely reluctant to trust any seafood imported from China. We have, in fact, stopped buying any seafood that has been caught or processed by/in China. I don’t know that I can bring myself to trust their quality assurance in any shellfish.

One thing’s for certain, Seafood is going to become a less common item on our table and a rare meal out of the house. Thank, Halliburton.