4 ms·

Yeah, I'm being reductive. But my impression as an American is that you don't have to get very far from a coastal area for seafood to pretty quickly diminish on

by bane 5y ago

Yeah, I'm being reductive. But my impression as an American is that you don't have to get very far from a coastal area for seafood to pretty quickly diminish on the plates of the average person...and there's a lot of the U.S. that is very far from any coastal area. In other words, it's not unusual at all to hear people say "I don't really like seafood" or will eat it very minimally like in fried fish sticks and tuna salad only.

seanmcdirmid 5y ago
And you can’t go very much anywhere in Greece or Japan and be away from the coast. What do you think they are eating deep inland in Russia, China, and Kazakhstan? That’s not even getting into range. You won’t find lobster or octopus on the west coast unless it’s imported from a far away place. Better luck on the gulf coast, but you would have to be used to Cajun food (which is distinctly American with French influence) or Caribbean (ditto). Never try and Google Cajun and octopus together.
pc86 5y ago
I've lived in the Midwest US for years and this doesn't track with anyone I've ever met.
- bane 5y ago
  Meet more people? The gross statistics back it up. The average American eats about as much seafood as the average Russian, which is surprising considering one has ample fisheries and coastal areas and the other doesn't. Both countries are about mid-line per capita globally at something like 20-30 lbs (9-13 kg) per person per year (vs 60-80 pounds (27-36 kg) for countries like Korea, Japan, etc.) More detail, if you look by locale in the U.S. the average Midwesterner eats something like under 1/4th the seafood of their coastal countrymates. That's not 1/4, that's again less than 1/4th so we're talking from zero to 7.5 pounds per capita. Since population distribution in the U.S. is heavily skewed towards the coasts, you can estimate that for example, the average of 20lbs per person per year is representative of the average coastal person. This means that the average Midwesterner eats less than 5 pounds of all types of seafood per person per year or about something like less than 1 small shrimp per day. The thing is, modern logistics make it possible to eat fresh Sushi in the middle of Kansas. Being away from the coasts isn't really an excuse as the availability is or can be approximately the same. *sources: something something forgot to copy paste use the google or DDG it's like 2 minutes of searching plus some math
  - seanmcdirmid 5y ago
    > The thing is, modern logistics make it possible to eat fresh Sushi in the middle of Kansas. Being away from the coasts isn't really an excuse as the availability is or can be approximately the same. Flash freezing is relatively new technology (I assume that’s what you mean by “fresh”). It is not surprising midwesterners go all out on sushi (the real kind, not Californian roles) just because the logistics are easier now. Food is local because it has been that way for the last hundred or so years.
    - bane 5y ago
      Nah, by fresh I mean caught, loaded from a boat onto a truck with ice and driven to its destination. The miracle of the National Highway System makes Boston to San Diego a 50 hour possibility. Surely the people of Springfield Missouri would be fine with iced, fresh, 20 hour old fish caught off the coast of Connecticut! You can get an entire boat of fish from the Gulf Coast to Kansas City same day by road. Delaware to Louisville is what 8 hours? But why bother, fresh mussels from Lake Erie don't even have to leave the state, can by caught in the morning after breakfast and eaten for lunch a couple hours later. The Highway System is almost a century old. That's a few generations time to change preferences.
      - seanmcdirmid 5y ago
        Flash freezing is required by the FDA for eaten raw seafood no matter how fresh it is. It has been since the 90s I think. Flash freezing is used throughout the world on most seafood these days sans a few old school Japanese institutions. Because everything undergoes flash freezing in the boat anyways, 8 hours or 8 days isn’t going to matter much.
  - hackernewds 5y ago
    Remove shrimp and canned tuna and the Americans are not even close anymore

by bane 5y ago

seanmcdirmid 5y ago

And you can’t go very much anywhere in Greece or Japan and be away from the coast. What do you think they are eating deep inland in Russia, China, and Kazakhstan? That’s not even getting into range. You won’t find lobster or octopus on the west coast unless it’s imported from a far away place. Better luck on the gulf coast, but you would have to be used to Cajun food (which is distinctly American with French influence) or Caribbean (ditto). Never try and Google Cajun and octopus together.

pc86 5y ago

I've lived in the Midwest US for years and this doesn't track with anyone I've ever met.

bane 5y ago
Meet more people? The gross statistics back it up. The average American eats about as much seafood as the average Russian, which is surprising considering one has ample fisheries and coastal areas and the other doesn't. Both countries are about mid-line per capita globally at something like 20-30 lbs (9-13 kg) per person per year (vs 60-80 pounds (27-36 kg) for countries like Korea, Japan, etc.) More detail, if you look by locale in the U.S. the average Midwesterner eats something like under 1/4th the seafood of their coastal countrymates. That's not 1/4, that's again less than 1/4th so we're talking from zero to 7.5 pounds per capita. Since population distribution in the U.S. is heavily skewed towards the coasts, you can estimate that for example, the average of 20lbs per person per year is representative of the average coastal person. This means that the average Midwesterner eats less than 5 pounds of all types of seafood per person per year or about something like less than 1 small shrimp per day. The thing is, modern logistics make it possible to eat fresh Sushi in the middle of Kansas. Being away from the coasts isn't really an excuse as the availability is or can be approximately the same. *sources: something something forgot to copy paste use the google or DDG it's like 2 minutes of searching plus some math
- seanmcdirmid 5y ago
  > The thing is, modern logistics make it possible to eat fresh Sushi in the middle of Kansas. Being away from the coasts isn't really an excuse as the availability is or can be approximately the same. Flash freezing is relatively new technology (I assume that’s what you mean by “fresh”). It is not surprising midwesterners go all out on sushi (the real kind, not Californian roles) just because the logistics are easier now. Food is local because it has been that way for the last hundred or so years.
  - bane 5y ago
    Nah, by fresh I mean caught, loaded from a boat onto a truck with ice and driven to its destination. The miracle of the National Highway System makes Boston to San Diego a 50 hour possibility. Surely the people of Springfield Missouri would be fine with iced, fresh, 20 hour old fish caught off the coast of Connecticut! You can get an entire boat of fish from the Gulf Coast to Kansas City same day by road. Delaware to Louisville is what 8 hours? But why bother, fresh mussels from Lake Erie don't even have to leave the state, can by caught in the morning after breakfast and eaten for lunch a couple hours later. The Highway System is almost a century old. That's a few generations time to change preferences.
    - seanmcdirmid 5y ago
      Flash freezing is required by the FDA for eaten raw seafood no matter how fresh it is. It has been since the 90s I think. Flash freezing is used throughout the world on most seafood these days sans a few old school Japanese institutions. Because everything undergoes flash freezing in the boat anyways, 8 hours or 8 days isn’t going to matter much.
- hackernewds 5y ago
  Remove shrimp and canned tuna and the Americans are not even close anymore