Just like the old joke, everyone's tried the "See-food Diet": you see food, and you eat it. But is there enough actual seafood on your family's plates?
Experts at the University of Idaho took a look at the data, in Idaho and across the nation, and they say no. On average, Americans eat just one serving of seafood a week, while nutritionists recommend at least two.
"It's culture; we're just not a seafood-eating nation," said Gary Fornshell, multi-county aquaculture educator for the university.
With Extension Educator Rhea Lanting, Fornshell has put together a four-part class to address misconceptions, fear of cooking seafood, health benefits and risks, and fundamentally what seafood is. The class is now available as a curriculum for nutrition educators, as well as being offered to the public.
The teachers conducted a pilot class earlier this year, attended by about 40 people who wanted to learn more about seafood. Among the participants were Ellen Fischer and her husband, James, and Barbara Arndt, all of Twin Falls.
"The main thing that I learned, the thing that stood out in my mind, is that people in the U.S. do not eat nearly the amount of seafood that we should be," Arndt said. "I've always tried to eat it at least once a week, and I think I've increased that."
She said that after the class, she made a seafood chowder that she never would have attempted before.
"I did use their recipe as a base, and it was excellent," she said. But the class didn't change her mind about disliking salmon. "We went to Alaska shortly after I took that class, and I thought, if I eat it there it'll taste better, but it really didn't."
A tip that the Fischers took away was the technique of cooking in parchment.
"I had never thought about cooking fish or other things in parchment paper, and there wasn't any oil or substances we shouldn't be putting in our bodies," Ellen Fischer said. "We shared that (technique) with some of our family. With fish, sometimes we are reluctant to cook it in the house because of the smell, and the parchment paper pretty much took care of that."
Only one of the four class units focuses on seafood preparation, though. The others are designed to increase interest and decrease fear -- especially of mercury contamination, Fornshell said.
"The risk has been greatly overstated. The (Federal Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency) advisory is for a very specific group, and that would be women of reproductive age" and small children, he said. He noted there are only four species to always avoid: swordfish, shark, king mackerel and tilefish. "Those species are rarely consumed by anybody."
For most people, the benefits -- especially for heart health -- far outweigh any risk of mercury poisoning, Lanting said. The pair said there are many misconceptions and rumors about seafood, and they cautioned that people should be careful of what they are hearing, especially on the Internet.
"If you want to get objective, unbiased information, you need to go to credible sources," Fornshell said.
The class stays away from political topics, such as the environmental implications of farmed versus wild fish. It does note that the two harvesting methods result in nutritionally identical products.
With farmed trout being the pride of Idaho, and shrimp and salmon in every grocer's case, it's easy to think that there are only a few kinds of fish and shellfish to choose from. But that's just not true -- there are endless species to put on your plate, even if not all are readily available at the corner market.
"There are just thousands of different species and such a variety of tastes and textures. It's good for you and it tastes great," Fornshell said.
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