Does anyone else get a craving for sushi when you visit the aquarium?

[chocojosh]

Every time I go to an aquarium I have to get sushi afterward. I think it's something about the smell.

Does this happen to anyone else?

[Lennea]

Hilarious .... I am somewhat relieved to hear I am not alone in my salivations over the fish at the aquarium .... fresh is best (-8

[jimyo]

and, clearly, not just sushi...ANY seafood.

[jimyo]

yes totally!! it was so bad once, that after a visit to the LB aquarium, we had to drive to palos verdes to meet someone for dinner and we had to stop at a mcdonald's drive thru to get a filet-o-fish!

[markabauman]

I polled a number of non-CH'ers and the universal response was "No, not at all!", usually accompanied by a weird facial expression. Almost all the CH-ers here have responded to the affirmative. What does this say about us? Of course, though we may all have diverse, often divergent opinions about food, we are all still obsessed and relate to the world in a totally food-centric manner. We must all be wired differently with gastro-neural connections that non-CH'ers don't have. I'm glad.

[lrealml]

Definitely! I'm glad to hear that it is not just me; I was thinking I was just crazy...

I can't even walk through a park without hungrily eying all the ducks and picking out which one I'd eat first!

[huiray]

OK, now that is just slightly morbid...
;-)

[Pbfp]

And here I thought -- for decades -- that I was the only one who reacted this way! I remember a time, decades ago, when I took my young daughter to an aquarium with my mother. As we wandered through the aquarium my mom and I began discussing how we prepared the different fish -- a squeeze of lemon juice here, a saffron sauce there. All of a sudden my daughter piped up -- chastizing us for not glorying in the live fish instead of thinking of them only as something for our delictation! I still laugh when I think of it. That daughter has grown up to be an outstanding cook and now loves to discuss with me various ways of cooking fish since she uses little meat in her cuisine.

[PotatoHouse]

ALWAYS!

[ozmotion]

So when ya'll see stray cats and dogs on the street, what feelings arise?

[markabauman]

That's really funny. When I was visiting the wonderful Shedd Aquarium in Chicago I jokingly asked where the sushi bar was of one of the docents. They were not amused. I, however, definitely had cravings.

[AngelSanctuary]

Steamed fish for me, with the ginger and green onions and soy sauce poured on top.

[RealMenJulienne]

No, because sushi is overrated, but I do start thinking about grilled and roasted fish, sprinkled with lemon juice and eaten on the beach right after you pull it out of the ocean, crispy skin and juicy flesh... oh yeah.

When I was in South Africa I had a similar reaction to the huge herds of antelope grazing in Kruger National Park. They look so damn tasty running around, and all I could think about was catching and cooking one whole on a spit, medieval style.

[tatamagouche]

You know you're asking for it with a throwaway phrase like "sushi is overrated." Right? :)

[RealMenJulienne]

Nah, sushi is OK but meat or fish of any kind needs to be cooked to be at its best. Heat brings out flavor!

[tatamagouche]

Boston's aquarium about 50 feet from a Legal Sea Foods (local chain).

[MC Slim JB]

The smell of the penguins in Boston's excellent aquarium does not put me in mind of food of any sort.

http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/

[tatamagouche]

There are those who would say the same of Legal Sea Foods.

[tdl1501]

Try Houston's aquarium. It's owned by Landry's seafood restaurant chain. I'll have that yellow one over there, please. Plus, they have two white tigers, no, they're not forced to be in a swim tank all day, just there as a tourist draw. My thought? Pass it up and just go out and eat sustainable fish.

[BangorDin]

It's definitely the smell. If funerals smelled like baikng bread or chocolate instead of flowers--
pretty sure the reaction would happen.

[peppero]

If crematoriums smelled like BBQ.....

[tatamagouche]

...and there's a restaurant in Denver in a former mortuary. It is not, however, a BBQ joint.

[huiray]

I wonder - suppose they put in some BBQ sauce with the embalming fluid ... for the viewing & before the cremation ... then ...
But the presumably efficient ventilation system would, uh, remove any smells, athough the neighborhood might get the wind-drift from the chimney stacks...
:-)

[Pixie Muse]

I love sushi chocojosh, and so it is on my mind a lot as well. but I don't think it has happened after visiting an aquarium. You are probably right though, it could very well be the smell:)

[la2tokyo]

No, but I have a friend who's a sushi chef who came back from the acquarium once and told me he felt really guilty the whole time he was there.

