WOULD YOU EAT THIS FISH?
A bighead carp, a species of the Asian carp, swims in an exhibit that highlights plants and animals
BY THOMAS ROGERS
Would you eat this fish?
The chef who tried to get us to eat the nutria turns his attention to the invasive carp.
Will people buy it?
Invasive species are not, by any means, a new problem on
American soil. From zebra mussels to boa constrictors,
they've been pushing out indigenous animals for centuries.
Louisiana chef Philippe Parola, however, has an unusual
strategy to get rid of them: putting them in our stomachs.
(His oh-so-subtle eating philosophy: "You’ve got to have
balls.")
In 1998, the flamboy ant Parola was involved in the notorious
(and unsuccessful) attempt to make the nutria, a large
aquatic rodent pest, into a nationally popular meat. (It
probably didn't help that the animal looks like that giant rat
from your childhood nightmares.) Now he’s turned his
attention to another invasive species, the Asian carp. The
large fish, which can reach up to 30 pounds, has muscled out
indigenous fish in American waterways, including the
Mississippi, and has the dangerous habit of jumping out of the
water near moving boats (to see them in terrifying Y ouTube action click here). Now, working with the state of
Louisiana, Parola is hoping to curb its numbers by marketing the fish as a menu item. As part of his outreach,
Parola will be promoting the fish to the 1 ,500 members of the annual National Grocer’s Association convention
in Las Vegas.
Salon spoke to the energetic Parola over the phone about America’s conservative eating habits, his name-change
marketing campaign, and why it’s so hard to get people to eat a giant rat. MORE...