Eating catfish!

I actually prepared and ate a catfish fillet! I have had a "thing" about fish since I was a little girl. I remember my mom got some bones caught in her throat and was choking. I was terrified and after that, whenever I would eat fish I would feel a choking sensation. It didn't help if the fish was overcooked, bony or tasted strongly fishy. If that happened, my gag reflex got engaged. It was all very unpleasant and so I tried my best not to eat fish at all, except for the tuna in a can.

That changed with TB's grilling. First I tried salmon and after my initial bout of squeamishness, found it to be very tasting. The same followed with tuna and tilapia. I didn't think I'd ever want to try catfish, though. I have a picture in my head of these things scavenging around with their long whiskers--ick. They were on sale at the store, though, and I said to myself, be a grown up and just try it.

Again, I had the squeamishness I've always gotten with fish. I got past that and realized it didn't taste fishy at all. I used a recipe from About Southern Food called "Catfish Provencale". You make it with fresh tomatoes and onions and it just sounded delicious...and it was! I ate almost the entire fillet before I began seeing whiskered fish faces in my head--then I had to quit.

The one reason I put myself through this squeamishness is my health. I want the omega-3s in the fish because it reduces my cholesterol and triglycerides. Deep ocean fish have the largest amounts of omega-3s but they also have a lot of mercury. Too much mercury can cause heart and neurological disorders. I try to make one fish meal tuna and the other salmon or tilapia.

Wait a minute though--the farm bred fish may not be so high in omega-3s after all! It depends on what they are being fed. The example given was catfish, which has very little beneficial omega-3s unless they are specifically fed it in their diet. I just saw an article from the online Malaysian News Agency that talked about omega-3 catfish raised in ponds. They are a special mix of food to produce fish with higher levels of omega-3.

I wonder if I ate Malaysian catfish? Probably not...

I think I'll have to stick to tuna and wild salmon and hope the mercury doesn't get me! If not one thing, than another, right?