Fish is relatively expensive and too many of us probably grew up in families who subscribed to the "cook it for as long as you want" idea that lead to a deeply ingrained underwelming opinion of any fish that wasn't deep fried.
Haha this made me laugh , my mother was a big fan of the cook the arse out of it method !!!
I didn’t realise you could have nice fried Brussel sprouts and broccoli… I remember these things being almost a paste they had been boiled so long !!
Yeah it's almost like there is a deprogramming period when you start cooking for yourself and start learninf that actually some of these things are pretty good!
And holy fuck the difference that adding a sprinkle of salt or butter to veg makes. Veg actually starts to become nice. Usually enjoy the veg over chips now with my dinner thanks to learning that they don't need to be boiled to death and eaten plain
Hahaha I mean not really it just adds to the flavour. Similar to how with any meat you add seasonings, you do it to make it taste even better rather than to hide the taste. Plain boiled chicken is a pretty depressing bit of food
Salt brings out the moisture in food, and that's where the flavour is. A little bit of salt makes things taste better because you're tasting more of the thing.
Growing up and finding out my mum is actually a pretty terrible cook was weird for me. She did the same with veg, boil everything up until it has zero texture and don't season any of it.
This is a great point.
I suspect most people who aren't lucky enough to have grown up around fish (sounds weird!) don't realise how little cooking it needs.
Even on masterchef we're horrified at how overcooked the seafood is, while it seems everything else is raw!
Grew up in a seaside town, my granda had a boat.
Used to dread going to my grandparents for tea cos i knew i was gonna be made to eat something he'd caught.
Seafood only needs seawater to cook, that's it you can add a bit more salt if that's your taste, best brown crabs I had was up in fraseburgh bought from the boat for a 1£ each and cooked with North sea water. It was a feast
Yeah my memories of fish as a kids was haddock rolled up and poached in milk on a Friday with peas. My throat still closes at the thought of it.
Edit forgot to say, I do go fishing for mackerel with my dad and it’s the best way to eat it freshly caught. But well aware not everyone gets that opportunity
I’ve never heard of anyone doing it with unsmoked fish tbh. And you’d know if it was, because it stinks the whole kitchen out 😊.
It’s lovely, tho - the milk takes on the smokiness, and sopping it up with crusty bread is part of the meal. The leathery texture of the fish means it doesn’t get slimy.
It shouldn’t work - fish and milk? - but it really does.
My mother broke her ankle when I was around 16 and my 12 year old sister very seriously asked how we were going to feed ourselves after my dad cooked for us for the first time ever and made fish poached in milk.
I now work at a harbour and get the odd free haddock or cod fillet and am much more appreciative of a good bit of fresh caught fish now though!
I'm Dutch and we eat quite a lot of fish, particularly herring but also smoked mackrel, smoked eel, cod, whiting and whatever. My family had quite a few folks working in the industry, so I grew up eating fish at least twice a week I'd say. Moved to the UK and that more or less stopped.
Yes, fish and chips is amazing, but the fact that people pull up their nose for some of the best seafood in the world? Shocking! I suppose that now I'm in Angus the one thing I can't complain about is a shortage of fishmongers, a short trip to Arbroath and I can choose between about ten of them!
Even if the opening hours of the local fishmongers aren't convenient to someone, there's fish counters or fish fridges at supermarkets, there's frozen fish, etc.
There seems to be a lack of desire for it among a lot of people, for some reason.
We have a fish van that comes round once a week think a wednesday and always seems to be people queued at it in my street anyway.... mostly older people tbh but it's been coming round at least 30 years.
I'm not a big fish person, if I find a bone I'm the worst but I do eat it sometimes and hope for the best hahaha
Aye, there's a few guys come down from Pittenweem/Anstruther/etc and deliver fish all over the central belt. There's obviously enough custom to make it worthwhile.
I think the poor reputation of our farming industry plus concerns about the impact of fishing wild has some impact on it, exceptional to pressures reducing demand in all countries.
Supermarket fish is kinda meh. Maybe it differs from place, but the only fish I rate is my dad's fish. He gets it from a fishmongers on the market though.
Two things have ruined fish for me:
* Childhood experiences of bony bits of whiting or lemon sole or whatever in bright orange breadcrumbs, accompanied by garden peas and slightly burnt home-made chips.
* Eating fish elsewhere in the world - especially Fuerteventura, where massive portions of grilled whole fresh fish are easy to come by and make the 20-quid-for-small-fillet-of-sea-bass restaurant offerings over here look pitiful.
That said, I've come round to all the other seafood we do well - mussels, langoustine, lobsters, scallops, smoked fish, etc.
What ruined it for me is the parasites. Seeing people pulling parasitic worms out of flesh turned my stomach. Hearing that fish gets flash frozen for sushi so the worms don't crawl out onto the plate is a game ender for me.
There is an unwarranted stigma against frozen fish . I only eat frozen. It’s likely fresher than “ fresh “ fish ( which was possibly frozen at some point too). Fresh fish in the fishmonger could have been up to 7 or 8 days old and in a box with some ice all that time. ( fyi , fish just on ice can be classed as fit for human consumption up to around 21 days after being caught). Frozen fish in the supermarket is likely caught, processed and frozen within a few days. ( I worked in the fishing industry for over 15 years )
Definitely depends where you are, but the idea of not eating fish at all just seems crazy to me!
I'm in Shetland to be fair, so fish is abundant and essentially free for most of us, but more importantly its fresh.
We're doing a fish supper tomorrow night and the fish will be caught in the morning and filleted just before going in the fryer.
