Tilapia--YUCK! Like eating a rat!! - Page 2

Okee dokee....I may be giving up talapia. I make it all the time with a few seasonings and olive oil. I have on occassion had some that tasted like dirt...like a catfish ugh.

At home we eat (due to my hubby's diet restrictions) chicken and fish and he eats shellfish but I do not due to religious reasons. I cook lots of salmon but I prefer the wild caught salmon. I didn't realize that the Atlantic salmon was a type of trout - no wonder it tastes different!!

I do on some rare occasions eat tilapia. To me, tilapia is to fish what Velveeta is to cheese - there are better options.

mjb.

Totally!

I totally agree OahuAmateurChef. My wife and I tried some a few months ago and we would never buy it again as well as pollock.

I believe you are being a little harsh on tilapia.
I think it's a great quick and easy fish. All fish live in water and sad to say a lot is polluted and dirty in one way or another. Pigs roll around in their own feces...etc You get the point.
Every animal is dirty..
I, myself, am a big fan of just about any fish dish..pardon the rhyme.

I just think that tilapia has a place...along with cod and flounder. Non fishy white meat fishes that are good for people like my mother who won't touch something like salmon, tuna, bluefish, ...
pretty much anything that isn't shellfish or bland.

Out of all the common fishes I actually prefer tilapia to the other ones.
but to each his own. :)

Tilapia has a sweet taste I don't care for. As far as what it eats I could care less. Pollock on the other hand is nasty, every time I have had it the texture was mush

AP )and we all trust them) says Tiliapa is in no way good for you

The AP has just reported that Tiliapa is nearly devoid of good Omega-3 fat and rich in bad Omega-6 trans-fat. :eek:

Popular fish has wrong kind of fatty acids - Diet and nutrition - MSNBC.com

No more Tiliapa for us.

Mike

I have tried many types of fish, I agree taste is very bad. Even tried cooking it diffrent ways.

You are entitled to you opinion, however.. to everyone here who has decided to stop eating tilapia because of this post, think more carefully. The tilapia is an omnivorous fish, like many other animals we consume. They are also opportunistic scavengers, also like many animals we eat. If we stopped eating these animals because waste is part of their natural diet, we would find food in far less places. What you are doing here my friend is condemning a fish for being hardy and thriving in harsh conditions. Whether or not you would eat them is again, purely your preference. However, you should also reconsider most of the supposedly "clean" foods you consume, based on this logic. Most of the tilapia eaten have been raised on farms in sanitary and controlled conditions. Yes, you can also raise rats in this way but dont you believe that to be a rather juvenile comparison? The bottom line is this, if you dont like it, dont eat it, but do not let misconceptions colour your opinion about any food, especially those based on opinions themselves.

its ok, u just cant cook it very long. its like poor mans flounder or snapper i guess. still its pretty good, pretty ok lol.

and what exactly are u trying to say about delicious rats?

just kidding.

but i think somewhere in africa or asia they have a very clean outdoor rat that is pretty good to eat. i f i w as there i would eat it.

Nutria are a giant rat that is in the southern USA and South America. I tried it and don't care for it.

Gunnar,Halibut and Cod are still king for Fish and Chips in the Pacific Northwest. I didn't know Tilapia was even on the list for quality fish and chips, maybe those are the Restaurants with the :Going out of business signs" in the window....................

 

 

could be, what I find hard to stomach is that tilapia used to be a super cheap fish, now it's almost the same price as salmon. that's just ridiculous.

It's been a few years since this thread was in business so it's interesting how prices have changed.

Maybe it will replace canned Tuna and become "Pooppourri of the Sea"..................

There is Tiliapa and then there is Tiliapa. Most of it comes only frozen and is like eating a sponge. However if you can get some under the name Tiliapa or St. Peter Fish it happens to be pretty good. Like a lot of other things is depends what you do with it. It is not for fish and chips, use cod or halibut or grouper, or cobia for that. Its good rolled and stuffed either with seafood stuffing or a finger of salmon with a mild sauce..At one time it was cheapest to buy and the wholesalers keep bringing in other fish from Pacific which is even cheaper. Changes monthly

dirty jobs, dirty job , dirty job I get so sick of hearing that, its trash TV for a show, this guy looking for dirt to amaze you. For one fish on these farm in china are fed a corn meal and they have USA inspection cert, and the USA fish farms do the same but they got a bunch of bad feed a while back and The USA inspectors dont know how much of it was fed to the USA  fish farms, so you better start worrying about USA fish too, but to late you ate it already.

In a design course, I was told, " There is no such thing as an ugly color, there are only ugly color combinations."

 

Similarly, perhaps there is no bad fish, OTOH, there are plenty of bad fish recipes.

 

I like Tilapia, sorry.

 

dcarch 

I'm not a fan of Tilapia either as, to me, it tastes like eating dirt.   The species is an opportunistic feeder and just doesn't appeal to me.   I'd prefer cod, halibut, haddock and even pollock over tilapia.

 

The insight though offered by another poster about the hydroponic aquaculture of this species was very interesting and, as another note.... READ WHERE YOUR FISH COMES FROM!!!.   It's now a law to post where the fish comes from.. USA, Vietnam, Thailand, etc, etc.   US aquaculture is governed under the rules of the Department of Agriculture so there are inspections on the farms (not on the harvested fish.. USDA does not inspect seafood --- figure that one out??!!!) but those regulations do not apply to shrimp farming in Asia or countries outside of the US.  "Wild Caught" is a good indicator too as they are from the oceans; not some unregulated farm.

