Watching the sausage being made is a sure way to put you off of it...

[jducoeur]

... or watching the imitation crabmeat, in this case. The current episode of Unwrapped, on Food TV, is showing how they make the stuff, and it's enough to confirm my utter lack of desire to ever consume it. They show everything from the large frozen bricks of chopped fish it is made from (which look like nothing so much as uniform white plastic building blocks), the adding of artificial flavor ("the fish in its raw form has almost no flavor!"), the blending, the extruding (yes, it is actually pureed and extruded), and the painting with a nice red stripe down the side.

Okay, it's a process that I casually accept when the subject is candy. But somehow, when applied to fish, it's oddly horrifying...

Comments

[mermaidlady]

Oh good. It's not just me...

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

Did they mention the MSG? :-)

[talvinamarich.livejournal.com]

I worked for two years in a Wal-Mart Seafood Dept. I was there six months before they found out I don't eat the stuff.

Every once in a while, some woman would come up to the counter, and the conversation would go something like this:

"Do you have crabs?"

Me: (keeping my Customer Service Face on) "Ma'am, Wal-Mart is proud to sell King Crab Legs, Snow Crab Legs, Whole Dungeness Crab, and Imitation Crab Meat! Would any of that interest you?"

(A slightly annoyed look, and a snicker from her or her companions) "I didn't ask you THAT! I asked if you have crabs!"

I was not paid enough to be nice to these people.

[baron-steffan.livejournal.com]

But somehow, when applied to fish, it's oddly horrifying...

I will, for the sake of argument, assume you're like the majority of folks who enjoy an occasional boiled whole lobster, or soft-shelled crab. Given that, have you examined your reaction deeply enough to explain why you don't find that revolting (as I do), whereas surimi is horrifying to you?

I mean, surimi is made from processed fish, but it's...fish, not fish-guts. To me, it's the moral equivalent of tuna salad, whereas giant sea-cockroaches lobsters...well, and eating a whole soft-shelled crab...gack, that gives me nightmares.