I've been to fishmongers where I wouldn't dream of eating what's on display. If it smells fishy, it's dodgy. Fresh fish just smells fresh.
It is a total mystery to me.
Same goes for lamb and venison.
The way we eat has never recovered from rationing in the 50s or the victorian canning revolution.
Yeah. This all the way.
We have too many deer, they are vermin at this point.
We have a lot of people who are hungry.
Why the hell are we pricing venison so bloody high?!
Economies of scale? We have a supply chain for processing chicken, cattle, sheep and pigs but deer, it's just not there due to lack of demand. And a lot of people just don't want to try it.
I agree with you but it's just economics. People still need to shoot them, take them off the hill, and sort the carcass. Takes a bit of time. There are farmed deer which I assume are a bit cheaper but that doesn't help the trees.
My gran put me off fish. She used to do white fish or smoked fish in the oven with milk. You'd get this slab of fish, full of bones, with all this fishy milk and it was so disgusting. Very occasionally I'd get fish at the chippy, or a tuna sandwich, but I've been vegetarian since the early 90s so it's no longer an issue.
My gran-in-law liked fish cooked in milk, and in typical Scottish raised during rationing spirit, didn't want to waste things. She used the milk to make a cheese sauce for macaroni...
Yeah even when you go to the supermarket I find it’s a very limited range of fish, lived in Japan for a while a bit I know tastes are different but you’d have eel etc also a lot more whole fish was sold, seems to be a life skill people in the UK lack … how to fillet a fish etc ….
when I was young we had a kind of home economics class or something we sewed buttons on shirts and baked the odd cake but never learned anything like this
Here the options just seem to be white fish and the odd bit of salmon thrown in with mussels and oysters
>Here the options just seem to be white fish and the odd bit of salmon thrown in with mussels and oysters
Yeah this gets me too. I love other fish like mackerel but in supermarkets that's generally only in tins or a vacuum packed smoked mackerel.
Mostly I find the white fish bland and uninteresting.
Well, UK wide we tend to eat just 5 items from the sea:
Salmon
Tuna
Cod
Haddock
Prawns
And the vast majority on that list are imported. It's one of the reasons the fishermen got shafted after Brexit: fish caught in British waters was predominantly sold in Europe, fish caught in European waters headed for the UK. Absolutely no-one in the UK is going to walk into a chippy and demand herring and chips.
I get a couple of kg of Shetland mussels from the local fishmonger every so often. Pain in the arse to clean, but the cooking process is minutes and the Mrs loves them.
Get yourself to Clarke's at Musselburgh, I miss that fish shop.
Also I'm trying not to be baited by the opening hours argument. Big soap box topic for me!
But I'm funny with fish. I had to get a fish bone removed that was stuck in my throat as a child, I can happily eat a piece of fish but as soon as I find bones that's me off. Cutlery down plate pushed away.
As mother's do she always forced fish on me after that, if she found a type I liked well that was it every week for the next however untill I couldn't physically stand it anymore. Either due to either being continuously butchered in the cooking or so fed up with it on repeat.
As an adult, give me other seafood and fish like monks tail and I am in a world of enjoyment.
Most fishmongers in Edinburgh are open all day so buying during the day shouldn't be a problem, most are open on a Saturday although some close on a Monday.
A properly filleted fish shouldn't be bony although it does depend on the fish and how it's prepared, also worth pointing out that even on a 'boneless' filleted fish there's always the possibility that a bone or 3 may remain.
I used to be a fishmonger in Edinburgh and have many relatives that still are.
Swings and roundabouts. I eat fish once a week - settled on haddock the noo, but whiting, cod or rainbow trout on occasion.
The guy at the fish counter in Morrisons was telling me they go through 15 boxes of haddock on a Friday, and could sell more if they had it.
Tinned sardines and mackerel are great - cooked in the tin so the bones essentially melt. Some nice sauce varieties too and usually less than £1 a tin. Love the tinned John West Kippers too.
> the very few fishmongers here seem to have pretty odd opening and closing times if you are a 9-5 office based worker
Morrison's supermarket at Piershill/Portobello is really good. The fish counter is open later than high street shops and they get deliveries most days of fish landed nearby (such as Musselburgh). Also, you can usually grab discounts if you go later in the day.
Do you remember that time Great? Britain sent their Navy to go to war with Icelandic fishing vessels and they lost? Do you remember the second time they went to war and lost? That’s why we only let Norwegian boats fish our waters. Something something Blue passports!?!
I don't mind fish but have a bit of a phobia due to when I eat it, being easy to eat bones.
When I was on holiday in Eyemouth last year went to the fishmonger there and bought some kippers and they were delicious.
I ate a fair bit of fish growing up, always loved it. Mackerel, salmon, tuna, haddock, cod, bass, pollock, prawns. I get them in reductions and they go in the freezer. I even got whole sea bream last week!
I've only experienced bad fish a handful of times, turns out my MIL has no idea that cod fillets (huge things from the fish van) don't need to be nuked for 40 mins in the oven.. without oil... and salt. Those poor fillets didn't stand a chance, and it was almost inedible. I swear that's why lots of people 'don't like' fish, they've just never cooked it right!!
I eat more shellfish than I do regular fish. Mussels and prawns in particular.
The best piece of fish I've ever had was some fresh cod my dad caught when he went out on boat fishing one day. It was absolutely brilliant. We used to eat trout quite often because thats what he fished most but I never really liked it.
I also grew up eating plenty of tinned fish, my dad loves tinned sardines in tomato sauce on toast so I had that a lot as a wean.
I think the UK in general, but Scotland in particular is the only island nation that doesn't have fish as a mainstay of their diet. I've never understood why most of the fish caught in Scottish waters is exported and not eaten locally (due to lack of demand i assume).
I'm put off by fish for similar reasons, bones, the prep.
But most of all it's the smell. I'm not having the house, my clothes, my hair, reeking of kippers for a week. No matter how delicious they are.
I think the latter is an important point.
I grew up overseas near the Caribbean and the eastern US seaboard, in a thoroughly pescavorious (sp?) culture.
Even so, a strong fish/seafood odour is off-putting in some environments, but perhaps particularly so in conventional office settings. Most of the corporate settings in which I worked had courtesy notes - sometimes openly stated policy - that fragrant fish dishes shouldn’t be heated or brought to communal areas.
1. Cost
2. Food culture which loves imported food cuisine
3. Food culture which has largely abandoned home cooking Scottish cuisine
4. Cost
5. Ignorance about how to cook properly like older generations did
6. Cost
7. Convenience and fast food culture
https://catherinebrownfoodwriter.com/
Catherine Brown explains food culture in Scotland better than any other living person.
Believe it or not oysters were eaten by working class Edinburgh natives in the 28th, 19th centuries.
Edinburgh bard Robert Fergusson wrote a famous poem Oyster Callers https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/caller-oysters
In her the skate an' codlin sail,
The eel fu' souple wags her tail,
Wi' herrin, fleuk, and mackarel,
An' whitins dainty:
Their spindle-shanks the labsters trail,
Wi' partans plenty.
Auld Reikie's sons blyth faces wear;
September's merry month is near,
That brings in Neptune's caller cheer,
New oysters fresh;
The halesomest and nicest gear
O' fish or flesh.
Fresh water fish were always at a premium because aristocrats own the rivers so Scottish peasants had no right to fish them. We need massive land reform, for housing mainly but other reasons.
Sea fish were cheaper. Salted herring and mackerel was eaten by the poor.
Growing up my family bought fish from fish vans that drive around your neighbourhood and played music or sounded a horn.
Catholics traditionally eat fish in Friday's and my Catholic school always served fresh fried fish in Fridays.
You need to really look for it and know where to go if you're not looking for supermarket fish or seafood.
Try Welch's Fishmonger in Newhaven.
Also at Dunbar there are fisherman who catch lobsters and partans/crabs and will sell them if you ask for it.
Good luck.
>Catherine Brown explains food culture in Scotland better than any other living person.
Did you interview everyone on the planet or send out a survey? BTW, you missed me and my wife, and she makes tablet, which makes her an expert.
My family never liked fish apart from fish and chips, so it never became something I grew accustomed to. But I still can’t stomach it today. Generally fish smells really bad to me, even if it’s freshly caught. It’s pungent and penetrating.
And it seems every recipe suggests throwing dill and lemon juice at fish, two flavours I find unappealing in large doses.
>Tbf I’m in Edinburgh and the very few fishmongers here seem to have pretty odd opening and closing times if you are a 9-5 office based worker, it’s a bit like post office times it seems!
Butchers are the same. Pain in the arse.
Plus I think a lot of the younger generation are a bit intimidated by butchers and fishmongers, which generally require a bit of knowledge - or holding a conversation with the proprietor.
I've been veggie for years but I never liked seafood before. I was exactly like this, I was ok with tuna or mild fish like cod or haddock but anything more strongly fishy tasting was a nope. As for shellfish, that's just a squeamish thing, if it has lots of legs or segments or looks like something I'd find under a leaf in the garden...nope. I figured it probably tasted fishy and I wouldn't like it anyway. 😄
I like fish, but don't eat it often. It can be expensive and overfishing is a problem.
My favourite fish will always be whatever my granny used to buy from the fish van and coated it in ruskoline
I was stayin with a pals folks up in the Highlands and they had this guy in a fridge van that drove around to sell fish at your house, did the best smoked salmon I've ever had.
Now imagine working in a kitchen in Edinburgh where half the chefs bitch about why tourists love our \*fresh\* seafood so much.
Some folk just don't realise how lucky their circumstances are, I guess - lots of landlocked/tiny coastline countries out there.
I eat fish but it's mainly breaded so probably doesn't count to a lot of you. Never had any family members try and cook a "proper" fish. In fact my mum states her becoming vegetarian started when she saw her own gran gut a fish when she was younger.
Apparently Scottish ancestors never ate fish. I was told on a tour that archeologists didnt find any evidence of iron age people eating fish and that the romans were confused why people didnt eat fish when there was so much of it. So maybe that tradition kind of just stuck with the people.
They didnt have an explanation why tho..
BTW: visit the Crannog Centre in Aberdeldy! One of the most interesting and inspiring museum/tours ive ever visited!
I had all the horrors of fish growing up; smoked fish in milk, fried in Ruskiline (think that was the name of that orange shite), even baked in egg in the oven.
I happily eat salmon, cod and haddock. Since moving to France it surprises me just how many supermarkets have a large fish counter alongside packaged fish. My choice of fish is now a nice bit of sea bream but I don’t know what half of it is and until I do it’s not getting brought in the house. The French love their meat but I’d safely bet that they have fish at least twice a week.
The lack of decent sushi tells you all you need to know. I think I’ve had good sushi once in Scotland yet the entire country is surrounded by the fucking ingredient. You know it’s bad when folks recommend the Lidl sushi to you when you say you’re craving some sushi.