 

And, as the original poster noted....   How do you know what eating a rat or cockroach tastes like??     I'm not tasting them to find out!!!

Government inspection Are you kidding   In 2009   200,000 tons of  assorted fish and seafood was brought in thru Port Everglades and other Florida Ports..20% was inspected.  Luckily most of it was frozen and the freeze kills a lot of things. In fact by US law no cruise ship is allowed to take fish aboard unless it has been frozen for 72 hours. For health purposes. The junk you get in the supermarket is not the same fish we get commercially. Supermarket  frozen fish is glazed therefore 20-25 % weight of fish is water.

Aloha Braddah (or Sista)

OahuAmateurChef, I couldn’t agree with you more!  I was brought up on Kaneohe Bay, Oahu,  which was really clean when I was a little kid and we fished just about everyday.  THEN, YUCK!!  I moved here to Arizona and the people here go NUTS for Tilapia.  My Mom and I were in the Costco at lunch time (and yeah, it’s the same here as the Costco’s in Hawaii) and they had Tilapia to sample.  My Mom dared me to try it, I had never tried it before, so I called the beat and took a bite.  I spat it out at the nearest trash can!  It was as horrible, really!!  My husband thought that I had lost my mind to even try it, but I can now say with honesty, No Thank You.

Keep this in mind, for ages, the Chinese thought truffles tasted like dirt, so they fed them to the pigs. Recently they found out that they can get very good money exporting them.

 

They could have also sold "Truffle fed pork" $1,000.00 a lb. LOL

 

Also, there are many people who think caviar taste disgusting.

 

Taste is so subjective.

 

dcarch

 

 

Edited by dcarch - 5/23/11 at 4:27pm

I'm not a fan of fish in general and the couple of times I have had tilapia it has been ok... nothing really to write home about.  I've had basa as well and again... nothing to really write home about. 

Lol at people not eating Tilapia because of the fish's eating habits as if its somehow the same as eating poop yourself.  The reason for not eating Tilapia is because its bland with a capitol B.

Just to clarify, Crustacea such as shrimp are predominantly filter feeders so if it is in the water, regardless of strata, they will consume it. Tilapia are a hardy, scavenging fish but the fish you get in the markets are farm raised as you can keep tilapia contained in a high density setting.  There is more food value in an acre devoted to raising tilapia than any other food crop in the world. Yes they will eat anything but unless they are wild caught, I wouldn't worry about them.

  Personally, I would worry more about eating tuna as opposed to eating tilapia as tuna has been reputed to have high heavy metal content where as tilapia only has a tendency to taste "muddy" as any fish that is kept in warmer water will. I'll take muddy over mercury any day.

Locally, they have earned the monicker: Feeshies which is a play on words due to the fact that they are commonly kept with hippos to keep their the wading tanks clean at the zoos.

If we really looked at what many animals that we consume actually eat, we may not want to eat them as readily....I on the other hand won't let that deter me.

I will agree that the Tilapia fish is a bit disgusting while swimming, but I have always loved getting out my blackening recipe and frying it up.  Find the Tilapia to be delicious.  It might be the only way, please definately try it.  

Being Filipino on my mother's side and caucasian on my father's side I heard this argument quite often at home of how tilapia is a garbage fish and unworthy of the our dinner table, this of course being my father's side of the coin.

 

And my mother's side was that it really wasn't and that it could be a very good fish with many preparations (my dad didn't like any of them) this of course is fueled by the fact that with her ethnic background ate alot of tilapia. (Not saying all Filipinos eat tilapia)

 

So I guess what I am trying to say is that with alot of food there is always someone who appreciates it and someone who doesn't.

 

While I do think it may be slightly closed minded to say "yuck" and "disgusting" when describing a food source, words like "dislike" or other words that are synonymous may be a better choice. (But to each his/her own)

 

I myself do not enjoy the taste of tilapia or at least haven't had it in a preparation in wich I could appreciate it, but comparing it to a rat or a cockroach wich I have yet to taste as well I remain open minded and look forward to the day my mind could be changed.

Hi,  I haven't tried tilapia, don't think I ever will, because where I live we use them for pond decoration - and they do a pretty good job of it!

idk, I'm quite fond of Tilapia.  It's one of my favorites to be truthful.  I've had it grilled,baked, and fried.  It's good to know more about the Fish, but until it makes me sick, or is declared unsafe to eat.. It hasn't done me any harm ... *crosses fingers*

It's funny to read everyones reviews on the same fish ... some of you say it tastes dirty, some refer to it as having no flavor and one said it is sweet .... If I had never tasted Tilapia I would probably never want to eat it after reading this thread! I like it but I have only had the farm raised version, I guess it is like anything ... it needs to be a quality ingredient and cooked properly to taste good.

Tilapia is one of the most popular fish in this part of the world.

It's farmed on a big scale and a good source of protein.

 

We have them on the menu, both the whole Tilapia and the fillets and they are very popular.

We serve them plain, beer battered, cajun style and as fish curry.

 

We catch them wild as well in the river and in the lake and put them straight in the pot.

They are not nearly as tasty as a sea fish, but then that's common for almost all fresh water fish.