Can't we even catch our own snapper anymore?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

Went to buy fish yesterday and finally noticed the fine print:

Snapper was from Vietnam
Tilapia was from Indonesia
Shrimp was from Chile

So you can catch fish, freeze it, and ship it to the other side of the world cheaper than the cost of catching and transporting it from off our own coast?

[AllegroRondo]

1. Fewer regulations on fish farming in those countries

which makes raising them cheaper.

Snapper and Tilapia you get at stores are almost 100% farm raised. I dont know about the shrimp.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

2. Even when you add the shipping cost from the other side of the

globe? Yikes, it is truely amazing. And very sad to me. I am on this kick lately where I notice every single thing you pick up is made somewhere else.

[SoCalDem]

3. and apparently they don't grow garlic in France anymore..

I caught the tail end of an interview on tv with a French woman.. She had returned to visit and went to the local outdoor market, eager to buy fresh garlic from a nearby farm (they had always grown garlic)..anyway, all the garlic for sale had little stickers that proclaimed it as a product of China.. She started asking questions and found out that the market could import garlic from China and sell it for the same as the local and they could make more profit, so they import it now.. The lady being interviewed commented on how sad she was to realize that the FUEL expended to import garlic that used to be grown a few miles away, and was also sold throughout France, was a bigger problem than people realized..

In a world where FUEL is everything, it does not make a bit of sense to uses fuel unnecessarily..

[Gormy Cuss]

8. Chinese garlic is taking over the American market too.

In 2003 or 2004 (forget which) the total pounds of garlic imported from China exceeded the production from California and the domestic producers are cutting acreage because they can't compete.

[SoCalDem]

9. and there's the friendly neighborhood developer,

with checkbook in hand..ready to buy the farmer out and build some boxes:(

[Gormy Cuss]

20. the developer who will build some boxes filled with

products from China? Hmm. maybe there's trend worth noting here.

[babylonsister]

10. OT: don't know why, but that image disturbs me, SCD. I

may have nightmares.

[SoCalDem]

11. aaaw.. it's just a newborn toembryo

:)

[Laura PourMeADrink]

12. Amazing. You would think the fuel costs more than a horse drawn

load of garlic riding a mile! Ha.

I have noticed lately that EVERYTHING I pick up is made in China. Even the freakin american flag we bought.

Knowing the BFEE, there is probably someone, many, who are benefitting royally. Needs to be investigated. Ah, too many crimes, not enough time in one day....

[SoCalDem]

14. Yep.. it's just plain nuts...

I am in California and our stores are full of Chilean grapes at $2.59 a pound...and Mexican avocados.. ..and so it goes..

[Laura PourMeADrink]

17. Do you think this has proliferated under AssClown? Or is it just

that the rules for disclosure in supermarkets have changed?

[SoCalDem]

29. It's fairly recent..

If you are of a certain age, you will remember when veggies were seasonal, and farms grew two or three different crops because of it..

We knew that peaches, strawberries, melons & cherries would only be with us a short time..They were abundant and tasty, and then we got a "new" treat ...

The northern/southern hemisphere thing allows for the same veggies & fruits to be "available" year round, so they just upped the price for the whole time, and pocket the extra that's NOT shipped north..Consumer loses, south american farmers lose too..

They see the opportunity to ship a single product to the "rich americans" so they quit growing for their local markets, and they send all their crops to us..

There was a documentary on this sort of thing a while back.. Ingigenous people who used to work the fields and claimed some of the food for part of their wages, are not picking pesticide/fertilizer-laden roses, because roses are a higher priced commodity.. Where they once grew FOOD, they now grow roses.. Sure, they get to take some home, but who wants roses for DINNER?

[Ilsa]

4. Not where I live. Alot of the bays around here are contaminated.

You couldn't pay me to eat anything from them.

[Jim__]

21. Do you think the bays in China are cleaner?

Or, is it that our regulations prohibit selling commercial fish from polluted bays but China allows it, so we just import their fish from just as polluted water?

[Ilsa]

32. I doubt it. But I can't say for certain. I haven't checked on it. nt

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. Seasonal availability

Just like fruits and vegetables, many fish have a seasonal availability. If something is not readily available around North America at a particular time, it is probably readily available somewhere else on the planet. Now, in late winter/early spring, is not a good time for fish in North America.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

13. Ok, I can't wait until I can get fresh US fish in the summer !

[TechBear_Seattle]

15. I feel the same way about fresh strawberries at Christmas

Which means either paying a huge sum for domestic strawberries that were grown in hothouses, or less expensive strawberries imported from South America.

Of course, nothing beats the very ripe strawberries I grow on my deck during the summer, picked and eaten still warm from the sun :hi:

[Laura PourMeADrink]

16. You know, you wonder what you are giving up by buying the

So American ones. If people are saying they are cheaper due to less regulation - what are they doing that's illegal? What pesticides/preservatives are they using. Sorry, I am sure you just lost your appetite for them.

