I decided a few years ago that I wanted to cut down on my meat intake, especially when it came to things like beef and pork, so I scoped out the fresh seafood market at my local grocery store and found a number of interesting surprises.
When I first decided to give up meat, I was a bit leery about seafood as an adequate replacement. Don't get me wrong, I love seafood, but I definitely did not feel as full after eating a catfish fillet as a did from eating a sirloin steak.
I expressed my concerns to the fish monger, and he recommended Mahi Mahi, which is a Hawaiian fish that he said tasted a lot like meat. I was skeptical, but I gave it a shot, and was amazed at how much like meat this fish actually tasted. I must have eaten Mahi Mahi five or six times within the first two weeks.
I decided to start making regular visits to the fresh seafood market to see what else I could try. The next thing I was recommended was tuna. Now, I am ashamed to admit that I had never actually eaten tuna by itself before. I had always had it on tuna salad sandwiches, which I really liked. I decided to grill the tuna out and it was exquisite.
One of the products the fresh seafood market offered was crab. The woman who was talking to me about the crab said that they were from the Gulf of Mexico, and that they were absolutely delicious. What she did not know is that I am originally from Maryland, where we went crabbing on the Chesapeake Bay on a regular basis, and where crab feasts are quite the local pastime.
I decided to give them a whirl anyway, and with a little Old Bay seasoning, they were not bad at all. I was actually able to show my kids, who have grown up in Texas, some of the tricks of the trade when it came to eating crab meat.
The best part about making the fresh seafood market part of my weekly routine was that my cholesterol went down, which was what I was shooting for in the first place. I felt a heck of a lot healthier, and I had actually instilled a love of seafood in my children, as well, which I am hopeful will benefit them for years to come.
The thing that always amazes me is that even though I visit the fresh seafood market on a regular basis, and have done so for quite some time now, I still find surprises there all the time. Whether it's fish I have never tried or some other creature of the sea, there's always something new.