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Lots of people love a good piece of sashimi and nigiri sushi, and most of us are willing to pay more for a higher quality fish. The only question is whether or not you're getting what you paid for.
Last week there was an article in the New York Times about two teenage girls and their fish-y experiment. The students got 60 different samples of fish from 4 sushi restaurants and 10 supermarkets and sent them off to a lab in Canada. About 60% of the fish were mislabeled, and in general cheaper fish were masquerading as more expensive fish. Apparently no one knows what red snapper is.
There's a lot more science in the New York Times article, but what's really important is that so many people who should know what fish is what have been selling it under the wrong name. I'm sure that there are some unscrupulous vendors out there willing to make a quick buck, but I prefer to think that it's mainly just people making mistakes. What do you think about possibly paying more for cheaper fish?
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8-26-2008 @1:19PM Rt said... If you enjoyed what you got then you would never question if it was authentic. How many times does someone profess a more expensive ingredient is better than a cheaper one without having any knowledge of the difference? If that person has never had the 'real deal' they would never know the difference. It's the 'placebo effect' of pricing.
Marketing is similar in that the use of different words makes people believe they are getting something special. The difference is this practice is not illegal.
Calamari commands a higher price than fried squid.
The various treatments of coffee enjoy tremendous mark-ups. Do you really know how special those beans are, or is your brain associating flavor with brand? Only a double-blind taste test would let you know.
Using foreign words helps a lot. Escargot sounds better than snails. Unagi sounds better than eel (would you like to try a Unagi Salad?).
In short, a white-fleshed fish is fairly bland - as soon as seasonings are applied it is very difficult to tell the difference. It is still criminal to substitute them. The cheap, but delicious, restaurants I frequent have taken to using just the term 'fish' on many items - you can still buy specific species, but would you know it if they served you something else?
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8-26-2008 @2:21PM tzurriz said... there's a huge difference between calling something by the proper name in another language (i.e. calamari v. squid) or calling tilapia red snapper!
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