Day 669: Poisonous Vietnamese River Fish, Part 3

REF: Day 643 & Day 660

Back on day 660, first time commenter ‘Chacho’ posted:

 “careful what you read on the internet. :) cheers,” http://www.ava.gov.sg/FoodSector/FoodSafetyEducation/Debunking+Myths+on+the+Pangas+Fish.htm

Now, I don’t mean to rip on you Chacho, I love my readers… all eight of them… but I took a look at this site… and well… I don’t think my opinion on Pangas has changed at all.  The site doesn’t seem to offer any hard facts except for the various names Pangas goes by around the world and the fact that it is ‘fit for human consumption’.  And the site certainly doesn’t address the fact that Pangas is a breed of catfish farmed in a polluted river.  Catfish are bottom feeders and I don’t eat catfish in the States… from a clean river.  And I’m not terrible excited about farmed fish either… but I am a fish snob and I am comfortable with that. 


I’m pretty certain Pangas IS ‘fit for human consumption’.  If you cook anything long enough and hot enough it will become ‘fit for human consumption’.  However, ‘fit for human consumption’ isn’t really what I look for in my meals. But I am in a position where I can make that decision.  I complete understand this is not a choice everyone can make.


A month ago I was blissfully unaware of Pangas.  Now?  I am noticing it in places I wish it wasn’t.  Like at a ‘fancy’ restaurant.  Last week Serena and I went out to eat with our neighbors to a restaurant called ‘Little Bay’.  It is a very nice opera themed restaurant chain (based in London) that has a pretty reasonably priced menu.  The food is quite good too… considering the fact they serve fillet of Pangas. 


Below, I have included a link to their menu… however, their Belgrade location menu is only in Serbian Cyrillic, and so I’ll need to talk to you through it a little. 
http://www.littlebay.co.uk/LittleBayBeogradJelovnik0310.pdf


Scroll down to the third heading, “ГЛАВНA ЈЕЛА” (Main Course).


I had the 7^th item down, “Бифтек”, a beef steak, for 895 Serbian Dinars.  At the current exchange rate, roughly 75 Dinars = 1 USD, my cost was about $12.00.  Roughly the same cost as a “Renegade Top Sirloin” at Longhorns.


Serena had the item just above, “дин.Ростирани филет лососа”, a fillet of salmon for 695 Dinars or $9.50.  


Now, these prices are insanely good… however, take a look at the very first item, the “Филет пангасиуса” for 395 Dinars… $5 Bucks… it’s a fillet of Pangas.  The price difference is very telling… even at a reasonably priced restaurant… they are essentially giving the Pangas away for free.  This certainly does display any confidence in the product as a quality ingredient… but I guess its ‘fit for human consumption’… so it has that going for it.