I've thought about Asian Carp for some time. I know that the DNR, the White House have spent millions of dollars preventing this invasive fish from entering the Great Lakes. However, there is a very important element to this story that is missing. The fact that Asian Carp is a food fish and Americans don't want to accept it as a viable food source.
Today, I just wanted to talk a little bit about changing the dynamics of the entire population in America. For years, both parties in government have been arguing about the costs associated with healthcare for the poor and the sick. It's as if they don't want to pay for it with our tax money, yet the food companies continue to rack in profits feeding our young worse and worse products with additives and processed chemicals. In other words, obesity is an epidemic in this nation and nobody seems to have a nationwide solution to stop it.
What if Asian Carp could be the push we needed to emphasize Omega-3 back into our children's diets?
Asian Carp poses a huge threat to the Great Lakes, but it's also very healthy. You see, carp is a food fish. Asian Carp is regularly eaten in China and Eastern Europe. If this fish has been around for 2,000 years in the culinary world, there's no debate about the nutrition nor the recipes. It's just a fact that people eat this fish.
In America, the problem is perception. People don't like carp because they compare it to the common carp which are bottom feeders and seen as garbage fish. However, even garbage fish are eaten daily in America. If you look at lobsters, catfish, and even flounder, all of them eat dead things in the ground. We may not agree to see it that way, but I'm sure the biologists don't distinguish between which is a good or bad bottom feeder, regardless of cuisine, taste, nor traditions.
For me, perhaps the biggest market is sushi. I don't understand why in America we are so limited to ocean fish for sushi. In Japan, it's obvious that all fish are fair game for consumption. Sushi chefs across Japan have found creative and innovative ways to consume fresh water fish as sushi. Perhaps the most famous is Kohada which was showcased on "Jiro Dreams of Sushi". The gizzard shad from the lakes are carefully prepared in vinegar to be served as nigiri based on Edo-mae sushi. It's the traditional Tokyo style sushi which shows off the pristine silver colors of the shad.
However, carp is no stranger to sushi. Chinese have eaten fresh water sashimi for centuries. It lost its luster after the fall of the Tang Dynasty but it continued to thrive in Japan. The Emperor loved sushi so much that it became a national dish. Carp was the first derivative of sashimi. In the mountain regions of Japan, sushi chefs grab carp and cut it down alive into slices and serve it directly in its own carcass. It may sound cruel but Japanese are notorious for freshness and having the fish served in its own body is seen as so fresh that the fish may even move.
Now nobody expects Americans to accept traditions of sushi. We are a nation that implements moral rights to fish. So perhaps the only thing we can do is push Asian Carp to be as delicious and cherished as our king salmon which can easily use the same rivers.
After reviewing and reading forum after forum on Asian Carp, I'm finding that the name isn't really the biggest hurdle for carp. It's the bones. Americans, or at least rural Americans find that the fish is too bony to make it viable as a food fish.
I don't know about you, but isn't that why we have sushi? The sushi masters are so well prepared to get around bones that they see fish like this as a challenge. They'll slice and clean the fish with their expensive sharp knives showcasing their talents in front of their fans and patrons. In fact, most sushi eaters prefer to try the most exotic fishes because the idea of sushi isn't just freshness but also trying a variety of species.
The biggest hurdle for carp isn't just promoting it to Americans, it's also the laws. Most carp are usually sold alive in other parts of the world. Unlike other fishes, carp tends to degrade quickly after death. So for this reason, chefs have discovered ways to just keep them alive in tanks and prepare them for consumption as customers order them.
The Lacey Act implemented by Congress prevents any carp to be transported alive. This means that restaurants and even fish markets can't purchase Asian Carp alive. Chinese, especially the Cantonese cuisine is customary to store fish alive before preparing. You will see live crab, lobster, and even bass alive in tanks at Chinese restaurants. It's their tradition.
In sushi restaurants, almost all fish are processed and frozen. That's because laws in America have forced a term "sushi grade" which almost always forces all restaurants to serve fish frozen to kill off parasites. And although chefs will say that their fish are fresh, it's almost certain that all their fish have been frozen overnight or flash frozen to kill off parasites by law.
That may be an issue for the Asian Carp. Although the fish is normally transported killed. It almost always is driven for hours before they are frozen and processed at the factories. That's because none of the Asian Carp are caught with sushi in mind.
Removing the Lacey Act will allow for more sales of carp. It will not only open the flood gates of the Chinese restaurant market, it'll open new innovative ways for fisherman to transport fish alive to processors who can then prep the fish for sushi consumption. Probably flash frozen -40 below zero and then shipped to chefs across America. Essentially opening another source of fish similar to that of Tsukiji Fish Market which happens to be 8,000 miles away.
In rural American forums, I'm learning that ridicule for Asian Carp exists everywhere. In fact, most probably aren't sushi eaters. They see raw fish as the usual fears of parasites. However, us sushi lovers already know that the sushi chefs know what they are doing and almost always know more about fish than even the fisherman.
So the fear of Asian Carp as a potential parasite hazard could be removed by experts that supply fish in the industry. They are just good at what they do. And of course fresh water fish as sushi is a new concept in America but it has existed in China and Japan for over 2,000 years. It's just proven.
Perhaps the biggest example of where fears can be reduced is "Izumidai" or tilapia sashimi. I eat this regularly and chances are that many Americans have eaten this fish. That's because it's commonly served in replacement to "tai" or snapper. The white flesh is ideal sashimi and the texture between tai snapper and tilapia is very similar. Recently high end restaurants have been caught selling tilapia fillet as red snapper in America. So the potential is there.
Eating Izumidai means that fresh water fish are very viable sources for sushi. It has been and always will be.
To reduce invasive fish, it's possible that sushi chefs should come to the rescue. Eating Asian Carp is the only way that we can move ahead with the fish. All other options are just simply too harmful to the environment and the economy. Sushi is an expansion, a way to educate and increase Omega-3 back into the American population, and of course a cleaner way to remove carp.
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