CaliFishGuy

I love to eat seafood, so I was naturally interested when my local grocery store fish market stocked a new fish I'd never heard of before. They told me it was called "Swai" or "Sawai", but didn't know much more than the name, so I said I'd research it before I bought any.

Much to my shock and dismay, they wanted to sell me Iridescent shark to eat for dinner! Yuck! I can't eat my Frick & Frack!

Be Warned! Be Very Warned!

Betta_dude

Yuck, thats gross. they might as well sell dog meat.

sirdarksol

Out of curiosity, why is it any more gross than eating sunfish or walleye or perch?
I can understand having an attachment to a particular kind of animal and not wanting to eat it, but try examining the duality of this kind of thinking.

It's like with dog. Americans don't eat dog because they're cute. I've even heard about an Asian family that was charged with animal cruelty because the had dog for dinner.

I suppose it's part of our culture. We are raised to see dogs and cats as companions, while pigs, chickens, and cows are food. Other cultures see anything that can provide nutrition as potential food, and anything that can provide companionship as potential companions (yes, these two overlap quite a bit.)

I eat meat, and I understand that my food comes from a creature that was once living. Every creature who provides food for me, whether it's a majestic deer or a wallowing pig, deserves my thanks and my acknowledgement that it died to feed me.

angelfish220

SirDark and I were thinking on the same track. A fish is a fish, it just happens that you keep those in your tank.

CaliFishGuy

It's not that it's gross in a "ewww, that's a yucky fish" kind of way. From what I hear, it's really not that much different from a regular old Mississippi catfish. In fact, the reason it's only just now becoming available here in the States is that the FDA had it on the "banned" list for imports until 2007, to prevent the Southeast Asian fish farmers from competing with Southern US catfish farmers for the market space.

No, my comments and aversion are strictly based on the fact that I choose to keep some of these beautiful fish as pets. Therefore, I can't possibly imagine actually eating any - anymore than a show dog owner could possibly imagine eating a regular diet of barbecue dog meat.

Actually, my favorite food is sushi, more specifically, sashimi I have no objection to eating seafood in general - far from it!

sirdarksol

Sorry, my reply was to Betta-Dude's "gross."
As I said, I understand the concept of growing attached to a certain type of pet (though I want people to be aware of, and examine this duality, which most avoid because it shows a painful, kinda ugly side of humanity). I, for one, would not be able to eat cat (aside from the fact that it would likely be stringy and tough), because I love my cats far too much.

Betta_dude

Thats what I ment when I said gross. I like sea food, dont know why though. Im native american and fish is a staple in a native american's diet. Maybe its some kind of instinct.

sirdarksol

That makes sense.
When I think of "gross", I think of the standard American's reaction when they hear that something cute is being made into food. I guess I've been around too many people who don't want people to go hunting "because they'll hurt the cute little Bambi" but have absolutely no problem with eating another hamburger.

Butterfly

Many of the larger aquarium fish are/were food fishes in their native countries. Clown Loaches, Pacu, among others.
Carol

Betta_dude

Some pets were bred as food. Like Chow chows.

ITHURTZ

Ya these cats are to be eaten. Someone down the line just thought it would be cool to have them in tanks. Walla many years later we have a asian food source we keep as pets. They are actually pretty good from what I have heard.

Devon

Warning: snarky comments follow.

Animals are animals... if you can eat a hamburger, you may as WELL fry up your dog and eat it. If you eat meat, you're a meat eater... period.