On fish as a foodstuff

[lectrix_lecti]

Why the holy fuck is it like this; if you don't eat meat people accept it without any problems at all, and go make you special non-meaty food (after inquiring about your fish and milk and egg preferences), but if you don't eat fish, you're told you're childish?!

I loathe fish. White fish tastes of exactly nothing, and if you're bloody lucky there are bones in it. Red fish makes me queasy, just the smell of it is enough to make my stomach roil.

There is fish I can eat, particularly if it's been fried to a cinder and/or is served with generous helpings of bacon, such as mackerel and other Scombridae. I can also eat (and I actually like) processed fish, such as fish loaf and fish cakes. Let's say I've encountered about three types of fish I can eat. That leaves about three million types I can't force down.

Among those is salmon.

Now, for some godforsaken reason, salmon is often served at events I'm invited to. The starter is usually fucking salmon. If I point out that I don't eat fish, the waiter just raises an eyebrow and proceeds to ignore me. If the starter had been ham and I had said I don't eat meat, they would have sprinted to get me something else. Granted, the something else would probably have been some more or less disgusting ratatouille, but at least I would have been able to eat it. As it is, I nibble on whatever veg there is on the plate that hasn't touched the filthy stinking salmon.

My sister-in-law makes what is generally considered one mean salmon mousse. I've tasted it and I nearly gagged. I don't doubt that as salmon goes it's very good, but I hated it, and furtively ate lots of mini toast, more than my fair share, to get rid of the lingering aftertaste.

But I can deal with getting no finger food because salmon mousse is all there is. I can deal with not getting any starter, as long as I'm not paying for it. What I absolutely can not deal with, is that people say I'm childish when I tell them that I don't eat fish.

I'm fucking sick of being treated like an imbecile because I don't wolf down the wile stuff. If I'm infantile for not eating fish, then vegans are infantile for refusing pretty much all food, like snotty five-year olds.

I don't eat fish. That doesn't mean I'm a brat or that I don't deserve having my starter swapped for something I find edible.

Comments

[magenta01.livejournal.com]

Salmon moose does sound decidedly like something that would see me running from the room gagging if I dared to eat it. I completely understand!!

Mind you, I get called stupid for not liking tomato very much and hating cucumber as it makes me nauseaus (even the smell) - apparently that makes me "picky"!

[lectrix-lecti.livejournal.com]

I know lots of people who don't like tomato much. Cucumber, on the other hand, now that's odd! ;)

Seriously, refusing to eat food that nauseates you isn't picky or childish or whatever. It's a fact. Simple as that.

A former co-worker of mine refused to eat red meat, not because she was a vegetarian (white meat was fine), I never heard anybody call her picky or childish. But that's because it's meat, which somehow you're allowed not to like.

[blue-chris.livejournal.com]

I hate cucumbers too :p. Well, I like mostly blue fish, it´s very tasty, then again I am not a huge fish fan either. Some people feel like telling other people how to live their lives, well, maybe they should mind their own businesses

[lectrix-lecti.livejournal.com]

When it comes to fish, it appears it's everybody's business.

[blue-chris.livejournal.com]

Well, I suppose they feel they can do it because fish is in theory healthier than meat, but eating ants can surely be healthy too and nobody annoys people about it, bah, just ignore them

[deadmanshake.livejournal.com]

Ive never understood anyone that looks down on someone else for not liking something. So you dont like it. Big deal.
Now, if someone's never eaten said food, and they still pass judgement, then theyre open for ridicule, and acting "childish." Try it at least once, then you can say whatever you want.

And vegans? Ill keep my opinion to myself. =P

[lectrix-lecti.livejournal.com]

Try it at least once, then you can say whatever you want.

Exactly. I might be skeptical to some foodstuffs, but I'll bravely give it a go. Which is why I've discovered that I love gravlaks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravlax), of all bizarre things.

[jtmulc.livejournal.com]

Tell people you're worried about the mercury content in fish! It's a reason suitably environmentalist and nutritionist that people won't complain.

[lectrix-lecti.livejournal.com]

Hell no. I want respect for not liking fish, damnit.

Whenever I mention "respect", I feel like one of those godawful gang members we have around here who can barely pronounce it and who think it equals fear.

[slashergirl.livejournal.com]

I think if you live above a certain latitude, eating fish is one of the requirements for residency. I mean, doesn't everyone in Scandanavia eat fish? I think, back in the 18th Century, they could revoke your Norwegian citizenship for refusing to eat fish.

[I teasing, I hope you realize]

[lectrix-lecti.livejournal.com]

"If you live in New Jersey and don't like Bruce Springsteen, they raise your taxes."

Jon Bon Jovi

[tragicsupergirl.livejournal.com]

I hate fish as well. I can deal with fish fingers, but that's it.

Luckily, unlike you, no one has called me childish for it. I suppose it's because fish is a more common food in Scandinavia.

I have tried in the past, but I hate it. I can remember when I was 17, we had Japanese exchange students at our secondary school and because of that we had "Japan week". And part of that was tasting sushi. I tried. One bite and then I had to sprint to the nearest toilet to spit it out and try to prevent myself from puking.

[lectrix-lecti.livejournal.com]

I loved Romania, where a meal isn't a meal if it hasn't got meat in it.

I've never had sushi. If someone gives it to me for free, I'll try some, but I refuse to pay for something it's very likely I hate.

[pgmcc.livejournal.com]

if you don't eat fish, you're told you're childish?!

I've never come across that in Ireland. But then in Ireland most people of my generation were forced to eat fish on a Friday and many of us, including myself, developed a severe hatred for ths stuff.

I must admit that in later years I discovered monkfish and swordfish to be palatable.

The big problem I found here was for vegetarians. It used to be that when I was with vegetarians in a restaurant and they informed the waiter the didn't eat meat they were offered a "Nice cheese platter". The alternative was usually the same dinner as everyone else with the meat taken off.

Things have, however, improved enormously. In some restaurants the menu is so trendy it is hard to find some meat.

You will just have to leave the territory of the biggest salmon producing nation.

[lectrix-lecti.livejournal.com]

Things have improved so much for vegetarians that I'm likely to pretend to be one.

By the way, one of my vegetarian family members once complained about trying to quit eating meat, many years ago, and not finding any useful cook books. What she got was a lot of bollocky literature on the philosophy of vegetarianism, while she wanted to find out how on earth you cook lentils.

The salmon has haunted me in most corners of Europe, and I bet it's always imported from Norway. Argh!

[pgmcc.livejournal.com]

I was doing a supply chain strategy assignment for the Irish fish board some years ago and the major threat to the Irish salmon market was the swamping of the market by Norwejian salmon. Definitely a Sci Fi story there.

[lectrix-lecti.livejournal.com]

And it should be written partly in a phonetical rendition of Thor Heyerdahl's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_Heyerdahl) accent. That man gave Norwegian English speakers the worst possible of names.

[pgmcc.livejournal.com]

a phonetical rendition of Thor Heyerdahl's accent

I think I only heard his accent once on a documentary.

When I was growing up the Kon-Tiki expedition was one of my favourite events. I even read a whole book about it.

[lectrix-lecti.livejournal.com]

I think I only heard his accent once on a documentary.

Consider yourself blessed. His accent nearly made my ears bleed.

I still think the Kon-Tiki expedition is extremely fascinating. He may not have been the world's most credible archaeologist, but he was certainly one of the most entertaining.

[skinfaxe.livejournal.com]

That doesn't mean I'm a brat

err. yes, it does. i don't know where to begin saying this is so wrong. you're from norway. the land of fish. ie, you're a fish-lover.

because of this, i'm not sure i like you anymore. just kidding! hee

[lectrix-lecti.livejournal.com]

Go have some mistreated herring, you Swede you.

[skinfaxe.livejournal.com]

now, that's a completely different thing. that kind of herring is just disgusting. i remember the childhood summers spent in norrland, where everyone but me thought herring parties was the bestest family-gathering-bloody-tradition evah. the smell! the horror! *shivers*

[etceterate.livejournal.com]

Just say you're allergic...

[lectrix-lecti.livejournal.com]

See reply to Jtmulc above.

[etceterate.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. Just figured it would make life easier! I work with someone who has a phobia of bananas (yes, really) and he gets all sorts of stick for it (not from me I hasten to add). I've always thought that if he'd just said he was allergic it might have made his life easier!

Didn't mean to make you feel bad about the suggestion, just didn't bother to type it again...

[lectrix-lecti.livejournal.com]

The thing is, I don't necessarily want easy.

I will however tell people that I'm "allergic to perfume" instead of elaborating on how I'm hyperreactive to certain essential oils, notably rose oil which is used in most non-citrus perfumes, but I'm fine with some perfumes such as CK One blah blah yadda yadda you get the idea. It saves explanation time.

Not to mention that fish allergy would imply being allergic to egg whites and such, making eating rather complicated.

Can you tell that I have indeed given it some thought?

But I'm not really one to want life to be easy, unless I'm feeling lazy. I perk up at signs of conflict, and believe me, there's plenty conflict to be had if you don't eat fucking salmon.