# Anyone else not eat fish or seafood? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 22, 2010, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604 "2010-09-22T01:52:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/41 "2010-09-22T20:04:11Z")
Like Skammer, it is hard for me to understand people who won’t eat any sea things. I have always been a lifelong fish hater - fish tastes awful and smells worse. And then I discovered tilapia. And mahi mahi. And other tropical fish. And they don’t taste anything like the other fish. Crab and lobster - they don’t have to be in their “bug” shape and it’s really not worse than eating the innards of a cow, IMO. It would be no different than me turning off all land meat. But chicken and pork and beef all taste significantly different, and that’s before the 1001 methods of preparation. However, I certainly am not going to sell anyone on it. More for me! ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/42 "2010-09-22T20:09:29Z")
Most people would think it’s odd if a restaurant had 50% of their menu as chicken or pork or beef (unless it’s a steak house.) But I guess people just expect to see 50% as fish and seafood. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/43 "2010-09-22T20:11:16Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Most people would think it’s odd if a restaurant had 50% of their menu as chicken or pork or beef (unless it’s a steak house.) But I guess people just expect to see 50% as fish and seafood. I am actually surprised to hear this, though. Most of the places I go to have at the most, three fish dishes, and more often, even less than that. Lots and lots of chicken and steak, and a couple of pork dishes. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/44 "2010-09-22T20:15:33Z")
Maybe it’s 50% here since were are so close to the beach or it’s a NC thing or maybe both. But it sounds like the 50% level is not uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/45 "2010-09-22T20:21:45Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Most people would think it’s odd if a restaurant had 50% of their menu as chicken or pork or beef (unless it’s a steak house.) But I guess people just expect to see 50% as fish and seafood. But you’re lumping all the seafood together. It’s like saying 50% of the menu is from mammals, but you don’t like mammal meat. ETA: A single restaurant probably only has 1-2 dishes, at most, of any particular kind of fish or shellfish. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/46 "2010-09-22T20:26:56Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > I guarantee that a piece of bacon-wrapped grilled shrimp will cure the lot of you. I guarantee that it DIDN’T. It’s crap like this that I object to more than I object to the actual shrimp itself. Shrimp has a distinct flavor and texture and smell that I don’t like. I’ve had it numerous times, in all sorts of ways. I DO NOT like shrimp. I try shrimp, and other foods that I’ve previously disliked, on occasion. Voluntarily. Sometimes I find that my tastes have changed. But don’t assume that because YOU like a particular food, that everyone who states a disliking for that food will change his/her mind. I’ve changed my mind about tomatoes, and spinach. I’ve tried shrimp and scallop and clam within the past couple of months, and I STILL don’t like them. Not even bacon wrapped around the scallop could disguise the basic flavor of it. If I had nothing to eat but fried clams, and I was hungry, I’d probably make a meal of them. It certainly wouldn’t be my first choice, but I could choke them down. If I had nothing to eat but shrimp and/or scallops, though, I’d skip a meal in preference to eating that stuff. My husband likes just about any shellfish, and if we’re eating out and he orders shellfish, he’ll gladly give me a portion to taste if I ask. And if I feel like it, I’ll ask. And I give him a portion of whatever I’ve got that he wants to taste. Most restaurant servings are so large that we have to get to go boxes anyway. But shrimp has such a strong odor that even if I liked the taste, I doubt that I could get past the odor. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/47 "2010-09-22T20:28:39Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Maybe it’s 50% here since were are so close to the beach or it’s a NC thing or maybe both. But it sounds like the 50% level is not uncommon. What kind of restaurants do you go to? ETA: Lynn, I agree that is a really stupid statement. I won’'t eat tuna fish because of the smell, and I’ve had lots of people tell me I should try it because it’s THEIR comfort food. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/48 "2010-09-22T20:32:59Z")
To clarify , the 50% is normally in higher end places. Not cheap places or chains like Applebees or TGIF. As I mentioned earlier one place has 16 main dishes and 11 are seafood or fish. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/49 "2010-09-22T20:35:15Z")
I happen to like tuna (I usually eat it at least three times a week, up to as many as 7 times a week), but it does have a very strong smell, even albacore. I like the smell, but if I didn’t like it, I probably wouldn’t enjoy the taste of the tuna, because of that odor. My cats want to know if they can have your share of tuna. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/50 "2010-09-22T20:35:41Z")
I’m that way about all the fish that is good for you: salmon, mackerel, all the ones filled with Omega acids. Blech! OTOH, a nice whitefish can be delicious. I love cod, halibut, tuna, plaice, and the like. But no fresh water fish. Ever. Trout is disgusting. If it sits in the ocean, I’ll pass. Clams, mussels and oysters are like eating snotty rubber bands. Shrimp and lobster and crabs I will devour by the bucket-full. You can keep the squid, though. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/51 "2010-09-22T21:03:43Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > To each his own, but I don’t understand people who say “I don’t like anything that comes out of the water.” (Meaning any fish or shellfish). I have to believe it’s a mental thing and not really a taste/texture thing, because there is sooo much variety. > > There is firm, steak-like fish and soft, flaky fish. There is mild fish and strong-tasting fish. White fish and red fish. Saltwater and freshwater. A walleye, which I love, tastes nothing like salmon, which I hate. Tuna does not taste like talapia, which does not tase like hallibut. > > There’s just as much variety in shellfish. Clams, mussels, oysters and scallops are all bivalves, but scallops have a different taste and texture than the other three. Shrimp meat, crab meat and lobster meat are all very different (I love the former two but don’t care for lobster). > > So I can totally understand if you turn down clams, someone offering you talapia. Those two foods are more different than beef and chicken are to each other. You pretty much wrote word for word what I was going to. I don’t like brussel sprouts… but they are nothing like corn… which is nothing like a tomato, which is nothing like a bean, etc. Even a green bean is not like a lima bean, or a ripe red tomato is nothing like a fried green tomato. I know there are people who say they don’t eat any vegetables, but I don’t understand it… exactly the same as I can’t grasp how someone can write off all seafood. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/52 "2010-09-22T21:18:48Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Me: Sorry, no thanks, I don’t eat seafood > Them: How about some Tilapia then? > > I’m not sure why it is that if I tell someone I don’t like seafood, they immediately offer me fish. My good friend who despises fish tells me that Tilapia is the least fishy tasting fish, which may explain the question. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/53 "2010-09-22T21:27:15Z")
> [@](#): > > I can’t grasp how someone can write off all seafood. Due to my father’s family being fishers, and my husband being half Cajun, I’ve had the opportunity to taste all sorts of seafood. I don’t like any of it, except tuna and whitefish. I can say that because each time I try it, I don’t like it. Most seafood DOES have a common taste element, much the same as most cruciferous vegetables have a basic common taste. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/54 "2010-09-22T21:45:41Z")
I’m not crazy about most seafood, though I eat it on occassion. But the story I wanted to tell is this: My wife is of Asian descent. Whenever we go out to eat with her family, generally at a Chinese restaurant, they always order a ton of seafood. Not because they like it better than other things, but simply because “it’s the best deal at Chinese restaurants”. Meaning that seafood dishes are far cheaper there than at regular restaurants. It annoys me a little because I’d prefer they have maybe one or two seafood dishes and the rest something else. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/55 "2010-09-22T22:10:14Z")
Having worked in “Fine Dinning” a couple of decades as a chef (not currently), and skinning, scaling , cutting, chopping, shelling and otherwise manipulating tons of aquatic fishes and critters you all make me VERY happy…You are leaving more for ME to eat. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/56 "2010-09-22T22:10:41Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > I can’t grasp how someone can write off all seafood. > > Due to my father’s family being fishers, and my husband being half Cajun, I’ve had the opportunity to taste all sorts of seafood. I don’t like any of it, except tuna and whitefish. I can say that because each time I try it, I don’t like it. Most seafood DOES have a common taste element, much the same as most cruciferous vegetables have a basic common taste. I don’t doubt that to some people this is true… but is isn’t for me. I find nothing in common with Lobster tail and a Tuna Fillet… or a clam. Same with cruciferous vegetables… horseradish tastes nothing like Brussel sprouts, which taste nothing like broccoli. Just like my daughter can’t stand cilantro, but I think it is wonderful… different taste buds just work differently apparently. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/57 "2010-09-22T22:30:16Z")
While I typically don’t care for fish itself (the less-fishy-tasting fish is OK, in a pinch), I do love shrimp, lobster, crabs and scallops (basically the stuff that’s too expensive ☹ ) But rest assured that if you were dining at my house, or we went out to a restaurant, I would _not_ be exhorting you to try ‘X’ because ‘the only reason you don’t like scallops is you’ve never had them prepared like _this_’. That’s dickish, and if you’ve already said you don’t like seafood, I’d probably be pointing out steak, chicken or pork dishes that look good. As far as crabs, lobster and shrimp being described as ‘bugs’, well, I’ve always thought so. I mean, just look at those SOB’s. They are _definitely_ insectile. I grew up in a suburb of Baltimore, and maybe it was just a family thing, but every crab feast I ever attended, the grill was fired up and there were also hamburgers and hot dogs and such. That was good for me, because I _like_ crabs, but I get tired of picking them long before I get full! ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/58 "2010-09-22T22:56:41Z")
As for myself, I can’t imagine not eating seafood because I was grossed out by the thought or taste of it (though I certainly understand not eating it if you’re allergic to it). My father-in-law, for example, confines himself to eating either steak, chicken, or pasta no matter where he goes, he loathes seafood so much. Yet, he’s the first person, when a new seafood place opens up around here, to recommend trying to “the new seafood place”, and when we get there he studies the menu with great concentration, only to order… the steak, chicken, or (non-seafood) pasta dish (usually the steak). I can’t help but to be reminded of myself when I was a kid and would not let seafood cross my lips (except I actually did like cornmeal crusted and fried white fish when I was a kid). When I ask him about why he hates seafood so much, he just shrugs and claims that he’s a “dumb, picky redneck”. So at least he’s self-aware. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/59 "2010-09-22T23:08:33Z")
I do find that all seafood has an underlying flavor that I simply don’t enjoy. Perhaps describing it as ‘fishy’ is the wrong word. Since a lobster or crab is not a fish. But the taste is there. I also can only take cilantro only in small quantities. I, and my Wife really like hot food. But curry, for myself is simply something that I don’t like at all. Just ruins a dish for me. I’ll cook seafood for my Wife, and know what she likes. It’s generally pretty simple such as lemon and dill on salmon. I’ll taste it on occasion, but from where I sit, the salmon ruins the taste of the lemon and dill :shrug:. I’ll have the steak or a chop. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/60 "2010-09-22T23:14:12Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > I guarantee that a piece of bacon-wrapped grilled shrimp will cure the lot of you. Yeah…no. I like most types of pig products, but I don’t really care for bacon, either. I mean, I won’t fuss if I’m served it, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to order it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604.md?page=4)