Fish (food)

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Fish is a food consumed by many animal species, including humans. The word "fish" refers to both the animal and to the food prepared from it. Three quarters of the Earth are covered by water, so fish has been an important part of the diet of humans in almost all countries in the world since the dawn of time. Fish also serves as a main source of protein.

Contents 1 Word 2 Preparation 3 Nutrition 4 Health hazards 4.1 Mercury 4.2 Parasites 5 Fish as meat 6 In religion 7 Dishes 8 See also 9 Notes 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Word

In some languages, there are different words that exist to distinguish between the animal fish and the food prepared from it (in English this is true with pork for pig and beef for cow versus chicken for chicken). Languages such as Spanish do in fact distinguish (pez versus pescado) whereas other languages such as English or French do not, and have only one word for live fish in the seas and rivers as well as those who are on the menu for humans.

[edit] Preparation

Seafoods can be prepared in a variety of ways. It can be uncooked (raw) (cf. sashimi). It can be cured by marinating (cf. escabeche), pickling (cf. pickled herring), or smoking (cf. smoked salmon). Or it can be cooked by baking, frying (cf. fish and chips), grilling, poaching (cf. court-bouillon), or steaming. Many of the preservation techniques used in different cultures have since become unnecessary but are still performed for their resulting taste and texture when consumed.

[edit] Nutrition

Fish, especially saltwater fish, is high in Omega 3 fatty acids, which are heart-friendly, and a regular diet of fish is highly recommended by nutritionists.^[1] This is conjectured to be one of the major causes of reduced risk for cardiovascular diseases in Eskimos. It has been suggested that the longer lifespan of Japanese and Nordic populations may be partially due to their higher consumption of fish and seafood. The Mediterranean diet is likewise based on a rich intake of fish. Fish are also great for the skin. Nutritionists recommend that fish be eaten at least 2-3 times a week.

[edit] Health hazards

Fish are the most common food to obstruct the airway and cause choking which was responsible for about 4,500 accidents a year in the UK as of 1998.^[2]

[edit] Mercury

Fish products have been shown to contain varying amounts of heavy metals, particularly mercury and fat-soluble pollutants from water pollution. According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the risk from mercury by eating fish and shellfish is not a health concern for most people.^[3] However, certain seafood contains sufficient mercury to harm an unborn baby or young child's developing nervous system. The FDA makes three recommendations for child-bearing women and young children:

1. Do not eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel, or tilefish because they contain high levels of mercury.
2. Eat up to 12 ounces (2 average meals) a week of a variety of fish and shellfish that are lower in mercury. Five of the most commonly eaten fish that are low in mercury are shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish. Another commonly eaten fish, albacore ("white") tuna has more mercury than canned light tuna. So, when choosing your two meals of fish and shellfish, you may eat up to 6 ounces (one average meal) of albacore tuna per week.
3. Check local advisories about the safety of fish caught by family and friends in your local lakes, rivers, and coastal areas. If no advice is available, eat up to 6 ounces (one average meal) per week of fish you catch from local waters, but don't consume any other fish during that week.

These recommendations are also advised when feeding fish and shellfish to young children, but in smaller portions.^[3]

[edit] Parasites

Parasites in fish are a natural occurrence and common. Though not a health concern in thoroughly cooked fish, parasites are a concern when consumers eat raw or lightly preserved fish such as sashimi, sushi, ceviche, and gravlax. The popularity of such raw fish dishes makes it important for consumers to be aware of this risk. Raw fish should be frozen to an internal temperature of −20°C (−4°F) for at least 7 days to kill parasites. It is important to be aware that home freezers may not be cold enough to kill parasites.^[4][5]

Traditionally, fish that live all or part of their lives in fresh water were considered unsuitable for sashimi due to the possibility of parasites (see Sashimi article). Parasitic infections from freshwater fish are a serious problem in some parts of the world, particularly Southeast Asia. Fish that spend part of their life cycle in brackish or freshwater, like salmon are a particular problem. A study in Seattle, Washington showed that 100% of wild salmon had roundworm larvae capable of infecting people. In the same study farm raised salmon did not have any roundworm larvae.^[6]

[edit] Fish as meat

There is a frequent misunderstanding that "meat" only refers to the edible flesh of a mammal, and that fish is separate to meat. However, while "meat" does have connotations of mammal flesh, it is in fact a general term defined as describing the flesh of an animal^[7]. The flesh of a fish is therefore also "meat" (as is the flesh of birds, or the flesh of any other member of the kindgom animalia).

The term "meat" has animal, vegetable and fungal applications - to wit, the "meat" of a tomato (distinct from the juice and seeds), the "meat" of a mushroom cap (as distinct from spores, gills and stems); and the edible flesh of any animal, as well as its edible organs (both as distinct from the bones, skin, feathers, fur, scales, etc.), are called "meat".

As a term used in the meat packing industry, "meat" refers to the muscular flesh of a mammal. This is the definition most commonly applied by governments in meat product regulation and food labeling, and in religious rites and rituals. Edible birds and fish/seafood are not "meat" under this application but are treated separately from mammals. Likewise, amphibians and reptiles, not to mention the "meat" of edible insects, arachnids, and so on.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] In religion

Religious rites and rituals regarding food also tend to apply this distinction, classifying the birds of the air and the fish of the sea separately from land-bound mammals. Sea-bound mammals are often treated as fish under religious laws - as in Jewish dietary law, which forbids the eating of whale, dolphin, porpoise, and orca because they are not "fish with fins and scales"; nor, as mammals, do they "cheweth the cud and divideth the hoof." (Leviticus 11:9-12)

Otherwise, seasonal religious prohibitions against eating meat do not usually include fish. For example, meat was forbidden during Lent and on all Fridays of the year in pre-Vatican II Roman Catholicism, but fish was permitted (as were eggs). (See Fasting in Catholicism.) In Eastern Orthodoxy, fish is permitted on some fast days when meat is forbidden, but stricter fast days also prohibit fish with fins and scales, while permitting invertebrate seafood such as shrimp and oysters, considering them "fish without blood."^{[citation needed]}

Muslim (halaal) and Jewish (kosher) practice treat fish differently from other animal foods. Some Buddhists and Hindus (Brahmins of West Bengal state in India) abjure meat, but not fish. From a Buddhist point of view, if a person abjures meat, he or she is most likely to abjure fish as well. Fish is also meat since it comes from animal.^{[citation needed]}

Pescetarians, for example, may consume fish based solely upon the fact that the fish are not factory farmed as land animals are (i.e., their problem is with the capitalist-industrial production of meat, not with the consumption of animal foods themselves).^[8] Some eat fish with the justification that fish have less sophisticated nervous systems than land-dwelling animals. Others may choose to consume only wild fish based upon the lack of confinement, while choosing to not consume fish that have been farmed.

[edit] Dishes

[edit] See also

Anisakis Boneless fish Boning knife Fish head Fish processing Fish products Fishmonger

Got Mercury? Ichthyoallyeinotoxism Kudoa thyrsites Oily fish Oroshi hocho Pescetarianism Phosphatidyleserine Seafood Watch

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Fish

• Science Daily Benefits Of Eating Fish Greatly Outweigh The Risks, New Study Says
• Science Daily Experts Say Consumers Can Eat Around Toxins In Fish
• Scientific American Soy and fish protect from cancer: study.

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