An exploration of pescetarian foods - Tips, Ideas, Thoughts?

StellaMA20
StellaMA20 Posts: 31 Member
edited November 2024 in Food and Nutrition
I have previously tried a pescetarian diet for a year in 2012. I have recently decided to explore it again and would love thoughts, ideas, advice from fellow pescetarians or fellow explorers.

What I have learned from my previous attempt:
1. One doesn't end up eating seafood as much as other meat, i.e. not at every meal. So, there are at least a few vegetarian days and protein replacement is necessary, whether through powders or red beans/legumes, etc.
2. Tuna packets and salmon are not enough as seafood options...also tuna has serious mercury issues. One needs to explore the diversity of the ocean to enjoy food. I've always enjoyed shrimp and I have learned to add it to my salads and soups more frequently.

What I am working at and would love tips on:
1. Scallops and amazing nutritional benefits of scallops - I've recently discovered that scallops are extremely healthy and nearly pure protein with essential minerals, etc. Anyone tried adding them more regularly to their diet?
2. Mackeral is another great fatty fish and makes for easy cooking; somewhat similar to Salmon.
3. I am curious about what other seafood options people try - calamari? clams? other types of fish that have worked for you and why? I feel like apart from Tuna, Salmon, and Mackarel, I only eat other types of fish at restaurants and still have to learn more about them and how to cook them well.

Feel free to talk about your exploration with seafood, other tips, and/or thoughts that you've had in being or exploring pescetarianism.

Replies

  • StellaMA20
    StellaMA20 Posts: 31 Member
    edited September 2017
    Other cool aspects of being a pescetarian:

    1. Supported in most cuisines (even the ones that are not so vegetarian friendly) - there are excellent Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Mediterranean, and even Brazilian seafood options, easily available at most restaurants. (I travel a lot and I find being a pescetarian way more travel-friendly than being a vegetarian)
    2. Seafood is wonderful for fine dining and wine-drinking! And really fun to explore in coastal cities, like Perth and Istanbul.
    3. Seafood is more diverse than the usual beef/chicken alternation. And when you step away from beef/chicken, it is quite a lot of fun to explore the different textures and flavors of seafood.
    4. Seafood is rich in a lot of essential minerals and nutrients that are hard to find in other foods, such as zinc, selenium, and omega 3s.
    5. Fresh plant-based foods and seafood make a phenomenal constellation of colors, flavors, and textures.
    6. If you're me, Sushi is heaven! ;-)
  • amandacalories
    amandacalories Posts: 107 Member
    I consider myself to be "vegetarian", but I do eat fish on occasion. I live in Hawaii so it's unavoidable. I eat more meat replacement things or beans, tofu etc then seafood just because it's way more expensive.

    I personally like raw fish more then cooked. Sushi, sashimi, poke (which I understand is becoming a fad food in the mainland). I've never had scallops or mackerel. But calamari is the bomb! If I go to eat out and there's calamari on the menu you best believe I'm getting it.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I eat fish a lot--trout, salmon (grew up partly in AK so I'm biased), perch, cod, Alaskan cod, skate, tuna steak, halibut are some tasty ones, but I'll eat most fish. I also will buy any shellfish--scallops, clams, and shrimp are favorites. They have calamari here more than they used to too. For money savings, looking at frozen (all fish will normally be flash frozen on the boat and even if sold unfrozen), is helpful. I like mackerel tinned, it's not as common here sold in other ways, wish it was.

    For cooking and fish ideas I recommend Mark Bittman's Fish book, which is how I learned to be comfortable cooking them. The Monterey Aquarium has a good source for fish to choose/avoid for environmental reasons (which can be really specific -- what kinds of red snapper to buy, what to avoid, for example): https://www.seafoodwatch.org/seafood-recommendations
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    Where fish are concerned, it matters a lot where you live. Here in the Mid-South, finding a good foreign market was helpful, since Asians eat a larger variety of fish more frequently. A typical grocery here will carry elderly pre-frozen salmon and catfish and possibly snapper and that's it, while the Asian market has dozens of different kinds of fish, including live ones in tanks which they will butcher for you.

    For some reason our market carries fresh Golden Pompano really inexpensively. I love it - most people recommend it baked in paper, but I just pan grill it. I had never eaten it until recently and it's a delicious fish.

    I love scallops, but they're a little expensive to eat regularly. Just a little butter and white wine.

    I like Korean style squid, but I don't know how to make it myself.

    Don't forget crabs and lobsters!
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
    edited September 2017
    King prawns (or shrimp depending on where you live) and mussels are fantastic and so many recipes ranging from Asian to Mediterranean. Also with mussels they take so long to eat I feel more satisfied by the end of my meal as I'm usually quite a fast eater and my stomach actually gets to register being satisfied and full with a sensible portion! Both are quite easy to cook too especially if the prawns are already shelled and you want a quick stirfry. With mussels you may need to clean them first to get rid of any debris on the shell and discard any open ones (they are dead and will give you food poisoning) I love seafood but my husband isn't a fan so I don't get it at home that often unless we cook separate meals. >_<

    Edit: king prawns = Jumbo shrimp?
  • cadhlaureen
    cadhlaureen Posts: 19 Member
    I'm a big fan of oysters. Clams, Oysters, and mussels are packed with Vitamin B12 - which if you're not eating meat a lot can drop to dangerous levels (which you want no part of, from first hand experience)

    Raw oysters are my favorite, but I understand that some people don't like them for their texture.

    Sardines are sustainable and quite tasty - Alton Brown has a sardines on avocado toast recipe that is pretty delicious!

    Also try some thai style seafood recipes, especially curry. You can get cheap farm raised catfish, season it, pan fry it, throw in some green beans - with white rice? Very good. My local Thai place has a ton of seafood options like this.

