Asian Carp Is Perfectly Good Fish

For years now I've been following the Asian Carp movement.  And for years now I've heard nothing but hatred, jokes, and even almost coded racism towards the fish?   Is there such thing as a race on fish?  I guess being Asian I do take some offense that Salmon is adored in the river system and Asian Carp is not?

All joking aside, I'm just bewildered by the lack of interest in fixing the Asian Carp problem in America.  It seems like everybody agrees they are pests and are flooding the gates towards the Great Lakes.  Yet, nobody seems to want to stand up and do the right thing.  Eat them.

Sure, I've seen the videos of the USGS and some Louisiana chefs.  I've seen the carp processors and even Chicago sustainable seafood chefs promote carp.  But we're lacking the basic ideas in Asian Carp.  It's perfectly a good fish to eat.

How do you market carp so that rural Americans accept them?  It's simple, promote them as cheap fish.  So cheap that it makes sense to eat them more so than common carp.  Cheaper than Buffalo or Walleye.  Cheaper than farmed salmon from Canada or Chile.  Cheaper than even that farmed animal meat?  You know, the burger?  Pink Slime?

The joke is that America is the most obese nation in the world, and nobody seems to understand that this fish will put a huge dent in the population for cheap alternatives to bad meats and a whole lot of Omega-3.

Okay, we can certainly give up on the rural American population.  Why?  It's simple, they aren't exposed to the international cuisine community.  To this day, I still read about rural Americans joking around about sushi as poison to our bodies.  I've heard all sort of jokes about eating other species of fish like Blowfish and Eel.  In my book, they have to be written off because obviously they aren't open to change in fish.

What we need to do is simple, focus on the Omega-3 community.  In other words, the Kale crowds will move this fish forward.  Think about this for a second.  When was green juicing popular anyway?  I mean did you grow up drinking green drinks?

It was because of the Omega-3 crowd that kale took off in this nation.   So the same crowd can do the same for the Asian Carp.   Here's the reason why. First, Omega-3 is proven to help with heart conditions and diabetes.  It's also proven to help with the brain functions like memory.  And it's one of those things that we can't produce on our own.  We have to consume them from things like fish.

The fish movement is loud and clear.  I know some of you readers are thinking that I'm just echoing what most fish lovers are already doing.  But let's not forget something, the entire nation of Japan is a fish diet movement.  Yet, it's not exactly the same as Asian Carp.  They are eating Blue fin Tuna to death.  They are eating Unagi eel to death.  Those species cannot be sustained for long.

What I am saying is that America has to change anyway.  Unlike Japan, Americans lack the pallet that eats diverse species.  Outside of the sushi crowd, Americans just consume a load of shrimp, tuna, cod, and salmon.  Is that answering the questions of the Asian Carp?  Not really.

The Omega-3 crowd tends to be more educated about foods than the rest of America.  Not only do they count their calories and look at the nutritious values of foods, they also are keen on sustainable seafood.  In other words, they eat fish that isn't on the red list at Seafood Watch (Monterey Bay Aquarium).

For me?  Well I'll devour every fish I get my hands on.  Salmon?  Done.  Cod?  Oh yes.  Tuna?  Serve it raw!  How about bass?  Yes serve that too.   And Asian Carp?  Oh yes, fair game, and serve it on the bone please!

Unlike most of you in America, I'm not scared off by bones.  In fact, I'm one of those that look at fish heads and wonder if I could get them for cheap from the grocer.  You throw them in a pot and boil them to make stock.  Hey remember that the entire nation of Japan has based their entire pallet on fish stock known as "dashi" or bonito stock.

There is nothing stopping us from starting a new trend.   Call it what you want.  Rural Americans have to the burden of dealing with this in their rivers and waters.  However, it doesn't mean that the Omega-3 crowd can't enjoy them.

It's only a matter of time before America awakens to a better diet right?  I mean how much longer can we consume bad animal meats before we become 90% diabetic?  90% obese?   Come on America, we have perfectly good fish here.

And we are spending millions per day killing them.  Let's just get a movement going...