# Salmon: World's Most Over-Rated Fish **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 1, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549 "2009-12-01T02:23:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/1 "2009-12-01T02:23:04Z")
Despite my constant insistence that I don’t like this pink putrescence, my wife has subjected me to yet another variation. \ I’ll take a tilapia or perch or any other ‘junk’ fish any day. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/2 "2009-12-01T02:36:26Z")
Sounds like you’re eating the pink mush that is mis-named “Atlantic salmon.” Wild Pacific salmon bears no relationship to that flavorless sponge. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/3 "2009-12-01T02:40:51Z")
I don’t like salmon steaks that much either but I will eat them especially grilled. However, smoked Scottish Salmon is excellent. I would still take catfish over it for dinner though. Tilapia isn’t a junk fish at least around here. You can buy it in high end seafood markets and restaurants. It tastes a lot like catfish. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/4 "2009-12-01T02:41:15Z")
Yeah, you must be doing it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/5 "2009-12-01T02:47:33Z")
I’ve never researched the fish, and not only my wife has fed me salmon, so I wouldn’t know the difference. I’ve never been willing enough to throw away money to order salmon at a restaurant. Unless I come across some free tastings/samples, I’ll revel in my ignorance. I love catfish, farm-raised tastes much better than wild IMO. I like most fish I’ve tried. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/6 "2009-12-01T03:07:20Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Sounds like you’re eating the pink mush that is mis-named “Atlantic salmon.” Wild Pacific salmon bears no relationship to that flavorless sponge. Amen!!! Fresh, wild caught Alaskan salmon is some of the finest food in the world, and truly a gourmet delight. Farm raised Atlantic salmon is not something I choose to eat, not just because of the inferior taste, but also because of the often destructive or polluting farming methods used to produce it. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/7 "2009-12-01T03:07:29Z")
I don’t care for salmon either, although I’ve probably only had Atlantic Salmon. I hate Catfish and Perch too, blegh. Is Tilapia considered “junk” fish? I do like it quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/8 "2009-12-01T03:55:08Z")
I once vacationed on the San Juan Islands, off of Seattle, and dined nightly on freshly caught, home grilled salmon. I still consider those some of the finest meals I’ve ever eaten, despite them having been cooked at home. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Understander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3da27b/32.png) [@The\_Understander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Understander)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/9 "2009-12-01T04:11:23Z")
Report to the re-education camp immediately. You are Number Six. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/10 "2009-12-01T04:29:45Z")
Good salmon is spectacular, probably second only to a good meaty tuna steak. Where I grew up, tilapia is an invasive species, and flourishes in filthy canals tainted literally with sewage. On an episode of Dirty Jobs, they used tilapia as part of a water filtration system-- the tilapia ate other fishes’ poo in the water. So my reaction to tilapia is pretty negative, and it’s amusing/disturbing how it seems to be the trendy fish of the moment. The fish served in restaurants is probably raised for consumption and therefore is not comparable to the tilapia I know, but I still can’t bring myself to order it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/11 "2009-12-02T22:12:43Z")
Lox. How can such a horrible thing as salmon taste so good smoked, thinly sliced on cream cheese? But I digress. I dislike all fish, having cleaned out aquariums in my youth. Mrs. Plant likes salmon. Some nice Dopers have helped, orange sauce, olive oil and four with oj and a sea food rub. ---
**Author:** ![Rack-a-Bones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rack-a-Bones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rack-a-Bones)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/12 "2009-12-03T00:55:56Z")
Probably a regional thing. As **Smeghead** noted above if you’re here in the Pacific Northwest the salmon you eat for dinner most likely was caught that morning. Hell, I’ve plucked them out of The Sound myself. Truly wonderful food. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/13 "2009-12-03T01:27:23Z")
Good salmon is as amazing as those upthread make it out to be. Bad salmon (or overcooked salmon) is an abomination. ---
**Author:** ![Lily\_Milliner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8edcca/32.png) [@Lily\_Milliner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lily_Milliner)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/14 "2009-12-03T03:55:34Z")
> [@AudreyK](#): > > They used tilapia as part of a water filtration system-- the tilapia ate other fishes’ poo in the water. [hijack] I was under the impression that this made tilapia an environmentally-friendly species to eat–that it can be raised in small pens without much damage to water quality. [hijack] ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/15 "2009-12-03T04:02:44Z")
Is Pacific salmon available on the East Coast? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/16 "2009-12-03T04:10:45Z")
> [@Lily\_Milliner](#): > > [hijack] I was under the impression that this made tilapia an environmentally-friendly species to eat–that it can be raised in small pens without much damage to water quality. [hijack] [The Little Rock Zoo](http://www.littlerockzoo.com/) has a pool, rather a small lake they use to recycle the Rhino excrement. Huge stands of canna, Chinese ginger, parrot feather, water iris, arundo donax twelve feet high, etc. There was talk of introducing tilapia to it, but I don’t know if the did. Feeding the fish back to animals would have been the ultimate recycling, but I doubt the keepers would have gone for it. They chlorinate any overflow before introducing it to the environment. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/17 "2009-12-03T04:17:53Z")
I only know the pink crap at the local supermarket. Even if I liked it, it’s too damn expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/18 "2009-12-03T04:34:44Z")
Yes, it’s terrible. Please stop eating it. As wretched as salmon is, I volunteer myself to do you and world a favor by eating it for you. Someone has to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/19 "2009-12-03T08:41:07Z")
> [@Lily\_Milliner](#): > > [hijack] I was under the impression that this made tilapia an environmentally-friendly species to eat–that it can be raised in small pens without much damage to water quality. [hijack] Well, sure, they’re beneficial for the environments in which they live, and can be farm-raised with a reduced environmental impact. But it’s quite unappetizing knowing that this fish can thrive in poor-quality water and eats poo. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549/20 "2009-12-03T14:13:29Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > Yes, it’s terrible. Please stop eating it. As wretched as salmon is, I volunteer myself to do you and world a favor by eating it for you. > > Someone has to do it. You’re a mensch! 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salmon-worlds-most-over-rated-fish/519549.md?page=2)