I am with you, I want to start growing as much of my own stuff as possible. Wish I had a greenhouse !

[cap]

24. get into freezing your strawberries....

you will be surprised at how nice they are in the winter.

[TechBear_Seattle]

27. Frozen strawberries thaw as pulp

They're fine for shakes, cocktails, ices, jam, syrup, etc. but not when you want a fresh strawberry.

And I do buy lots of fruit when it is locally available and inexpensive (although what passes for inexpensive now would have been "outrageously priced" just five years ago.) Lots goes in to the freezer and some gets canned.

While vaguely on the subject, here is a great recipe. Pack fruit -- one kind or a mix -- loosely in to a quart mason jar. Sliced strawberries, blueberries and raspberries do well; peaches and apricots taste heavenly but will turn brown and ugly. Add white rum (80 proof, at least) up to about half an inch from the rim of the jar, shake gently to remove air bubbles, repeat until all air bubbles are gone. Make sure all the fruit is at least 1/2 inch below the rum. Put on the lid and leave in a cool, dark pantry. The alcohol preserves the fruit and keeps it from going bad, and over the months, the rum seeps in to the fruit while the fruit juice seeps out in to the rum. Decant at Thanksgiving; serve liquor in cordial glasses and serve fruit over vanilla ice cream or pound cake. :swoon:

[cap]

26. the other thing is look at eating seasonally...

I try to follow the seasons ... Winter time is good for root vegetables. For fish, try scallops. I went scallopping in the dead of winter off Cape Cod with a friend of my father's. Boy was it cold!

[Untermonkey]

6. I'd like to say I'm surprised, but I'm not.

It's pretty darn difficult to find much of anything made in America any more.

[The Stranger]

7. Ocean fishstocks have been depleted and collapsing since the 1970s.

If you ever look at a menu from 75 years ago, many of the fish there are no longer available, and the "garbage fish" of the time, like lobster, are today's featured fish.

[gatorboy]

18. I Believe it.

I bought locally farm raised catfish just a few days ago and it was a few dollars more than the imported fish. I don't get it. :shrug:

Luckily it's warming up so I'm gonna go catch my own. :)

[MadHound]

19. Well d'uh, there's very few fish left off the shores of the US

The Gulf of Mexico has become a literal dead zone, with all the O2 being consumed by algae blooms. The great schools of cod and other fish in the North Atlantic have been fished out. Same for the northern Pacific fishing grounds. Krill, one of the key species in the marine food chain, is disappearing at a catastrophic rate, thus affecting the entire marine biosphere.

Our oceans are at a tipping point. If actions aren't taken now to reverse the damage, virtually the entire oceanic biosphere will go belly up, leaving our oceans dead, and the rest of the world dying.

If you want a thorough, informative bit of reading on how our oceans are faring, I suggest that you go read the latest issue of Mother Jones. Some very good, and quite alarming articles on the decline of the oceans worldwide.<http://www.motherjones.com/news/featurex/2006/03/oceans_index.html>

[Laura PourMeADrink]

22. I would make this a cornerstone of our platform. Peace, People,

and our Environment.

It would be a perfect issue. You could cite every bill that repigs voted for (or against) that favored relaxing regs.

You could produce stunning advertisements produced by Robert Kennedy Jr. about how no lake or river that he fished in as a child was clean enough to fish now.

And the beauty is, when we win, someone will care to do something about what you are saying !

[cap]

23. I am getting very picky about where my food comes from

For the most part I buy from a share farm where I get my veggies once a week in season. What I dont eat, I freeze and can (yes, it's a lot of work). I get 1/4 of a cow from a local farmer. Am thinking of changing my chicken source since I can't buy bulk at a discount from them. Am pondering the whole fish thing. Looking for relatively local sources for fish. A lot of rivers have pollution problems.

I try to buy as little food from a supermarket as I can. My food tastes better and I can trust the little guy.

[sutz12]

25. Well, quite a few years ago....

I noticed that we were importing bottled water from Australia.

I took it as a sign of the apocalypse.

[blindpig]

28. It's getting to the point

where I am very reluctant to buy any fish but US raised catfish and tilapia. The oceans are being raped, captive raised carnivorous fish is a nonstarter. Same with shrimp, the most likely site of an overseas shrimp farm is a place formerly occupied by mangroves. What passes for blue crabs today we would throw back as "spiders" when I was young.

For this native of the Chesapeake this is maddening. We've killed the golden goose.

[DoYouEverWonder]

30. I guess I'm a rarity

Most of the fish I eat is what I catch myself in the Gulf. I'm lucky I live near water where the fishing is still good.

[malaise]

31. Damn I buy fresh snapper

twice a week - straight from the fishermen. I love my Caribbean.:D: