Seafood sourcing?

[joej627]

Hey guys,

My body tends to like fresh seafood.  Especially in the spring and summer.  Especially when raw =).  Problem is; I live in Indiana.  There are a few quality sushi places.  I get mass amounts of alaskan salmon that is amazing.  How else do you guys go about getting stuff in bulk?  Order online?  I don't really feel like going to restaurants all the time or markets.  Ideas?

-Joe

[RogueFarmer]

Gotta find a wholesaler. Remember my cousin got all these 4 pound lobsters for 6 dollars a pound in Louisville a few years back. Some upscale farmers markets might have a seafood vendor.

Squid is a good standby and cheap and probably the most sustainable thing you can eat though I am not sure if the harvesting practices are the best but I don't know.

[eveheart]

I live in a large, coastal city, and even here seafood sourcing can be difficult. Sometimes a good source will all of a sudden turn bad, as with my (former) favorite seafood market that started getting chemically-preserved "fresh" fish. I do not buy seafood in large quantities. I search high and low on the internet and get recommendations from upscale restaurants. My best sources are Korean vendors.

[dariorpl]

eve, is there a way I can I tell if fish has had chemicals added to it to preserve it?

[eveheart]

I'm not an authority on this! Suggestions: you can ask the vendor, first of all, but so often the person selling the fish has no idea and will answer your question with "yes" or "no" without even knowing what you are asking. Sometimes, it helps to ask the manager.

Also, you can observe how the fish is delivered in some places. If it is cut and processed elsewhere, it might have been treated for freshness/moisture retention.

Ask if the fish can be used raw or in ceviche - but the vendor might have no idea about this either.

Try buying smaller whole fish. The common chemical used hereabouts is sodium tripolyphosphate to retain moisture on cuts of fish. It's not used on fish in their own skins.

I guess the bottom line is to trust your vendor. Easier said than done, unless you go to the docks.

[dariorpl]

Very useful tips, thank you!

[TylerDurden]

eve, is there a way I can I tell if fish has had chemicals added to it to preserve it?

It is not exact a science, but wildcaught seafood just has an extra tang in the taste  that farmed seafood just does not have. When I was still very ill and had not fully recovered on a rawpalaeodiet, I was very sensitive to any chemicals, no matter how tiny, in the foods I bought.  Fortunately, this oversensitivity would make me vomit up the foods, however raw, soon after eating them. Sadly, the healthier I became, the less sensitive I became to such traces of chemicals.

[eveheart]

LOL, fish is a little pricey around here to use the vomit test!

[TylerDurden]

LOL, fish is a little pricey around here to use the vomit test!

Now that I no longer live in the UK but landlocked Austria, I too am finding that raw seafood is way too pricey - I only buy small amounts(all priced at c. 5 euros per 100g!) and only buy the best I can get of the wildcaught stuff - even then, it is less than ideal as c.99% has been prefrozen prior to arrival in Austria. However, I was under the impression you lived in California? Surely living in a State right next to the Pacific Ocean would make raw seafood relatively cheap? Then again, such a large State is bigger than many European countries so that someone might well be living 100s of kms away from shore yet still be in California(I think?).

[eveheart]

Now that I no longer live in the UK but landlocked Austria, I too am finding that raw seafood is way too pricey - I only buy small amounts(all priced at c. 5 euros per 100g!) and only buy the best I can get of the wildcaught stuff - even then, it is less than ideal as c.99% has been prefrozen prior to arrival in Austria. However, I was under the impression you lived in California? Surely living in a State right next to the Pacific Ocean would make raw seafood relatively cheap? Then again, such a large State is bigger than many European countries so that someone might well be living 100s of kms away from shore yet still be in California(I think?).

I can drive to the coast in 30 minutes when there is light traffic, but the road is often crowded. My son has been known to show up with all sorts of seafood from the Pacific and inland rivers, but for everyday eating, most foods go through the enormous distribution system. Even when I lived in the middle of fresh vegetable fields, I couldn't buy a single head of fresh local lettuce in town unless it had been shipped to the city and than back to the grocery stores.

For reference, California is about the size and shape of Sweden - and if you put the south of California at Nice FR, the northernmost part would be well north of London.

[TylerDurden]

Hmm, I see.....


My family had a similiar situation.  My grandmother once had regular access to a nice old woman in Northern  Italy  who gave her lots of eggs from her small nearby farm along with many other foods. Then, suddenly, near my grandmother's death,  the old woman told my grandmother that she could no longer deliver to private individuals as the local Ventimiglia fruit/fish market forbade her, via contract, to sell her foods to anyone else. Of course, the local market was dominated by Mafiosi. Anyway, my grandmother then had to drive to the nearest town/village to get her wanted produce at much higher prices.

Now, my Italian villa has a lovely garden but, due to idiotic, ruinous, Italian labour laws, we cannot have local Italians tending the garden and the various houses, as  we would not only have to pay a ruinously high  salary(despite offering free accomodation at the local villa for free plus paid-for  electricity/phone costs) but also we would have to pay their pensions etc., not to mention health-costs etc. Needless to say, we haven't had any servants for years as a result. No wonder I seem envious of GS with his 6+ servants. Admittedly my own parents also had 6 servants when they were in Nepal(it was considered rude for foreigners there to have any less), but it seems that this is no longer possible outside the 3rd world.

[eveheart]

Of course, the local market was dominated by Mafiosi.

We call our agricultural mafiosi ConAgra, Monsanto, and Cargill. They don't make it completely impossible to buy outside their market system, though; we have great CSAs (community-supported agriculture) here that offer locally-grown produce and meats direct to the consumer.

No wonder I seem envious of GS with his 6+ servants. Admittedly my own parents also had 6 servants when they were in Nepal(it was considered rude for foreigners there to have any less), but it seems that this is no longer possible outside the 3rd world.

I'm too egalitarian to want a servant, but then again, I'm part of the Tiny House movement, so my "villa" is too small to have a bunch of servants traipsing about.