Why don’t we eat more fish and seafood?

[KhansMambo]

A friend and I were chatting about fish and seafood (it’s Easter, after all), and wondering why the U.K. doesn’t have more of a fish/seafood culture or seafood based cuisine. Apart from the occasional bit of battered and deep fried fish, it doesn’t feature largely in a lot of people’s usual diets. And we consume markedly less than other countries with similar access.

As we’ve had so much access to it, historically, it’s interesting that it’s not the core of our traditional diet. Why don’t we have hundreds of razor clam recipes? Why didn’t everyone grow up eating an array of fish stews? Or using different kinds of seafood and seaweed as seasoning? I’m sure there’s all sorts of interesting anthropological reasons. I was wondering what everyone thought they were.

A quick Google dig up these, which I thought were really interesting.

• www.spectator.co.uk/article/britains-strange-aversion-to-seafood/amp

• www.newstatesman.com/culture/food-drink/2021/09/britain-is-surrounded-by-fish-so-why-do-we-eat-so-little-of-it

@maddiemookins16mum

If you have to ask this then you really don’t realise how expensive fresh fish and seafood is and for a lot of families it is not on the weekly menu because of the price.

Mackerel is cheap and one of the healthiest and yummiest things you can eat

@Hausa

Did people literally just read the thread title, then skip the entire post?!

Yep, that seems to be how it works on here. I have never come across a forum where such a huge number of people are incapable of basic reading comprehension as Mumsnet.

@Onionpatch

I though fish n chips came out of the fish not being quite fresh so it was seasoned and batterred to hide that a bit. Which could tie in with getting.fish in land a bit.

No, not at all. Fried fish is an Ashkenazi Jewish thing, and I believe they bought it over to the UK in the 1860s, opened a shop and being so delicious, it spread across the country.

Love seafood and like fish too. Would eat more if not so expensive.

I have stopped buying fish since hearing about how dreadful it us for the environment (farming practices, slaughter methods, over fishing etc) plus there's the whole sewage in the sea thing now in the UK. I'll eat it when we're on holiday somewhere like Spain, as a treat, but not here.

I don't like fish or seafood.

[quote KhansMambo]@BigWoollyJumpers At this point, I’m just delighted someone actually gets what I’m asking/saying. It would appear I’ve been unclear, in some way.[/quote]
Skipping past a few posters telling people off for not giving right answers ; the truth is I had no idea

I did have a look around and two things came up ‘too Catholic’ in 16th C and class system plus seen as poor food

@YryBuyTry7295 Thats a catholic thing not an english thing.

If you have to ask this then you really don’t realise how expensive fresh fish and seafood is and for a lot of families it is not on the weekly menu because of the price.

Most of the fish and seafood I buy is frozen and it isn’t expensive. Around a third of our main meals are fishy.

It’s expensive. Even the cod cakes from the Aldi are out of our price range

Oh and comparatively at various times meat not eaten as much in say, Japan for different reasons - land space and religion

I’m having dressed Cromer crab tomorrow 😋 that’s Easter Sunday sorted.

We don't eat any more than 2 portions a week since the news that a diet rich in seafood would be dangerous for you due to pollution in the sea ingested by fish.

We have something fishy at least 3-4 times a week. I can’t watch Seaspiracy, I just love fish.

We eat fresh fish (not shellfish) around three times a week. We're in the west of Scotland and have easy access to it, in fact the 'fishman' delivers fresh fish to our house every week.

@sansucre - ooh interesting.

We’re quite a big island so historically most people didn’t live by the sea. Before refrigeration, fish wouldn’t last to bring inland. Meat made sense on the land most people lived on. Also as a pp mentioned some seafood was seen as for poor people so didn’t catch on with the richer people. We never cooked fancier dishes with fish like other nations such as France did/foes with oysters, scallops.we literally make it as unhealthy as we can by covering it in batter or smoking it which suits cod and herring but not other seafoods.

I like fish and seafood. We often have scrambled eggs with smoked mackerel for breakfast. Annoyingly DH doesn't like fish and makes a huge song and dance about the SMELL, so it's not even worth cooking it for me and the kids for dinner and him having something different. Stangely he finds cod far more offensive to his delicate disposition than smoked mackerel

I remember the cockel man coming around the pubs when I was a student.

I think historically we did eat seafood. Cockles, jellied eels, fresh fish straight off the boats. But, when travel was limited you would eat what was sourced within a few miles. Plus the foodie trend for reviving those unfashionable foods hasn’t come around to fish and seafood so much. So now we see exciting options for offal, beef cheek, etc; stuff like haggis and black pudding is accessible and trendy. We aren’t seeing the same drive to push seafood as a market already exists for what we catch - overseas.

@TroysMammy Mussels are know as the "vaginas of the sea" .

@Zazdar

If you have to ask this then you really don’t realise how expensive fresh fish and seafood is and for a lot of families it is not on the weekly menu because of the price.

Most of the fish and seafood I buy is frozen and it isn’t expensive. Around a third of our main meals are fishy.

What sort of thing do you do with it? I haven't really enjoyed frozen fish when I've had it, the texture never seems right. My cheap fishy go to option tends to be tinned mackerel.

@cushioncovers

Price. a family of four adults who want two salmon fillets each works out very expensive for one meal. So we have pasta instead🤷🏻‍♀️

2 fillets each??? That's mad

Regarding the cost, I think there are cheaper types of fish but they aren't as popular. Eg the salmon tails are cheaper bit people maybe don't like the look of them? Mackerel is comparatively cheaper but often comes with skin and bones? To buy the skinless/boneless versions you have to pay the price for someone having removed them for you so that puts the price up?

Because we've polluted the oceans and fish are now full of micro plastics. Well that's why I don't eat it anyway. Apparently there'll be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050 .

I eat fish quite a lot. I prefer it to red meat. It does taste better by the sea though.