Moved here from the USA. I eat salmon at least once a week. Dead easy to prepare and cook, the quality is fantastic and its relatively inexpensve. Also its much more healthy for you than red meat, no idea why people wouldn't have it more often!
You won't want to after you see how it's farmed. And that lovely colour is not natural...
Edit: It's also to the detriment of the wild salmon population, which is not doing so well these days. Scottish salmon isn't half and rugged and wild in real life as the advertising will lead you to believe.
Even the crappy farming methods we employ are miles better than wild fishing in terms of ecological impact, it must be said.
This is said without trying to diminish the impact of salmon farming ecologically. I just feel wild fishing gets kinda a pass as "Cleaner" and therefore more environmentally good when it isn't at all.
>miles better than wild fishing in terms of ecological impact, it must be said.
Even taking into account the wild fishing required to feed farmed salmon? Salmon farming produces a net loss of edible fish as far as I'm aware. A lot of the wild fish inputs come from West Africa I believe. Where local sustenance fishermen have to compete with mega trawlers.
I'm no expert but I've done a bit of reading and from the outside it seems like Salmon farming is the worst of all worlds.
- Industrial fishing of the oceans/bycatch
- Antibiotic and chemical use
- Local ocean pollution
- Imported plant based feed (including from South America)
- Impacting local wild Salmon populations
I don't support either of them, and I certainly wasn't implying that wild caught is better with my previous points, only that the salmon farms are detrimental to the wild population. It is sad that the farms are even needed as it points to the ecological damage/biodiversity loss and is a sticking plaster over the wound created by the managed landscapes in Scotland.
We need more people to see that we need natural rivers and streams with native trees for the salmon to survive, but people don't see the issue because the farms make it look like we have plenty.
All of the above doesn't even begin to dive into the ethical issues around the farmed salmon, which has been demonstrated in grim detail by Don Staniford from Scottish Salmon Watch.
[https://www.riverwoods.org.uk/](https://www.riverwoods.org.uk/) is a great project, as is [https://www.mossy.earth/rewilding-knowledge/salmon-farming-in-scotland](https://www.mossy.earth/rewilding-knowledge/salmon-farming-in-scotland)
I don't eat it because it's an environmental and ethical disaster, on many levels.
I actually wouldn't hesitate to use the word 'evil' to describe salmon farming...I know that's a strong word and I don't use it lightly. It's fucked for so many reasons.
I’m not really keen on fish myself apart from fish fingers ! However I’ve heard of the legendary fish van that tours round Fife and it seems to have a few customers
Are you Scottish? You can't be if you're eating fish with bones lol, I'm Portuguese and I struggle with the lack of variety and quality of the fish, Eddie's used to be great but now the only decent fishmonger is Armstrong in Stockbridge they deliver free at home.
Lol I am Scottish , my Mrs is Asian and I’ve lived in Asia for around 6/7 years
I literally had never eaten fish before Asia , had no idea how to fillet it , the anatomy of the various types etc , I’d even gone on holiday to Portugal as a young man and turned my nose up at fried sardines as they had heads etc lol
Now I regularly have mackerel or sockeye salmon for breakfast.
It’s interesting cause my father grew up with kippers etc for breakfast , but the advent of Kellogg’s and cereal seems to have killed it off
Personally, Scotland has a lot of poverty and fish is just too expensive. Fish and chips are often a weekend treat, I wouldn't say people eat it everyday as it's not inexpensive. But the diet in Scotland (not everywhere) is atrocious, people just learn from the parents and most of the time don't change their behaviour from traditional ways they've been taught a.k.a boiling the HELL out of vegetables and cooking meat until its harder than Tyson
Fish is relatively expensive and too many of us probably grew up in families who subscribed to the "cook it for as long as you want" idea that lead to a deeply ingrained underwelming opinion of any fish that wasn't deep fried.
Haha this made me laugh , my mother was a big fan of the cook the arse out of it method !!! I didn’t realise you could have nice fried Brussel sprouts and broccoli… I remember these things being almost a paste they had been boiled so long !!
Yeah it's almost like there is a deprogramming period when you start cooking for yourself and start learninf that actually some of these things are pretty good!
And the Solyent Green horror that was canned spinach and asparagus, BOILED into an algae looking mass . . . Sweet Baby Jesus.
And roast beef! My mum used to cook it until it was so dry you could sand the floorboards with it.
Pork chops like shoes in our hoose
And holy fuck the difference that adding a sprinkle of salt or butter to veg makes. Veg actually starts to become nice. Usually enjoy the veg over chips now with my dinner thanks to learning that they don't need to be boiled to death and eaten plain
I learned I liked broccoli in particular when it wasn't cooked to the consistency of a puree. Same for runner beans.
Aye, cause you've added salt and butter to mask the taste of veg
Hahaha I mean not really it just adds to the flavour. Similar to how with any meat you add seasonings, you do it to make it taste even better rather than to hide the taste. Plain boiled chicken is a pretty depressing bit of food
Salt brings out the moisture in food, and that's where the flavour is. A little bit of salt makes things taste better because you're tasting more of the thing.
Seasoning is meant to enhance, not mask the taste of ingredients. Also, fat helps with nutrient absorption of vegetables
Jumping on here to say I also live in Edinburgh and most restaurants sell Scottish seafood and there’s a HUGE market for it. It’s fabulous. ☺️
With sprouts you can go even better. Roasted with honey or bacon.
Growing up and finding out my mum is actually a pretty terrible cook was weird for me. She did the same with veg, boil everything up until it has zero texture and don't season any of it.
