The Asian Carp Forum That Fails

University of Chicago had the most comprehensive forum I've ever seen for fish.  Obviously I'm on the opposite perspective when it comes to fish.  I'm a sushi lover.  I don't believe in saving the whales and I certainly find Taiji Cove a pride of Japanese dolphin eating heritage.  Why do I mention this?  Because unlike rural Americans, not to mention the Sea Shepherd and PETA, I have completely different views about worshiping fish.  First I think we should adore and respect the fish we eat.  We should do the same with cows and pigs.

I mean if it wasn't for their death, we wouldn't be able to enjoy the dirty pink-slime burgers, meat-glue steaks and of course my beloved sushi right?  Obviously the problem with America is that they are completely detached from their meats.  So protesters and majority of Americans simply see anything that they find foreign in the culinary world as distasteful or simply out of line.

Asian Carp is the opposite.  Here's a situation where somebody let some fish out and it took over the water ways.  Unlike the rest of Asia, carp in America is simply a pest fish, or an invasive species.

Folks, it is absolutely a food fish.  In fact, the more notorious common carp is a food fish.

In a time when we have all this fish, instead of appreciating them as another source of food, people are killing them off, using them as waste, or simply poisoning them in the waters.  Why?  Because they want to avoid the invasion of the Great Lakes.  And this is fine right?  If you watch this forum, you'll see just how invasive the fish are.  But the real problem is that none of them have developed the right solution.  Making them for what they are, food fish.

People think that carp is not valued and not worth eating in America.  It's been like this for some time in rural America.  However, if we all changed our views about food, this would never be the case.  I look at the other bottom feeder in America as an example.  During the Great Depression, people were literally starving.  Soup lines were the only option for a majority of Americans.  But in the South, some rural Americans decided that catfish was a source of food.   Due to traditions from France, much of the catfish in the South was developed into a culinary cuisine for the region.

Today, not only is catfish an accepted part of food culture, it is a staple in the South as farmers grow catfish for restaurants across America.

Now how did this happen in our history?  It turns out that people appreciated that the fish existed.  And people worshiped catfish as a way to simply eat.   Carp is not that far different.  In Japan, people worship what they eat.  Blowfish, blue fin tuna, whale, dolphin, eel, and yes even carp are all worshiped as food fish in Japan.  And it may sound disturbing to Americans since Japanese eat the dolphins they worship, but isn't that how we should live?  Shouldn't we appreciate the animals we kill as food?

Instead, everybody from scholars to biologists to politicians all see Asian Carp as just an invasive fish.  Something that is unwanted, a pest, and a way to develop technology, poison, and anything else on the tax dollar.

That's what I got from the forum.  Basically everybody had an aspect for attacking the Asian Carp, but none of them had a direction nor answer to basically learning to see them as food fish.

It's a food source.  It has been since 2,000 years ago.  You know when the Egyptian Empire existed?  The Bible?  Yes, it's that old folks.  I don't understand why people are missing the main point of dealing with Asian Carp.  See it as a food source and then appreciate them.  Worship Asian Carp.  Learn to adapt, adopt, and add Asian Carp as a culinary cuisine for 2015 in America.

I would label it "The Omega Movement".  In honor of Omega-3.

Anyway, I'll continue to update and write my thoughts on the Asian Carp.  In 30 or 40 years, we'll see how this pest fish turns out.  Do the rural Americans win?  Or do us International people win?  We see Asian Carp as a healthy form of Omega-3 ready for the dinner table.  And the rural Americans?  They see no value, no appreciation, and no luck for the fish.

Yes, in the world, we see Carp as a lucky fish.  Look it up.

To end this entry, I'll post the postmortem of the Asian Carp forum.  And what you will see is that they still fail to see Asian Carp for what it is.  It's not a debate of will America try and market the fish as food fish.  It's a food fish.  Will America change to admit it.