    Tilapia would probably be the chicken of the ocean. It's pretty forgiving as far as different tastes goes, very mild, can be farm raised so it's sustainable, and you can buy packets of 20 fillets in a frozen bag, so adding more fish to your diet shouldn't be too difficult with tilapia on the menu!
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    Scallops are delicious and expensive. Don't forget the lowly shrimp, easy to prepare a gazillion ways and affordable. Shrimp Creole is one of my favs!
  • girlinahat
    girlinahat Posts: 2,956 Member
    Try and get diver caught scallops if you can - scallop dredging causes terrible damage to the ocean.

    Cooking them - quickly. Overcooked scallops are horrible. I've eaten them raw, but that's only because half an hour before I plucked them from the sea floor, and opened them on the boat on the way back to port.

    As to other fish - it really depends where you are. Try and find guidelines on sustainable sources.

    Mackerel is great as it takes strong flavours - so you can use a tomato sauce, and even chilli, but other fish are best done simply - I adore trout, and will just bake a whole trout with some butter.

    Mussels are great in a white wine sauce, smoked haddock makes an amazing and simple chowder. Fish and milk, fish and wine, fish and butter, fish and lemon. All great combinations. Key thing is - don't overcook it!
  • timtam163
    timtam163 Posts: 500 Member
    Fish are great when you can find them. But don't discount other vegetarian sources of protein: eggs? beans? yogurt? cheeses? mushrooms? seeds? nuts?

    I also personally used to really love anchovies and sardines. They tend to be cheap, easy, and full of calcium from the small bones.
  • StellaMA20
    StellaMA20 Posts: 31 Member
    Thanks for the ideas everyone. I am still new to many different types of seafood - like mussels. How do you cook them?

    Just found excellent cod fillets and cooked cod today! Perfect, flaky fish!! But need to keep the flavoring lighter next time.

    I also bought anchovy fillets - any ideas for that?

    Vegetarian protein is great. But I am enthusiastic about being a pescetarian, so that I can also explore the diversity of the ocean. :smiley:

  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    edited September 2017
    I love seafood but I think it's WAY too expensive IMO to use as a regular source of food/protein. So, I eat it sparingly.

    I keep canned tuna, salmon, mackeral and oystersthat I get for $1/can in the pantry and have frozen tilapia, trout and salmon in the freezer.

    Just defrosted and poached an 8oz piece of salmon for lunch and bought 2 fresh 2# salmon filets for just $6/# (a bargain where I live) that I'm going to make into gravlax. Am also going to pan fry a trout for dinner.

    That said, eat much more chicken and pork which cost only a fraction in comparison but I'm not a vegetarian or vegan and have no problem eating any meat.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    I am considering giving up calamari, squid, and octopus because they are just so darn intelligent.

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  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    I clicked on this because my husband's eaten pescetarian for 14+ years. But reading this, he would get ideas rather than give them. Honestly he only prepares and eats seafood a few times per month (mainly due to expense and difficulty of sourcing certain stuff). He pretty much eats a vegetarian diet but does not exclude fish/seafood.

    I do second the comment about Asian markets being great especially in landlocked areas...cheaper and wider variety!

    Anyway thanks for the ideas here!
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    Personally, fish is too expensive for more than twice a week for me, unless I ate tuna more often than I care to. I usually have a can's worth of tuna per week, plus a salmon or cod fillet. The fillet might be replaced by shrimp every once and awhile when I can find a good deal on them. Scallops are prohibitively expensive here and honestly I don't really like them. I tried sardines back in the day and didn't like them, but I keep meaning to try again.

    When I am lucky enough to get treated to a dinner out, I also like snapper, flounder, crab legs, and sometimes catfish. Mahi mahi is a nice mild fish, I used to see it all the time in the supermarket but now I tend to see cod more.

    I find mussels and clams a little too "fishy" for my taste.
  • StellaMA20
    StellaMA20 Posts: 31 Member
    I agree with some types of seafood being prohibitively expensive - especially in non-coastal cities, where its not a local food. Sometimes, in coastal cities, the trick is to explore outside the supermarket...but then it does end up being time-consuming and laborious. Since I am currently out of the US, its easier to find some seafood more cheaply than I ever would back in the East Coast (but even there, I've always lived in coastal cities). Also, a friend of mine in Nova Scotia, Canada claims to have bought some 10 lobsters for $25 from a local fisherman.

    For more regular eating, I also use a lot of frozen fish; frozen salmon fillets; canned tuna. As of now, also frozen cod fillets and anchovy fillets. Frozen cleaned small shrimp has also been cheap to buy and easy to use as a quick topping on salads and soups. Its super easy to cook too - it takes some 10 minutes. Even though its not in every meal, I am still able to include seafood in at least one meal for 4-5 days a week.

    Despite my current interest in them, I have still to try and buy scallops -apparently there are cheaper varieties.
  • cadhlaureen
    cadhlaureen Posts: 19 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »
    Personally, fish is too expensive for more than twice a week for me, unless I ate tuna more often than I care to. I usually have a can's worth of tuna per week, plus a salmon or cod fillet. The fillet might be replaced by shrimp every once and awhile when I can find a good deal on them. Scallops are prohibitively expensive here and honestly I don't really like them. I tried sardines back in the day and didn't like them, but I keep meaning to try again.

    When I am lucky enough to get treated to a dinner out, I also like snapper, flounder, crab legs, and sometimes catfish. Mahi mahi is a nice mild fish, I used to see it all the time in the supermarket but now I tend to see cod more.

    I find mussels and clams a little too "fishy" for my taste.

    If you're willing to try Sardines again, try to find the tiny ones. Like 20-30 a pack. They're less fishy, melt in your mouth, and have a much better taste than the other larger fish in tins.
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