Vietnamese River Cobbler.

bearcub

Can't understand what the problem is. We were served this fish at a hotel in the Isle of Man last year, and it was absolutely delicious, and I'm no great fish lover, other than freshly caught plaice. Just because a food comes from another 'different' country doesn't mean that it's dosed with a lethal cocktail. After all, some EU countries still have some very dodgy practices and, while the UK's not allowed to get away with certain banned practices, there are a lot of EU countries that still do!

HariboJunkie

bearcub wrote: »

Can't understand what the problem is. We were served this fish at a hotel in the Isle of Man last year, and it was absolutely delicious, and I'm no great fish lover, other than freshly caught plaice. Just because a food comes from another 'different' country doesn't mean that it's dosed with a lethal cocktail. After all, some EU countries still have some very dodgy practices and, while the UK's not allowed to get away with certain banned practices, there are a lot of EU countries that still do!

My problem isn't that it's "dosed with a lethal cocktail" or that it comes from a different country. I've outlined the problems I have with it in my post above.

To summarise; I don't believe the hype that they are sustainable because I think any sustainability is outweighed by the fact that the farms themselves are environmentally disasterous. They are also fed on feed brought in from South America with is hardly great for food miles.
The fact that the river in which most of the farms are located is highly polluted is another factor in my decision not to eat them.

I'm not a hippy dippy lentil knitter who insists on all things organic but River cobbler and Apsartame are 2 things I won't ever consume.

Read more here.

Ps. This is entirely my opinion based on my own research and everyone should do their own research before deciding what's right for them and I wouldn't judge anyone who decides that they like it and will continue to eat it.

VJsmum

HariboJunkie wrote: »

My problem isn't that it's "dosed with a lethal cocktail" or that it comes from a different country. I've outlined the problems I have with it in my post above.

To summarise; I don't believe the hype that they are sustainable because I think any sustainability is outweighed by the fact that the farms themselves are environmentally disasterous. They are also fed on feed brought in from South America with is hardly great for food miles.
The fact that the river in which most of the farms are located is highly polluted is another factor in my decision not to eat them.

I'm not a hippy dippy lentil knitter who insists on all things organic but River cobbler and Apsartame are 2 things I won't ever consume.

Read more here.

Ps. This is entirely my opinion based on my own research and everyone should do their own research before deciding what's right for them and I wouldn't judge anyone who decides that they like it and will continue to eat it.

Hear hear - totally agree. I used to eat it and like it - but it began to taste more of "dirt" than ever and then I looked into it further. Haven't touched it since.

spike7451

vax2002 wrote: »

I had one served from a fish and chip shop, they tried to claim it was haddock, the musty smell gave it straight away.

I saw a programme on the Beeb about that,some take aways got hevily fined for serving it as it's a fraction of the price of Haddock but they still charged Haddock prices.

Paulie'sGirl

I bought the unsmoked and the smoked varieties for OH to make fish pie with, it was muddly and evil.

Stay away...

PGxx

Hobsons_Choice

Friend had Basa fish a while ago and her husband ended up in hospital (she was fine). Turns out he was allergic to this fish because it's a bottom feeder (that'll be the bottom of the river, not..........)
I would steer clear, personally.

Lazy_Liz

I've never seen or eaten this fish but a lot of the problems seem to be with the raising, storage and long distance travel of this fish.

Muddy tases often occur in river fish and popular ones like Carp are usualy held in fresh running water for a few days to remove this, perhaps some of the fish being sold is not getting this treatment. I have had quite a few muddy tasting trout from angler friends keen to offload a surplus catch.

Poor texture, often caused by freezing and thawing, fish can end up with a cotton wool texture and it often loses flavour, ask the fish counter if it has been frozen

Presumable this fish actualy comes from Vietnam, that is a heck of a long way to travel (think of the food miles) and fish loses freshness and develops off flavours very quickly.

Buy something British, pollock and mackrel spring to mind

wonderwoman12

can someone please tell me if it is normal when cooked for around 30-40 mins it has a slight pinky tint to the inside? its was smoked river cobbler. ive eaten it now lol but it was a little pinky/white colour

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Yes, that's normal.

It's a very fleshy fish, lots of blood supply for an immensely strong creature. Don't panic.



People eat catfish worldwide without problems, it's better than decimating the entire ocean for cheap ready meals - taking food from whales, dolphins and the rest of the marine food webs in preference to a commercially farmed food isn't improving the environment or our health, as we'll be a damn sight worse off if the food webs collapse.

wonderwoman12

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

Yes, that's normal.

It's a very fleshy fish, lots of blood supply for an immensely strong creature. Don't panic.



People eat catfish worldwide without problems, it's better than decimating the entire ocean for cheap ready meals - taking food from whales, dolphins and the rest of the marine food webs in preference to a commercially farmed food isn't improving the environment or our health, as we'll be a damn sight worse off if the food webs collapse.

thank goodness lol i was so worried!