# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Dr.Woo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@Dr.Woo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Woo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/121 "2010-09-28T22:57:22Z")
I don’t care for pretty much any fish or shellfish. I really, really don’t like the smell or the taste. I too wish it were otherwise; I see people enjoying seafood but I just don’t get it. It’s a problem too, as the OP mentioned, as so many dishes on menus include seafood that it really limits my choices. It’s especially challenging since I don’t like to eat too much at a time, so I like to order appetizers as an entree, but it seems like in a lot of restaurants nearly everything on the appetizer menu is seafood. I love Thai food for instance, but it’s hard to find dishes that don’t have any swimmy things in them. And it doesn’t help that I live in the SF Bay Area, where seafood is really common. I eat pretty much anything else though, so usually I can find stuff to eat most places I go. Bacon-wrapped shrimp is a criminal waste of good pork fat. ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/122 "2010-09-28T23:24:05Z")
I generally opt out of seafood but will eat it if that’s the only/best option. I like shrimp and lobster but am not that fond of most fish. When I used to fish I was happy to catch and prepare my own. It being free and having a sense of accomplishment made me more willing to eat it. I prefer a good steak to any seafood. ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/123 "2010-09-29T01:27:17Z")
“Fish are friends, not food.” ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/124 "2010-09-29T02:43:31Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > I would be reluctant to eat fish from a buffet or cafeteria-style restaurant, unless it was one of those buffets that serve sushi and have people constantly behind the buffet, putting fresh stuff out. It most likely won’t hurt you, but I’ve had some awful fishy fish at buffets. Again, I don’t know if this applies to shellfish, since I don’t eat it, but I’d be suspicious. I thought I didn’t like haddock until recently, because I’d eaten some very fishy haddock at a buffet restaurant. But then I got some at a good fish counter, and it was totally different. If I were at a buffet or cafeteria and fish were the only choice, I’d get it fried. That seems to be harder for them to screw up, somehow. > > Some people say the fishy taste can be covered up with sourness. Hence the popularity of serving fish with lemon. I don’t really think that works. That fishy taste can cut through other flavors. Better to buy good, fresh fish and cook it right. Actually, in buffet places most of the fried breaded fish products come frozen and are popped into the frywell without needing to be thawed. As long as it is properly handled, and never thawed between production and cooking, it will not spoil. As a secret, most upscale places that are not gourmet [the appleby chilis class of place] also get the fried breaded fishie stuffs frozen and drop them in still frozen. [I used to work for US Foodservice, it is amazing what you can learn working at an industrial food supply house :D] ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/125 "2010-09-29T11:10:43Z")
> [@kath94](#): > > “fish are friends, not food.” “i’m having fish tonight!!!” ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/126 "2010-09-29T17:32:54Z")
> [@Hedda\_Rosa](#): > > Ugh, all seafood has that horrible fishy taste and smell. All seafood you’ve come across has gone bad then. Fish shouldn’t smell like fish when they’re fresh enough to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/127 "2010-09-29T17:45:01Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > > [@Hedda\_Rosa](#): > > > > Ugh, all seafood has that horrible fishy taste and smell. > > All seafood you’ve come across has gone bad then. Fish shouldn’t smell like fish when they’re fresh enough to eat. Fish shouldn’t smell like fish? What the hell should it smell like, then? ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/128 "2010-09-29T17:55:18Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > > [@tr0psn4j](#): > > > > All seafood you’ve come across has gone bad then. Fish shouldn’t smell like fish when they’re fresh enough to eat. > > Fish shouldn’t smell like fish? What the hell should it smell like, then? They should smell neutral. Sometimes they’ll take on the smell of whatever it is they’ve been eating but that goes away pretty quickly. The intestines can sometimes smell bad when you’re cleaning the fish, but once you wash that stuff away, your gutted fish shouldn’t have that fishy smell to it. Properly handled fish are the only ones worth eating. We have a lot of seafood markets around here that sell whole fish on beds of ice. The ice doesn’t keep them cool enough and they end up stinking the whole place up. The meat also gets mushy. A smell test is a great way to check a fish’s freshness. Often times I’ll put fillets in the fridge to cook and eat the next day. If something comes up, I’m forced to wait another day to cook them. The fish start going bad once you’ve had them out of the freezer for about two days and if I smell anything resembling fish in the fridge, I don’t bother cooking the fillets. Also, REALLY old fish tastes a little bitter. I accidentally cooked some up a few months ago. Inedible, it was. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/129 "2010-09-29T17:57:39Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > > [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > > > I would be reluctant to eat fish from a buffet or cafeteria-style restaurant, unless it was one of those buffets that serve sushi and have people constantly behind the buffet, putting fresh stuff out. It most likely won’t hurt you, but I’ve had some awful fishy fish at buffets. Again, I don’t know if this applies to shellfish, since I don’t eat it, but I’d be suspicious. I thought I didn’t like haddock until recently, because I’d eaten some very fishy haddock at a buffet restaurant. But then I got some at a good fish counter, and it was totally different. If I were at a buffet or cafeteria and fish were the only choice, I’d get it fried. That seems to be harder for them to screw up, somehow. > > > > Some people say the fishy taste can be covered up with sourness. Hence the popularity of serving fish with lemon. I don’t really think that works. That fishy taste can cut through other flavors. Better to buy good, fresh fish and cook it right. > > Actually, in buffet places most of the fried breaded fish products come frozen and are popped into the frywell without needing to be thawed. As long as it is properly handled, and never thawed between production and cooking, it will not spoil. As a secret, most upscale places that are not gourmet [the appleby chilis class of place] also get the fried breaded fishie stuffs frozen and drop them in still frozen. [I used to work for US Foodservice, it is amazing what you can learn working at an industrial food supply house :D] How do they keep the frozen water from reacting with the hot oil? ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/130 "2010-09-29T18:57:57Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > > [@Kyla](#): > > > > Fish shouldn’t smell like fish? What the hell should it smell like, then? > > They should smell neutral They shouldn’t have a strong smell. Like I said upthread, you shouldn’t be able to find the fish counter in the supermarket by smell. If you can, something is rotten in the state of the fish counter. Fish especially should not smell like ammonia. That’s a sign that it’s started to go bad. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/131 "2010-09-29T19:52:30Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > > [@tr0psn4j](#): > > > > They should smell neutral > > They shouldn’t have a strong smell. Like I said upthread, you shouldn’t be able to find the fish counter in the supermarket by smell. If you can, something is rotten in the state of the fish counter. > > Fish especially should not smell like ammonia. That’s a sign that it’s started to go bad. You know, this claim and the mantra that fish shouldn’t smell fishy, but only “smell like the sea”, that seems to be espoused by so many chefs, I’ve found to be just so much bullshit. Invariably, 100% of the fish counters, mongers, and markets that I have been to smell like fish… overwhelmingly like fish, and all of the fish I have smelled and eaten, even straight from the water smell like… you guessed it…fish. I have been to some great fish markets and some not so great fish markets and they all have an overpowering fish smell. Now, as far as that “fish should smell like the sea” gem, I am willing to concede… only insomuch as the sea smells like fish, because it is full of them and vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/132 "2010-09-29T19:58:22Z")
Little experiment to prove what I say is true, I challenge you to take a blind man to any fish market and find himself disoriented. I guarantee he will always know he is in a fish market… ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/133 "2010-09-29T20:14:59Z")
Of course fish smells like fish - that “ocean” smell is different to different people! And yes, fish smells like crap. I won’t go to one of the Asian stores here because it always reeks of fish. And when the new Asian store opened up and they made a point of never smelling fishy you bet I switched my business as fast as I could. The person who offered up salad with crab in it and lied is a dick, totally. Many people are truly allergic to shellfish and I am pretty sure that is one of the things that cause anaphylactic shock. I still don’t see that fish=shellfish at all - the tastes and textures are so different. But as I said, PASS THE CRAB LEGS! As for the OP - I don’t much go into really high class restaurants. 🙂 So I never see 11 out of 16 dishes as fish. I also live fairly far from the coast, so maybe that’s why. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/134 "2010-09-29T21:08:00Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Of course fish smells like fish - that “ocean” smell is different to different people! And yes, fish smells like crap. I won’t go to one of the Asian stores here because it always reeks of fish. And when the new Asian store opened up and they made a point of never smelling fishy you bet I switched my business as fast as I could. That’s because the fish is BAD. If it was GOOD, it wouldn’t smell bad! Obviously you’ve never had good fish in your life and your opinion is therefore invalid. When you say you don’t like fish, it’s because YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG. HERE. EAT THIS FUCKING SALMON. Oh you say it smells bad? NO ACTUALLY THAT’S A NICE SMELL. CLEARLY YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOUR OWN OPINION OF FOOD IS. …how’d I do? ---
**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 29, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/135 "2010-09-29T22:55:08Z")
> [@](#): > > …how’d I do? I was wondering why I’d never noticed this jerkiness in you before. You were perfect. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604/136 "2010-09-29T23:04:36Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > > [@aruvqan](#): > > > > Actually, in buffet places most of the fried breaded fish products come frozen and are popped into the frywell without needing to be thawed. As long as it is properly handled, and never thawed between production and cooking, it will not spoil. As a secret, most upscale places that are not gourmet [the appleby chilis class of place] also get the fried breaded fishie stuffs frozen and drop them in still frozen. [I used to work for US Foodservice, it is amazing what you can learn working at an industrial food supply house :D] > > How do they keep the frozen water from reacting with the hot oil? It sputters a bit when you drop the basket in, but lots of stuff are cooked while still frozen, like chicken wings, or the fried chicken patties at McdeathBurger. Properly frozen and stored breaded foods should not actually have much in the way of ice crystals, that actually comes from improper handling. There is a glaze of ice on certain flash frozen foods [like the boneless skinless chicken pucks made out of thighs and breasts] because of how they are processed, they actually are given a coating of water to make an ice glaze to keep them from random freezer burn but you don’t just tend to drop those in oil, those are usually grilled or thawed and cut into strips or whatnot. One of the bestest things about working at a food service supply [other than getting to buy at cost] was teh various companies coming in and doing training _burp_ I am still cheesed off at being diabetic - S[weet Street](http://www.sweetstreet.com/) came in with their entire line of desserts one afternoon ☹ But it was great buying stuff like the case of lobster tails or giant prawns at cost 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-not-eat-fish-or-seafood/554604.md?page=6)