Fish For Thought

Whilst I would not dispute that the wild varieties have much more flavour. There is nothing at all wrong with farmed products. Which do incidentally come in various grades, some of which use much less medication. Without these farmed varieties there would be a lot of folk who would not be able to afford to eat fish, as it is unlikely the non farmed species would be capable of taking up the slack and be marketed at a low enough price.

Oh the salmon, sea bass and sea bream from fishforthought are all farmed, as are the mussels. This also applies to most of these species wherever you purchase them. Also the majority of the trout. I would be happy to eat any of them.

Thanks for pointing up the source of some of the fish on the web site, all very clearly stated when I checked. Not my choice but I didn't check it out till later and others can make their own choices too wherever they buy fish. I usually check the labels or ask the fish monger and try to buy non farmed. We land some excellent fish in our ports and harbours, or you could catch them yourself.  

Labelling is the biggest problem. Just read that Fresh" fish on supermarket counters can be up to17 days old from landing and very often pre frozen and thawed.

I suppose some of us are lucky living nearer the coast and can get locally caught fish or have someone in the family or a friend who likes fishing.  

A little bit difficult here in MK to nip down to the Quay to buy fish, I doubt anyone would want fish out of the Grand Union Canal

The likes of Waitrose and Tesco are very clear where their fish comes from and the volume in which they sell it is not really feasible to deal with small wholesalers, I imagine? I have always found the fish we buy at Waitrose and Morrisons to be of good quality so I feel there is no need for us to go to the extra hassle of buying online. It is a personal choice and for some that option might be more convenient, each to his own.

David

The cod we get from our weekly fish man is pretty good, coming straight from the fish market. However, many years ago a friend, who went sea fishing, called at our door. He had caught so much cod he could not fit it in his freezer, so was giving it away. It is still the best cod I have ever eaten, only 24 hours old when consumed. Unfortunately getting fish that fresh is generally difficult. Although when staying at Cirencester, Bibury fish farm provides a ready source of ultra fresh farmed rainbow and brown trout. Again the taste and texture is totally different to one bought from the supermarket that is probably a week old. So I think if you find a good supplier, as with our weekly fish man, they are very worth supporting.  Fresh fish is certainly one thing they do do better over there, in France anyway. On looking at a French fish display, I always wonder what they think when they wander into a British Supermarket. Although I am not sure if pulling your live crab from a tank would go down that well here.

The French and EU have most of our shellfish, what you see in France could well be from the UK. This is slightly dated see here