Simon and Deb's Excellent Adventure ........

[ddaniels]

Catfish! No way! I'd go the flounder though, but not sure about having it fried...

Just curious....why not?

[Baatfam]

Catfish! No way! I'd go the flounder though, but not sure about having it fried...

Just curious....why not?

Good question...

For the record, much of the catfish eaten in the states is farm raised and corn feed...

Now...more pictures, please....

[Skateguy50]

Yea, when you passed over those miles upon miles of farms, what you didnt realize is most of that is not for human consumption. We grow ungodly amounts of corn that mostly is fed to animals for meat, or its processed into high fructose corn syrup that is in nearly ever processed food and drink, or used to make biodiesel that is now being mixed into home heating fuel.

Glad you had a good time and met lots of great folks.

It is funny how some foods are repulsive to some and a delicacy to others. Maine still has laws in the books that say you cant feed to much lobster to inmates as it used to be considered a poor mans food and was an easy way to feed prisoners. Somewhere along the lines it became cool to eat the trash cleaner of the ocean floor.

[pete]

Just curious....why not?

You know, the only answer I can give you is that here, noone eats it, and would think you were insane to do so.

That's what I got brought up with and everyone else got brought up with, but I don't know if there's a scientific reason for it...

[Redman]

Ok more ride shots,
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Great Photos of the road, and the ride. I like the "on the bike" shots that include road ahead and view in mirror of road and bikes behind.

.

[Charlie G]

Thanks for posting up the story and photos. For the record.. I won't eat cat fish either. Damn ugly!


cg

[simon kuether]

Thanks for the pics Kat and Jim .
Time to fess up ............
When we got back to Aus , in a jetlagged oblivion , I down loaded all our pics onto the computer . Somehow , I managed to delete about 40% of them . Not real sure how , but I did . I also seemed to have deleted many of the best ones .
Please feel free (you to Bonita) to put up as many as you like because , we don't seem to have that many left . We'll have to come back again next year and do it all over again .

Cheers , Simon .

[Steve]

We'll have to come back again next year and do it all over again .

Dang it!! You mean we didn't scare you off?

.

[simon kuether]

Dang it!! You mean we didn't scare you off?

.

Nope . You shouldn't have been so damn friendly . We'll give you another chance next May . Bring it on , scary man's and woman's . .

Cheers , Simon .

[Baatfam]

We'll give you another chance next May.

Brown County??

[simon kuether]

Brown County??

That's the plan .

Cheers , Simon .

[ddaniels]

Thanks for posting up the story and photos. For the record.. I won't eat cat fish either. Damn ugly!


cg

Mmmmmm...Catfish! And for the record, I've never eaten a catfish that tasted better than one caught in the wild, not farm-raised or corn-fed or any of that other stuff. You folks downunder apparently don't know what you're missing.

[MikeJ]

You know, the only answer I can give you is that here, noone eats it, and would think you were insane to do so.

There are a lot of fish that used to be considered "trash" fish on the American market, but are now becoming more popular, partly due to overfishing of the formerly more abundant, better-known species, some of which are now actually near extinction. Our grandchildren may not be able to get bluefin tuna or swordfish at any price. My guess is that both the catfish, and the tilapia (a tropical fresh-water species) on sale at that Appalachian Mountain cafe our Aussie adventurers stopped in at, were probably local, farm-raised fish.

Nobody ever heard of "monkfish" until a few years ago. Have you ever seen what one of them buggers actually looks like, _before_ they get filletted? "Monkfish" is a new, marketing-neutral name for what used to be called "anglerfish." Here's a pic:

http://scienceblogs.com/deepseanews/upload/2007/05/monkfish.jpg

Not to mention that Kiwi favorite, Orange Roughy, formerly known as "slimehead," which has become wildly popular in the US in recent years. Here's one of them:

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/09_04/slimeheadDM2309_468x189.jpg

And, how about "Chilean Sea Bass," formerly known as "Patagonian toothfish"? It too, was formerly a "trash" fish, and then became so popular it has been overfished almost to extinction in just a few years:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonian_toothfish

That's what I got brought up with and everyone else got brought up with, but I don't know if there's a scientific reason for it...

It's purely socialization, what you're brought up to be used to. None of it has anything to do with how good these species taste to eat, or how healthful their meat is for you to eat. Being a bottom-feeder vs. a pelagic, open-water predator has nothing to do with the healthfulness of eating the flesh of these sea creatures.

We Americans make fun of French people for eating land snails, and tree fungus, but how is that different from the seagoing mollusks and pretty, freestanding mushrooms Americans love to eat? We go _ugh_ at people eating arthropods (grasshoppers and other bugs) on those "survivor" reality shows, but how is that different from crabs and lobsters - "Water bugs?"

Sorry if I ruined anybody's dinner plans.

[Larry D]

Well.....if there's any catfish that noone wants, send it to me.

Preferably deep-fried with some tartar sauce.

And, I'm not sure about Aussie's in Brown County......we're really going to confuse the "locals". Although they may just think that the accent is from a few hills over.

[simon kuether]

I didn't realise that the catfish reference would raise so much comment . I guess that we're lucky down here in that we still have plenty of "quality" species of wild caught fish to choose from . When you can choose from coral trout , red emporer , salmon etc, etc, etc , why would you eat a lesser fish . I think we are talking different species anyway . Our catfish are saltwater , slimy and the flesh has a real grey look to it . Talapia here are small aquarium fish that have been flushed into the wild . Small , agressive fish that destroy native habitat and species .

When we come back , I will make a point of trying both species . I should have done so this time , but ........................... Now a good grasshopper fillet really gets me going .

Cheers , Simon .