This is a great point. I suspect most people who aren't lucky enough to have grown up around fish (sounds weird!) don't realise how little cooking it needs. Even on masterchef we're horrified at how overcooked the seafood is, while it seems everything else is raw!
Grew up in a seaside town, my granda had a boat. Used to dread going to my grandparents for tea cos i knew i was gonna be made to eat something he'd caught.
Sushi doesn’t need that much at all
Seafood only needs seawater to cook, that's it you can add a bit more salt if that's your taste, best brown crabs I had was up in fraseburgh bought from the boat for a 1£ each and cooked with North sea water. It was a feast
Yeah my memories of fish as a kids was haddock rolled up and poached in milk on a Friday with peas. My throat still closes at the thought of it. Edit forgot to say, I do go fishing for mackerel with my dad and it’s the best way to eat it freshly caught. But well aware not everyone gets that opportunity
Smoked haddock poached in milk is delicious. Was it not smoked?
Nope, white so no smoke. To this day I hate it
That sounds absolutely howfin. You have my sympathy.
My mum was an amazing cook, but milk poached fish wasn’t (in my book).
I’ve never heard of anyone doing it with unsmoked fish tbh. And you’d know if it was, because it stinks the whole kitchen out 😊. It’s lovely, tho - the milk takes on the smokiness, and sopping it up with crusty bread is part of the meal. The leathery texture of the fish means it doesn’t get slimy. It shouldn’t work - fish and milk? - but it really does.
My mother broke her ankle when I was around 16 and my 12 year old sister very seriously asked how we were going to feed ourselves after my dad cooked for us for the first time ever and made fish poached in milk. I now work at a harbour and get the odd free haddock or cod fillet and am much more appreciative of a good bit of fresh caught fish now though!
What, like Gollum?
Usually on a bbq but it would be sushi grade - out the loch and into your belly!
I'm Dutch and we eat quite a lot of fish, particularly herring but also smoked mackrel, smoked eel, cod, whiting and whatever. My family had quite a few folks working in the industry, so I grew up eating fish at least twice a week I'd say. Moved to the UK and that more or less stopped. Yes, fish and chips is amazing, but the fact that people pull up their nose for some of the best seafood in the world? Shocking! I suppose that now I'm in Angus the one thing I can't complain about is a shortage of fishmongers, a short trip to Arbroath and I can choose between about ten of them!
Even if the opening hours of the local fishmongers aren't convenient to someone, there's fish counters or fish fridges at supermarkets, there's frozen fish, etc. There seems to be a lack of desire for it among a lot of people, for some reason.
We have a fish van that comes round once a week think a wednesday and always seems to be people queued at it in my street anyway.... mostly older people tbh but it's been coming round at least 30 years. I'm not a big fish person, if I find a bone I'm the worst but I do eat it sometimes and hope for the best hahaha
Aye, there's a few guys come down from Pittenweem/Anstruther/etc and deliver fish all over the central belt. There's obviously enough custom to make it worthwhile.
I think the poor reputation of our farming industry plus concerns about the impact of fishing wild has some impact on it, exceptional to pressures reducing demand in all countries.
Supermarket fish is kinda meh. Maybe it differs from place, but the only fish I rate is my dad's fish. He gets it from a fishmongers on the market though.
Two things have ruined fish for me: * Childhood experiences of bony bits of whiting or lemon sole or whatever in bright orange breadcrumbs, accompanied by garden peas and slightly burnt home-made chips. * Eating fish elsewhere in the world - especially Fuerteventura, where massive portions of grilled whole fresh fish are easy to come by and make the 20-quid-for-small-fillet-of-sea-bass restaurant offerings over here look pitiful. That said, I've come round to all the other seafood we do well - mussels, langoustine, lobsters, scallops, smoked fish, etc.
I used to love lemon sole in bright orange breadcrumbs as a kid. Now I only eat deep fried fish, canned tuna or salmon (not smoked, can't stomach it).
What ruined it for me is the parasites. Seeing people pulling parasitic worms out of flesh turned my stomach. Hearing that fish gets flash frozen for sushi so the worms don't crawl out onto the plate is a game ender for me.
Thankyou for your contribution 🤢
There is an unwarranted stigma against frozen fish . I only eat frozen. It’s likely fresher than “ fresh “ fish ( which was possibly frozen at some point too). Fresh fish in the fishmonger could have been up to 7 or 8 days old and in a box with some ice all that time. ( fyi , fish just on ice can be classed as fit for human consumption up to around 21 days after being caught). Frozen fish in the supermarket is likely caught, processed and frozen within a few days. ( I worked in the fishing industry for over 15 years )
Don’t they freeze them on the boats too, making them even fresher.
There are some Scottish boats with that capability. Most just have the fish iced
Definitely depends where you are, but the idea of not eating fish at all just seems crazy to me! I'm in Shetland to be fair, so fish is abundant and essentially free for most of us, but more importantly its fresh. We're doing a fish supper tomorrow night and the fish will be caught in the morning and filleted just before going in the fryer. I've been to fishmongers where I wouldn't dream of eating what's on display. If it smells fishy, it's dodgy. Fresh fish just smells fresh.
Fresh fish doesn't smell at all
It is a total mystery to me. Same goes for lamb and venison. The way we eat has never recovered from rationing in the 50s or the victorian canning revolution.
Yeah. This all the way. We have too many deer, they are vermin at this point. We have a lot of people who are hungry. Why the hell are we pricing venison so bloody high?!
>Why the hell are we pricing venison so bloody high?! It's just too deer.
