Just curious if anyone out there has tried Basa? It's a white, very mild, clean-tasting fish that is found only in the fish cases at the grocery store...at least right now its there. This fish comes from the Meikong River (sp??) in Viet Nam. I started eating this fish about two months ago. I really like it. I use my own fish coating on it. It takes flavours very nicely.
I read somewhere that a food expert was concerned that the river where this fish is found may have been dirty or muddy or even contaminated. Its none of those. The river is actually very clean, so the fish are perfectly safe to eat.
If you get a chance, and you have it at your local fishmongers or grocery store, give it a try. It's quite inexpensive right now. When I started buying it, it was $.77 per 100 grams. When I bought it this afternoon, it was $1.23 per 100 grams. That's still a good price. I guess it's starting to gain popularity somewhere and the prices are increasing accordingly.

This is from Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Safe Program:

quote:

Commercial aquaculture production of two river catfish species in Southeast Asia, basa and tra, has increased rapidly in recent years. River catfish have a strong potential to be a sustainable aquaculture species, but there are conservation concerns with the current practice of open cage aquaculture combined with little or no management of fish farming operations.

For more info, click here

Thanks Carolyn...I did read that when I first heard about basa. I really hope that something can be done to conserve this species of fish.
In the meantime, I'll keep eating at my current rate of 1 fish per month or month and a half. That's the best that I can do from here.