Andrew Strak (abstrak@accesswave.ca)
Wed, 2 Feb 2000 08:33:53 -0400
Thank you, Juan. I do not have anything against catfish. I like the fish and
appreciate very much. And yes, you are right when talking irradiation or
GMOs but our catfish, dogfish or ratfish have nothing to do at all with the
respective mammals to be labelled by their names whatsoever but for the sake
of some persistent tradition and therefore truly warped common perception
associated with their identity. And besides, there are so many other species
where the existing common or market names are also derogatory or at least
misleading. I would give another example. Why to call Lates nilotucus from
Lake Turkana Nile perch that is not truly perch anyway? In minds of many
contemporary Nile river is not too clean and its image is tainted with
overcrowding, pollution, muddy water in similar. But Lake Turkana on the
other hand is clean, pristine, with virtually no human settlement around it.
Moreover, the majority of Nile perch products today come from lake Victoria
but at least here it is legitimate to use Victoria or Lake Victoria perch.
But why not Lake Turkana perch for the perch from the lake and similar for
so many other species, if there is already a well established precedent ?
Andrew Strak
----- Original Message -----
From: Juan L. Silva <jls@ra.msstate.edu>
To: Andrew Strak <abstrak@accesswave.ca>
Cc: <info@thecatfish.com>; <seafood@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2000 11:39 PM
Subject: Re: Catfish under another name?
> Dear Andrew,
> I agrre with you to a point. However, we have to be true to consumers and
> sometimes it takes time and effort. Look at irradiation and now GMOs
> (genetically modified organisms). These are proven, maybe the later needs
more
> work, technologies/tools but have taken and keep taking money and
education to
> get consumers to acknowledge the benefits.
> I am of the opinion that the consumer needs to be told the truth and then
> educated if there are problems. There are two advantages to catfish
> (farm-raised): seafood (wild caught) is dwindling and farm-raised catfish
is
> gaining popularity. Now your neighbor may trell you he/she tried this !!!!
in a
> restaurant in California and it was nothing like he/she thought- it was
> delicious and tasty! It is fresh and can be harvested and placed on the
table
> year-round fresh! It is nothing like catfish!
>
> Just some thoughts.
>
> Juan
>
> Andrew Strak wrote:
>
> > Dear Juan,
> >
> > But why to spend millions of dollars to convince people to eat something
> > that it is abominable to them because of its name in the first place?
Would
> > not be much easier just to change the common or market name to match
> > consumer preferences? We can call a new model of car and so many other
> > products by the names of choice. Unfortunatelly, in this area of natural
> > goods out choices are very limited and very often to the detriment of
the
> > consumer and product itself. I suspect, that the reason the catfish is
not
> > so popular in Canada is due to its very name. Nobody here wants to eat
> > cat-fish, dog-fish or rat-fish for the obvious reason of very unpleasant
> > mental associations. Should not suffice to label the product by its
> > taxonomic name for proper species identification while leaving the
market
> > name selection to the producer? The current common and market names are
> > sometimes confusing enough while grouping various species in some
instances
> > and singling them out in the others. And besides, what's really unique
and
> > most important for a proper species identification is its taxonomic name
> > that at present is not mandatory label requirement anyway.
> >
> > Andrew Strak
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Juan L. Silva <jls@ra.msstate.edu>
> > To: <info@thecatfish.com>
> > Cc: <seafood@ucdavis.edu>
> > Sent: Tuesday, February 01, 2000 11:30 AM
> > Subject: Re: Catfish under another name?
> >
> > > Dear Juergen,
> > > This problem happened here years ago, and through campaigning and
> > education
> > > people learned that farm-raised, grain fed catfish was a product of
very
> > high
> > > quality and had much different taste and sensory profile than
wild-caught
> > > catfish. Another problem is that federal laws mandate that the food
> > product be
> > > identified with its proper name/common name.
> > > I suggest campaigning/marketing (our Catfish Institute has done some
in
> > > Europe) and educatinfg the consumer (chefs, buyers, consumers) to
> > distinguish
> > > the farm-raised catfish from the common catfish. Bring out its
advantages:
> > > sweet, mild flavor that can be marinated/prepared to please any taste,
> > good
> > > nutritional quality, and excellent appearance.
> > >
> > > Juan L. Silva
> > > Professor and Researcher and extension Specialist
> > > Mississippi State University
> > >
> > > "Juergen R. Ahlmann" wrote:
> > >
> > > > Dear Listers,
> > > >
> > > > Catfish is an excellent fish. We all know that but, there is still
the =
> > > > derogatory connotation. Does anybody know of other names for catfish
=
> > > > that sound perhaps a bit more inviting to the majority of the people
out
> > =
> > > > there? We are particularly interested in finding another name for =
> > > > catfish for England and Germany. In Germany, the catfish is
generally =
> > > > known as "Wels". As an example: in England, "shark" for fish &
chips is
> > =
> > > > referred to as "huss" and "rock salmon" has absolutely nothing to do
=
> > > > with salmon. In Germany, "Schillerlocken" have nothing to do with
Mr. =
> > > > Schiller's locks, a verbatim translation. Is it possible to
introduce =
> > > > the catfish under a completely different name? Existing or made up?
=20
> > > >
> > > > Juergen R. Ahlmann
> > > >
> > > > _______________________________________________________
> > > > Get 100% FREE Internet Access powered by Excite
> > > > Visit http://freeworld.excite.com
> > >
>
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