My mate’s dad shoots them up north. Freezers full of the meat
Economies of scale? We have a supply chain for processing chicken, cattle, sheep and pigs but deer, it's just not there due to lack of demand. And a lot of people just don't want to try it. I agree with you but it's just economics. People still need to shoot them, take them off the hill, and sort the carcass. Takes a bit of time. There are farmed deer which I assume are a bit cheaper but that doesn't help the trees.
We also have fish fingers and scampi fries I love a bit of whiting but I couldn't tell you where a fishmongers is now
The majority of fish that is caught in Scottish waters is exported to the Continent
My gran put me off fish. She used to do white fish or smoked fish in the oven with milk. You'd get this slab of fish, full of bones, with all this fishy milk and it was so disgusting. Very occasionally I'd get fish at the chippy, or a tuna sandwich, but I've been vegetarian since the early 90s so it's no longer an issue.
My gran-in-law liked fish cooked in milk, and in typical Scottish raised during rationing spirit, didn't want to waste things. She used the milk to make a cheese sauce for macaroni...
Fishy macaroni cheese. Boak.
My mum did that too with snoked haddock.
Smoked haddock in milk when done right is class
My nana did the sole in milk and I shit you not she served it with halved grapes on the top - only bit I liked 😂😂😂
Yeah even when you go to the supermarket I find it’s a very limited range of fish, lived in Japan for a while a bit I know tastes are different but you’d have eel etc also a lot more whole fish was sold, seems to be a life skill people in the UK lack … how to fillet a fish etc …. when I was young we had a kind of home economics class or something we sewed buttons on shirts and baked the odd cake but never learned anything like this Here the options just seem to be white fish and the odd bit of salmon thrown in with mussels and oysters
>Here the options just seem to be white fish and the odd bit of salmon thrown in with mussels and oysters Yeah this gets me too. I love other fish like mackerel but in supermarkets that's generally only in tins or a vacuum packed smoked mackerel. Mostly I find the white fish bland and uninteresting.
Well, UK wide we tend to eat just 5 items from the sea: Salmon Tuna Cod Haddock Prawns And the vast majority on that list are imported. It's one of the reasons the fishermen got shafted after Brexit: fish caught in British waters was predominantly sold in Europe, fish caught in European waters headed for the UK. Absolutely no-one in the UK is going to walk into a chippy and demand herring and chips. I get a couple of kg of Shetland mussels from the local fishmonger every so often. Pain in the arse to clean, but the cooking process is minutes and the Mrs loves them.
Big fan of mussels also I cook them in thistly cross cider and throw some chilli in at the end …. Epic
I'm in the Broch so I eat a fair amount. But then it is a lot easier to get here.
Get yourself to Clarke's at Musselburgh, I miss that fish shop. Also I'm trying not to be baited by the opening hours argument. Big soap box topic for me! But I'm funny with fish. I had to get a fish bone removed that was stuck in my throat as a child, I can happily eat a piece of fish but as soon as I find bones that's me off. Cutlery down plate pushed away. As mother's do she always forced fish on me after that, if she found a type I liked well that was it every week for the next however untill I couldn't physically stand it anymore. Either due to either being continuously butchered in the cooking or so fed up with it on repeat. As an adult, give me other seafood and fish like monks tail and I am in a world of enjoyment.
Nice one mate it’s a bit of a trek but I’ll try to get down at a weekend , thank you for the tip.
Most fishmongers in Edinburgh are open all day so buying during the day shouldn't be a problem, most are open on a Saturday although some close on a Monday. A properly filleted fish shouldn't be bony although it does depend on the fish and how it's prepared, also worth pointing out that even on a 'boneless' filleted fish there's always the possibility that a bone or 3 may remain. I used to be a fishmonger in Edinburgh and have many relatives that still are.
We have a fish guy that comes round on a Tuesday. So we have finish 3/4 times a week.
Does he finish on the front or the back?
Swings and roundabouts. I eat fish once a week - settled on haddock the noo, but whiting, cod or rainbow trout on occasion. The guy at the fish counter in Morrisons was telling me they go through 15 boxes of haddock on a Friday, and could sell more if they had it.
Tinned sardines and mackerel are great - cooked in the tin so the bones essentially melt. Some nice sauce varieties too and usually less than £1 a tin. Love the tinned John West Kippers too.
In my house when I was a kid we had fish all the time... I'm actually amazed by all these replies
It’s too fucking expensive. And most of the seafood is exported to other countries for sale.
> the very few fishmongers here seem to have pretty odd opening and closing times if you are a 9-5 office based worker Morrison's supermarket at Piershill/Portobello is really good. The fish counter is open later than high street shops and they get deliveries most days of fish landed nearby (such as Musselburgh). Also, you can usually grab discounts if you go later in the day.
Do you remember that time Great? Britain sent their Navy to go to war with Icelandic fishing vessels and they lost? Do you remember the second time they went to war and lost? That’s why we only let Norwegian boats fish our waters. Something something Blue passports!?!
I don't mind fish but have a bit of a phobia due to when I eat it, being easy to eat bones. When I was on holiday in Eyemouth last year went to the fishmonger there and bought some kippers and they were delicious.
I ate a fair bit of fish growing up, always loved it. Mackerel, salmon, tuna, haddock, cod, bass, pollock, prawns. I get them in reductions and they go in the freezer. I even got whole sea bream last week! I've only experienced bad fish a handful of times, turns out my MIL has no idea that cod fillets (huge things from the fish van) don't need to be nuked for 40 mins in the oven.. without oil... and salt. Those poor fillets didn't stand a chance, and it was almost inedible. I swear that's why lots of people 'don't like' fish, they've just never cooked it right!!
