Whatever Happened to Catfish

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Jim_C

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Feb 26, 2024
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SF Bay Area
I know a bunch of you just read the title and are laughing your rears off.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and I have not seen farm raised catfish in the local markets in “years”.

What I have seen, and what we ate tonight, is farm raised Talapia. It was muddier than all get-outs. It makes catfish taste like high sierra stream trout.

So what has happened to catfish in the marketplace? How can it, or has it, been supplanted by Talapia?

Now I know I can order it online from the southern region, but with shipping I may as well be ordering lobster from Maine.

Your thoughts?
 
Look for Swai in the stores. It is a catfish variety from Indochina. I guess Swai sounds more exotic than catfish?

IMHO local catfish got hit by the marketing to make people believe they need to eat something ... better. A lot of money got spent developing aqua culture of tilapia for the US market.
Myself, I don't like catfish or tilapia
Reminds me of the getting people back to eating beef by convincing them Angus beef was better. I cannot tell the difference between Angus or the other meat breeds.
 
So what has happened to catfish in the marketplace? How can it, or has it, been supplanted by Talapia?
I would guess this to be true. Even here in the southeast, tilapia is everywhere as is swai, but catfish is readily available, also. I have never knowingly eaten tilapia or swai so I have no opinion of their taste, but I do like catfish. Fortunately, I don't have to buy fish...
Reminds me of the getting people back to eating beef by convincing them Angus beef was better. I cannot tell the difference between Angus or the other meat breeds.
This is a topic for another day, but YES, I agree...
 
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Tilapia is also very easy to breed and raise than catfish. Avoid any from China as they feed crap to them and it tastes like it.
 
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I know a bunch of you just read the title and are laughing your rears off.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and I have not seen farm raised catfish in the local markets in “years”.

What I have seen, and what we ate tonight, is farm raised Talapia. It was muddier than all get-outs. It makes catfish taste like high sierra stream trout.

So what has happened to catfish in the marketplace? How can it, or has it, been supplanted by Talapia?

Now I know I can order it online from the southern region, but with shipping I may as well be ordering lobster from Maine.

Your thoughts?
Man I love some Tennessee river fish. Can't beat the taste of river fish in my humble opinion. Can't hardly find folks anymore that commercial fish I can buy from but we have plenty of pond raised in my area.
 
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Around here its getting hard to buy frozen Catfish without STPP. That stuff does not belong in fish or seafood! I have friends that will give me river catfish but I am hooked on this Bluegill I order from Walleye Direct. I do get from Albertson sometimes if I want Blacken Catfish.
 
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