Thursday, August 21, 2008

I fear...

I have had a life-long fear of fish!!!!! Fear of eating or cooking... finding that I had eaten something that had seafood mixed into the sauce (Caesar salad dressing... perfect example!!!) or to take a mouthful to then be gagging just with the thought that it contained fish...

Where did my dislike come from... my only guess is that when I was a wee little kid, my father and half dozen of his mates would go out at night and gill net a local lake (when it was still legal... can't do to now... no water and can't fish with nets anymore..) and they would bring back 100's if not 1000's of red fin. These huge plastic tubs full of them. My dad had made this giant 44 gallon drum sized fish scaler and they would be put into that, to de-scale, then a team of men would fillet and place on freezer trays and would be split up between them. They would do this maybe twice a year and the de-scaling and filleting would take place in our shed.

I can remember playing in piles of fish scales that would have been washed out of the scaler and the piles of guts, with that fishy smell just getting bigger and bigger..

I NEVER ate that fish. My mother would cook me fish fingers instead and I would happily eat them, but couldn't come to the actual fish. Jack, who grew up in a fishing area has told me if you saw what they made fish fingers out of, you wouldn't eat them... but they didn't look like fish, smell like fish...

Anyway... over the past few months, knowing how great fish is for you, I have been trying. We went out for tea and someone else ordered grilled fish... It looked beautiful, fresh and smelled Divine. So next time we ate there, I nervously ordered the fish! It was Divine!

Last night, I brought home fillets of whiting from the butchers, seasoned very lightly with cracked pepper and flour... conquered!!! Jack thought that I had lost my mind! 31 years old and got over my biggest food hurdle to date!

I fell like I am glowing from those home cooked omega-3 oil's already....

5 comments:

Kathryn said...

I have a fear of fish too. I think mine is because Mum used to tell us there was no bones in the fish she cooked and there always was -- then she'd tell us off for choking cos THERE WERE NO BONES!

I've started eating fish now if I'm out but I still hate cooking it. I do remember cooking a really easy fish dish for Andrew when he was a kid -- just put it in a parcel of foil with lemon juice squeezed over then some capsicum, onion and whatever herbs etc. I might have to try that again.

CaramelKitKat said...

LOL, good on you! Isn't it funny how things from childhood stay with us, but then can sometimes be overcome? I didn't like eggs for AGES, but now love little better than a couple of perfectly poached free-range on thick sourdough. (Do you poach eggs? I found it a right pain in the arse before I learnt the gladwrap trick...)

Now, I just need to work out why I hate cucumbers...

Have a great weekend! I can almost smell it :o)

Unknown said...

Hi there,
I used to hate fish! Had a bad prawn experience. But was reintroduced to it in uni and there's no turning back!

Anonymous said...

Oh I am so glad you ate the fish. I LOVE seafood, it is truly amazing, although I can see why you might not want to eat it after your earlier experiences with it.

Fish is magic man, simply magic!

Jules said...

What a great obstacle to over come.

I have a friend who hates fish and chicken but not because of any other reason than she thinks they are substandard creatures and don't deserve to be eaten!!

As for CKK, mind boggling at the cucumbers, LOL!!