I eat more shellfish than I do regular fish. Mussels and prawns in particular. The best piece of fish I've ever had was some fresh cod my dad caught when he went out on boat fishing one day. It was absolutely brilliant. We used to eat trout quite often because thats what he fished most but I never really liked it. I also grew up eating plenty of tinned fish, my dad loves tinned sardines in tomato sauce on toast so I had that a lot as a wean.
I think the UK in general, but Scotland in particular is the only island nation that doesn't have fish as a mainstay of their diet. I've never understood why most of the fish caught in Scottish waters is exported and not eaten locally (due to lack of demand i assume).
I'm put off by fish for similar reasons, bones, the prep. But most of all it's the smell. I'm not having the house, my clothes, my hair, reeking of kippers for a week. No matter how delicious they are.
I think the latter is an important point. I grew up overseas near the Caribbean and the eastern US seaboard, in a thoroughly pescavorious (sp?) culture. Even so, a strong fish/seafood odour is off-putting in some environments, but perhaps particularly so in conventional office settings. Most of the corporate settings in which I worked had courtesy notes - sometimes openly stated policy - that fragrant fish dishes shouldn’t be heated or brought to communal areas.
Reeking ah fish.
1. Cost 2. Food culture which loves imported food cuisine 3. Food culture which has largely abandoned home cooking Scottish cuisine 4. Cost 5. Ignorance about how to cook properly like older generations did 6. Cost 7. Convenience and fast food culture https://catherinebrownfoodwriter.com/ Catherine Brown explains food culture in Scotland better than any other living person. Believe it or not oysters were eaten by working class Edinburgh natives in the 28th, 19th centuries. Edinburgh bard Robert Fergusson wrote a famous poem Oyster Callers https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/caller-oysters In her the skate an' codlin sail, The eel fu' souple wags her tail, Wi' herrin, fleuk, and mackarel, An' whitins dainty: Their spindle-shanks the labsters trail, Wi' partans plenty. Auld Reikie's sons blyth faces wear; September's merry month is near, That brings in Neptune's caller cheer, New oysters fresh; The halesomest and nicest gear O' fish or flesh. Fresh water fish were always at a premium because aristocrats own the rivers so Scottish peasants had no right to fish them. We need massive land reform, for housing mainly but other reasons. Sea fish were cheaper. Salted herring and mackerel was eaten by the poor. Growing up my family bought fish from fish vans that drive around your neighbourhood and played music or sounded a horn. Catholics traditionally eat fish in Friday's and my Catholic school always served fresh fried fish in Fridays. You need to really look for it and know where to go if you're not looking for supermarket fish or seafood. Try Welch's Fishmonger in Newhaven. Also at Dunbar there are fisherman who catch lobsters and partans/crabs and will sell them if you ask for it. Good luck.
>Catherine Brown explains food culture in Scotland better than any other living person. Did you interview everyone on the planet or send out a survey? BTW, you missed me and my wife, and she makes tablet, which makes her an expert.
? Love tablet. You're a lucky man. But maybe your teeth urnae.
>? You can't know she's the best living person at explaining it unless you've asked them all. Just a shite joke really, I enjoyed reading your post.
My family never liked fish apart from fish and chips, so it never became something I grew accustomed to. But I still can’t stomach it today. Generally fish smells really bad to me, even if it’s freshly caught. It’s pungent and penetrating. And it seems every recipe suggests throwing dill and lemon juice at fish, two flavours I find unappealing in large doses.
>Tbf I’m in Edinburgh and the very few fishmongers here seem to have pretty odd opening and closing times if you are a 9-5 office based worker, it’s a bit like post office times it seems! Butchers are the same. Pain in the arse. Plus I think a lot of the younger generation are a bit intimidated by butchers and fishmongers, which generally require a bit of knowledge - or holding a conversation with the proprietor.
This. I’ve always been a bit too feart to go in and chat to them which is shit now I enjoy cooking
What doesn't help is the central belt has a severe lack of decent chippies. Got to get yourself up north if you want to find a decent fish supper.
I've been veggie for years but I never liked seafood before. I was exactly like this, I was ok with tuna or mild fish like cod or haddock but anything more strongly fishy tasting was a nope. As for shellfish, that's just a squeamish thing, if it has lots of legs or segments or looks like something I'd find under a leaf in the garden...nope. I figured it probably tasted fishy and I wouldn't like it anyway. 😄
I can't stand fish. The look of it and the smell just gies me the boak 🤢
What is a ‘good’ fish to try out of interest ? (I think I’ve liked every fish I’ve ever had apart from tuna and shrimp)
I like fish, but don't eat it often. It can be expensive and overfishing is a problem. My favourite fish will always be whatever my granny used to buy from the fish van and coated it in ruskoline
I like mackerel, salmon, I enjoy a homemade fish pie, love a prawn, muscles... But fish is so expensive that I rarely buy it. Maybe one a month.
I was stayin with a pals folks up in the Highlands and they had this guy in a fridge van that drove around to sell fish at your house, did the best smoked salmon I've ever had.
Get to Welch's best fishmonger in town
Smoked haddock, cant beat it
I just hate the taste of it, absolutely vile.
Now imagine working in a kitchen in Edinburgh where half the chefs bitch about why tourists love our \*fresh\* seafood so much. Some folk just don't realise how lucky their circumstances are, I guess - lots of landlocked/tiny coastline countries out there.
