With its story “Tilapia: The Fish Chefs Snub and Shoppers Love,” the Miami Herald explains something I’ve been wondering about for a while: Where the hell did all this tilapia come from? Unheard-of by most Americans before the 1990s, tilapia is now popping up on restaurant menus galore, and is one of the best-selling fish in supermarkets as well. As the Herald reports, annual consumption of the fish has quadrupled in just a few years, from a quarter pound in 2003 to a full pound in 2006. Granted, that’s still not a lot—one could knock down a pound of fish with two hearty sandwiches—but the sudden increase is rather startling.
So why is tilapia the zeitgeist fish? It doesn’t taste fishy, explains the Herald, leading it to be prized by consumers (and often scorned by chefs, who liken it to chicken and call it “insipid” in the story). Thanks to its burgeoning popularity with fish farmers, it’s also relatively cheap, a factor that no doubt accounts for its presence on Red Lobster menus. Sealing the deal is the fish’s decent environmental profile: The Monterey Bay Aquarium gives U.S.-grown tilapia its best rating.
Personally, I think it has a weird, metallic, almost dirty flavor. But that’s just me. Oh, wait. No it’s not.
I think that when I was growing up, tilapia was called “chum”, and wasn’t considered fit-to-eat for human consumption. I just won’t eat it.
I’m amazed at the results of “marketing” upon the public just because it’s cheap and plentiful to the sellers in a market where good fish over the years have become overfished and rarer. Pollution and overfishing have destroyed a lot of our fish and shellfish habitats — comparing what we can get now to what we used to get even 30 years ago is sad.
After tilapia became popular I was pressured to taste it on several occasions, and I completely agree about the “weird metallic, almost dirty flavor”. And I’m someone who has eaten possum and liked it.
It has been served to me at least twice as “white fish”, deep fried, and both times I ate one bite and stopped.
Tilapia? No thank you.
I’ve had tilapia that was just great-tasting, and tilapia that was muddy and bland and inedible. I’d like to know what caused the difference. I know that tilapia can live in really horrendous water, so I expect fish farmers don’t bother keeping the water they live in clean or fresh, and that’s probably the problem.
tilapia depends on the water and soil runoff and drainage of the ponds, in general the growth conditions. The handling of the fish from harvest, i have seen it at a dollar a pound frozen at wholesale from every third world country you can think of; afterall this is the fish that fed the multitude in the bible.
it can have a downright nasty taste and unless you know your sources “forget about it”. like a pig or other food sources that require no additional help to multiply tilapia live on veg and body secretions any muddy pool even a swimming. pool can be used to farm them.
I’ve had really good tilapia. Back in college (just a few years ago), it was pretty much the only fish we could afford. My roommate and I would pan sear it, with some fresh garlic, salt and pepper–it was pretty much all it needed. Consistently sweet and tender–it made me wonder why I had never heard of tilapia before. Well, I’ve tried making it recently and it had that muddy flavor. And like many other people who’ve commented, my husband didn’t notice it… that’s kind of interesting in and of itself. It was bad enough that I’m afraid to buy it again, but I still remember how good it used to be. I wonder if the growing demand has farmers less concerned about raising conditions? It’s a pity.
1st check your source. U.S. 2nd The filet should be white and looking good. 3rd Saute with whatever sauce your using. It will retain the flavor.
Make it blackened and pan seared for fish sandwiches. Yummy aioli or remoulade, tomatoes, lettuce and onions, good brioche and ready to go.
I found some frozen and read the fine print it was treated to retain the pink colouring with carbon monoxide. Now I buy the white filets with no preservatives.
I have never had tilapia. I’m not really curious to try it. Living on the west coast of North America has its advantages–plentiful and reasonably priced wild salmon, halibut, cod, sablefish (aka Alaskan black cod), not to mention lots of great prawns, oysters, clams, mussels, etc…Unless someone gives a really great review of tilapia, I’ll skip it.
As someone who rarely eats seafood I agree with the assessment that tilapia is the fish for people who hate fish. I’ve eaten it and compared to other fish it IS very mild, but in the end it’s still fish and I’m not crazy about it. My husband loves it, though.
I’m Vietnamese and my mom always bought this fish at the market whole and had it fried on the spot to take home. I guess I grew up eating it and it doesn’t taste any more odd than any other fish I’ve ever had (I like sushi and have tried a few different kinds).
Can you really consider carbon monoxide to be a detrimental preservative? It’s just a gas, so one would think that it would be released during the cooking process or even from having its package cut open. Would you also consider a bag of chips with nitrogen gas inside to be a preservative that gets eaten?
It was a year or two after seeing it constantly in the market–and being constantly broke–before I tried it. Not even sure where I heard the bad press about it, or maybe I was just inherently suspicious of cheap fish.
But I bought some fillets (US) after hearing the environmental approval, and found it to be the boneless chicken breast of the fish family. Not that it’s inherently a bad thing, but it does take a sauce or rub very gratefully.
Haven’t had a taste of the muddiness, though. Neither has my husband, who also likes it.
The conversation reminds me of how people used to talk about catfish. My mom generally hated it, for the same reason. Now, US farmed catfish never has that muddiness (at least, never in my frequent experience). Maybe the same is happening with tilapia.
However: anyone else seen the Dirty Jobs on the fish farm? The farm raises bass, then takes the waste water and raises tilapia in there (because they do, in fact, eat poo). It’s considered part of the water treatment, it seemed. Really interesting (but not, perhaps, for everyone.)
Bland, and with a mushy texture. That’s my experience. I won’t order it again.
Buy fresh South American or American only.
As a fresh water perch tilapia is going to have a fresh water fish taste (pond) unless it is raised in the strictest of
sanitary conditions. Just ask. Don’t bother with frozen
“izumi dai” as it is the muddy, limp pond fish that most
find unappealing, and besides it is laced with dangerous chemicals from the ranching conditions, avoid Chinese at all costs. Costa Rican is the best. It is all about what they are fed and the water conditions.
I love fish of all kinds, including American tilapia. I dip it in Wondra flour and quickly saute in a little butter/olive oil. Deglaze the pan with white wine or lemon juice and pour over. Yum!
I don’t know what causes it, but I find that tilapia has a vile, moldy taste 9 times out of 10. Actually, it’s more an odor than a taste. It’s vile, and it’s on fish that, to all appearances when raw, is perfectly fine. I don’t bother trying it anymore.
Tilapia is trash fish! Its not tasty, healthy or worth the effort to even try it once. I have owned to aquaculture facilities in my life and won’t eat any fish that has been farmed! Wild caught or vege
That whole treated with carbon monoxide thing is not as bad as it seems. They use a process called clear smoke. It basically cold smoke the fish, meaning it doesn’t cook it, just retains the color. If you get tuna or any other fish that has fragile flesh anywhere but at the market, which most of us live a few days away from, it is most always treated this way. I’ve seen what happens when they dont do it, you get gray nasty crap. And tilapia can be good, if you get it from the right source. Most fish that was considered trash 10 years ago you happily shell out 50 bucks a plate for. Learn how to detect good fish, then learn how to cook it.
Well this is a late entry….but tilipia should be revisited! I am a commercial fisherman and I will tell you that tilipia is one of my all time favorite fish. The problem is that market is glutted with farm raised crap from countries like Thailand, China, and India. Still, even free range wild fish will taste off during certain times of the year. Metallic is more of a farm raised flavor, sandy is more of scavanging fish flavor, and a dirty wierd taste is probably something to do with the algae. So your best bet is to try fish caught in colder water. And a lot of other fish are the same way. Just remember that wild and cold is a good thing for fish. I hate farm raise chemically treated fish because they ruin a good thing. If you do not like tilipia, then you have not tired tilipia the right way or the wild tilipia. I am just here because I happen to be looking around to sell tilipia myself. I brought in 750 pounds to the wholesale fish market who told me about the fillet and packaged tilipia going for 2.50 per pound which they seem to be prefer over my fresh tilipia for 50 cents a pound(If I can get that). Reasons, they tell me is partially due to loss during processing, but I advocate fish and bone attached to waste less fish, and adds more moisture and tenderness to the meat. I love fresh fish like pacifica salmon, rock cod, and sardines in N. California. Golden pompano when in San Diego. Permit, Pompano, Sheepshead, and Lookdown fish in Florida. Red Snapper in Texas. Walleye is probably the best for freshwater fish flavor.