There's Something Fishy Going On Here

Remember the time you ordered that grouper sandwich, loved it and told your friends they just had to try one? My money says it probably wasn't grouper. In fact, I'd say that most of the time you don't get the fish you order from the menu at a seafood restaurant. Why do I think that? Because you can't tell the difference between grouper and Asian catfish, or tilapia, or cod. The restaurant owner knows that. He also knows that imported Asian catfish costs him less at wholesale and he can still charge you for grouper.

The grouper sandwich in the picture above is from one of Crabby Bills Restaurants in Florida. Crabby Bill says the fish in his grouper sandwich is "100% grouper" and that they also have their own fishing boat fleet to ensure the freshest seafood. I like that. Most seafood restaurants don't go to the trouble.

The St. Petersburg Times in Florida ran a special report where they surveyed 11 Tampa Bay Area restaurants that featured grouper on the menu. Six out of the 11 establishments were found to be serving substitutes. The biggest deception was at the Blue Heron Cafe in Palm Harbor. Their "champagne braised black grouper" for $23 was non other than tilapia. And these are restaurants located only a few miles from the coast. Imagine what happens when you get further inland.

News Channel 5 in the Mobile - Pensacola are ran a similar story. They did DNA testing at ten restaurants and found only one actually serving grouper.

This substituting isn't limited to restaurants. Similar discoveries have been made at seafood markets in the Pensacola area as well as many other locations.

Does It Matter?

If you enjoyed the "grouper?" and felt like it was worth what you paid for it; you may think it doesn't matter. For my money, I think it matters very much. If I ask for a grouper sandwich, that's what I want to get. Fresh grouper is very good. It has a distinct texture and flavor. That would be the reason I would order it. I want a grouper sandwich or fillet or whatever because I'm thinking how much I enjoy that particular flavor. The same principle would apply to other kinds of fish. If you have a taste for dolphin (I am no longer calling it Mahi Mahi) or sea bass or smoked mullet (who else grew up eating mullet?) then that's what you want. Don't offend me by substituting tilapia.

Oh please, not tilapia!

Of all the substitutes for grouper, in my opinion the worst is tilapia. The non-native blue tilapia, originally from West Africa and Palestine were introduced to the United States in the late 1950s (by idiots at University of Auburn) to investigate its potential as a sport fish and food source. A few years later in the early 1960s the Florida Game and Fish Commission (probably Auburn grads who moved south) introduced the the tilapia to Florida to investigate its use as a sport fish and as a tool to help control exotic aquatic weeds. Both ideas failed and an attempt was made to eradicate the entire population. By that time fisherman who thought the tilapia controlled water weeds and was a sportfish were putting them in water bodies all over the place. By the 1980s they were being found from Texas to the west, Florida to the south and as far north as North Carolina. Today other varieties of tilapia from all over the world are imported by the seafood industry.

When I was employed with the Florida Department of Natural Resources in the 70s and 80s, tilapia were considered a blight to natural habitat. Their breeding habits were disrupting and destroying the shoreline communities of native species such as large mouth bass and bluegills. Originally brought in to control exotic weeds the tilapia had become as large a problem as the one it was brought in to remedy. Similar problems have been caused when exotic species are brought in to control other exotics. Efforts were continuing to eradicate them. Also by this time tilapia were being farm raised as a food fish. Local fish farmers were suspending rabbits in wire cages over farm ponds containing tilapia. To reduce costs the farmers fed the rabbits; the rabbit dropping fell into the water and supplied food for the tilapia.

Listen, this ain't China yet. And until it is, the result of this fish farming method does not equal "fresh seafood" to me. I feel the same way about farmed raised catfish. If you know what a wild river or lake catfish tastes like you will immediately notice the difference when you eat one that is farm raised.

So, I'm opposed to the watering down or dumbing down approach that results from this type of substitution, especially in the seafood industry. It results in the "heaping piles of really cheap food restaurant" concept catering to lines of cattle awaiting cud appetizers. Serve the same crap everywhere and in time we'll think it is supposed to taste that way. IT'S NOT!

I grew up eating local fresh seafood. Seafood: scallops, oysters, shrimp, stone crab claws, shedder crabs, mullet, sand perch (one of the sweetest fish you'll ever taste), flounder, reds, speckled trout, whiting and lots of others. All with distinctly individual flavors. Seafood. To me that doesn't mean fried farm raised Asian catfish. And it doesn't mean tilapia in the grouper sandwich.

I remember seeing all the signs for "fresh seafood" when I first moved to central Alabama. After realizing that meant waaay overcooked frozen shrimp and farm raised catfish; I started telling my friends that in Alabama "surf and turf" meant fried catfish and okra. The absolute worst "seafood?" I ever ate was at the Saw Meal Restaurant just south of Centerville, in central Alabama. Known for their weekends only, huge "fresh seafood" buffet featuring rubber crab legs, hockey puck scallops, jerky shrimp, corn fed bland catfish, all overcooked and served to hoards of local diners raving about the menu while waiting in line to eat it. I'll bet that locals who grew up around Mobile, AL wouldn't eat there.

For a coastal boy like me it's not about the flavor of all the spices, rubs or sauces, pastes and coatings I can think of to screen or hide the taste with. What I enjoy about the taste of seafood is the taste of the seafood. All that extra stuff is supposed to do is accentuate the flavor, not become the flavor. Until you know what something really tastes like without the cover you will never know what you are missing. If you don't like it, that's fine. But do yourself a favor and at least try the real thing so you'll know when you are being duped. Or don't, and continue to think tilapia is worth paying for and Captain D's is a fresh seafood restaurant.

The bottom line is that I don't want to take a bite out of my seafood entree, not be able to identify it and worry that there's something fishy going on here. You shouldn't either.