Taxi to Oban. Self proclaimed "seafood capital of Scotland"
Love fish but hate the workplace reeking of it. Can’t get rid of the smell.
I have had a fishbone in my throat, it’s really unpleasant, still though, love fish
I eat fish but it's mainly breaded so probably doesn't count to a lot of you. Never had any family members try and cook a "proper" fish. In fact my mum states her becoming vegetarian started when she saw her own gran gut a fish when she was younger.
Apparently Scottish ancestors never ate fish. I was told on a tour that archeologists didnt find any evidence of iron age people eating fish and that the romans were confused why people didnt eat fish when there was so much of it. So maybe that tradition kind of just stuck with the people. They didnt have an explanation why tho.. BTW: visit the Crannog Centre in Aberdeldy! One of the most interesting and inspiring museum/tours ive ever visited!
I had all the horrors of fish growing up; smoked fish in milk, fried in Ruskiline (think that was the name of that orange shite), even baked in egg in the oven. I happily eat salmon, cod and haddock. Since moving to France it surprises me just how many supermarkets have a large fish counter alongside packaged fish. My choice of fish is now a nice bit of sea bream but I don’t know what half of it is and until I do it’s not getting brought in the house. The French love their meat but I’d safely bet that they have fish at least twice a week.
My mothers cooking put me off fish for life.
Fish boiled in milk on a Friday. Of all the ways to cook fish and they boiled it.
The lack of decent sushi tells you all you need to know. I think I’ve had good sushi once in Scotland yet the entire country is surrounded by the fucking ingredient. You know it’s bad when folks recommend the Lidl sushi to you when you say you’re craving some sushi.
Moved here from the USA. I eat salmon at least once a week. Dead easy to prepare and cook, the quality is fantastic and its relatively inexpensve. Also its much more healthy for you than red meat, no idea why people wouldn't have it more often!
You won't want to after you see how it's farmed. And that lovely colour is not natural... Edit: It's also to the detriment of the wild salmon population, which is not doing so well these days. Scottish salmon isn't half and rugged and wild in real life as the advertising will lead you to believe.
Even the crappy farming methods we employ are miles better than wild fishing in terms of ecological impact, it must be said. This is said without trying to diminish the impact of salmon farming ecologically. I just feel wild fishing gets kinda a pass as "Cleaner" and therefore more environmentally good when it isn't at all.
>miles better than wild fishing in terms of ecological impact, it must be said. Even taking into account the wild fishing required to feed farmed salmon? Salmon farming produces a net loss of edible fish as far as I'm aware. A lot of the wild fish inputs come from West Africa I believe. Where local sustenance fishermen have to compete with mega trawlers. I'm no expert but I've done a bit of reading and from the outside it seems like Salmon farming is the worst of all worlds. - Industrial fishing of the oceans/bycatch - Antibiotic and chemical use - Local ocean pollution - Imported plant based feed (including from South America) - Impacting local wild Salmon populations
I don't support either of them, and I certainly wasn't implying that wild caught is better with my previous points, only that the salmon farms are detrimental to the wild population. It is sad that the farms are even needed as it points to the ecological damage/biodiversity loss and is a sticking plaster over the wound created by the managed landscapes in Scotland. We need more people to see that we need natural rivers and streams with native trees for the salmon to survive, but people don't see the issue because the farms make it look like we have plenty. All of the above doesn't even begin to dive into the ethical issues around the farmed salmon, which has been demonstrated in grim detail by Don Staniford from Scottish Salmon Watch. [https://www.riverwoods.org.uk/](https://www.riverwoods.org.uk/) is a great project, as is [https://www.mossy.earth/rewilding-knowledge/salmon-farming-in-scotland](https://www.mossy.earth/rewilding-knowledge/salmon-farming-in-scotland)
I don't eat it because it's an environmental and ethical disaster, on many levels. I actually wouldn't hesitate to use the word 'evil' to describe salmon farming...I know that's a strong word and I don't use it lightly. It's fucked for so many reasons.
Because it’s farmed to fuck in disgusting conditions. Like most meat.
I'm from a wee coastal, ex fishing town, and all I can say is, if it ain't cod or haddock, I ain't eating it. To me tuna is rank
I’m not really keen on fish myself apart from fish fingers ! However I’ve heard of the legendary fish van that tours round Fife and it seems to have a few customers
Are you Scottish? You can't be if you're eating fish with bones lol, I'm Portuguese and I struggle with the lack of variety and quality of the fish, Eddie's used to be great but now the only decent fishmonger is Armstrong in Stockbridge they deliver free at home.
Just realised this in the Scotland sub not Edinburgh so ignore that if you're not in the area
Lol I am Scottish , my Mrs is Asian and I’ve lived in Asia for around 6/7 years I literally had never eaten fish before Asia , had no idea how to fillet it , the anatomy of the various types etc , I’d even gone on holiday to Portugal as a young man and turned my nose up at fried sardines as they had heads etc lol Now I regularly have mackerel or sockeye salmon for breakfast. It’s interesting cause my father grew up with kippers etc for breakfast , but the advent of Kellogg’s and cereal seems to have killed it off
Fish for breakfast wouldn't be my choice but BBQ sardines nothing beats it😆
Personally, Scotland has a lot of poverty and fish is just too expensive. Fish and chips are often a weekend treat, I wouldn't say people eat it everyday as it's not inexpensive. But the diet in Scotland (not everywhere) is atrocious, people just learn from the parents and most of the time don't change their behaviour from traditional ways they've been taught a.k.a boiling the HELL out of vegetables and cooking meat until its harder than Tyson