[gingershelley]

I have this problem as a diver... when I was training to get certified as a diver, our instructor kept talking about all the things we would see in puget sound, like urchin, octopus, giant ling cod, crabs on the bottom, etc. All I wanted to do was say yum!, and how long do I have to dive before I can learn to spearfish and what are the rules of what I can gather while down there?

[NVJims]

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/saltwater.... Will give you all the information on taking seafood while diving... only problem is spitting out the bones and having them lodge in your regulator...

[gingershelley]

Thanks NVJims.... I spent a bunch of time all over this website, but I find very few specific refferences do gathering while diving. I sense you just must follow the open/closed guidlines for different catches, and have a fishing liscense and do catch reports. However, it is funny since you - when fishing - can't catch a fish any other way than with a hook in the mouth - what is a spearfisher to do?

[NVJims]

Go to the regulation booklet and then look in the 'Marine Area Rules' http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01185... If a species is "barbless hook only" or "catch and release only" you need to let that tasty sushi swim away.... Ling Cod even have a special spearfishing season! Size limits do apply. You can call the department and they will find someone who will help you with the regulations.

[gingershelley]

Thank you sooo much! I will let you know if I get anything... have not spearfished before, but BF has - we are headed out next weekend then!

[Silverjay]

I visited an aquarium in Japan once that had a large tuna tank with a couple dozen bluefins circling around. Onlookers kept going "Oishisou! Oishisou!", which pretty much means "How tasty looking!".

[bdachow]

Ha, I thought I was the only person out there who thought that. I'd point at various tanks and say yum and my family would think I'm nuts. Thanks for affirming that I'm not completely food crazy. ;)

[DuchessNukem]

We used to have some really lovely blue crawfish in multiple fish tanks at work (in waiting rooms). Since I walk round the whole hospital, some days I'd dream of gathering them all up and having a little low-country boil for dinner.

I think they could read my mind. Sometimes one would shake an angry little claw at me.

[tastesgoodwhatisit]

Yep.

A Norwegian friend of my, on the other hand, got hungry on the whale watching tour. For whale. The guide wasn't amused.

[kerosundae]

In the Cove, they talked about how you can watch a dolphin show and eat dolphin meat afterwards.
In Iceland, you can go on a whale watching tour and eat whale meat afterwards.
http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/wa...

[Duppie]

It's actually quite tasty on the grill with a mustard dill sauce.

[brooklynkoshereater]

no craving for sushi after the aquarium. i do have a particularly voracious craving for lamb chops after visiting the petting zoo, though...

[viperlush]

Yup. All the time. When we lived in Baltimore we had a membership to the aquarium and as I walked around I would tell the fish that I would be eating their relatives later. Everytime we walked home we would stop for sushi. Although I did stop eating octopus after hearing stories about how smart they are and how much enrichment the aquariums have to give them to keep them from getting bored.

[huiray]

But not sashimi?

[K K]

I certainly do, especially at Monterey Bay Aquarium where that sustainable fish watch list comes from.

I am such a bad person.

But to be fair I only drool over the schools of sardines, mackerals, and silvery fish types.

I'm sure that's nowhere near as bad as say, someone who takes their kid to the local children's petting zoo and then think about a dinner of some delicious roast rack of lamb, rabbit a la fine dining, Peruvian style cuy, goat cheese etc.

[raytamsgv]

It seems that you're definitely not as bad as me. When I go to the petting zoo, I actually do think about lamb chops, fried chicken, porterhouse, and so on. It sort of inspires me to cook.

[tcamp]

LOL, glad to read this. We stumbled across a petting zoo last weekend - chickens, baby goats, rabbits and one hellaciously large tortoise. While my kids did their thing, I daydreamed about recipes I could whip up.

[Coogles]

I worked at an aquarium for 7 years, pretty much avoided (eating) seafood the entire time I was there. Professional courtesy.

[tommy]

I honestly don't think I have. That's sort of like a gynecologist getting horny during an exam.

[scubadoo97]

not sure if that's an accurate analogy.

[tommy]

I'd love to hear your analysis.

[Chemicalkinetics]

To be honest, no, not really.

[inaplasticcup]

Whenever I see superfresh fish I wonder if it would be delicious raw. :)

[scubadoo97]

Funny. I have had that craving while spearfishing. Glad the sharks were not thinking of the same thing. Problem was they were but I couldn't see them.

[Duppie]

Me too , diving and spear fishing in South Florida and the Keys,I would always carry Kikkoman soy,Wasabi paste and a can of Cheezit aerosol cheddar for the fish. Shoot a nice mangrove snapper,yellow tail or red fish and instant sashimi in the boat. Sometimes in season I'd get lucky and harvest a couple conch....

[raytamsgv]

Not at all. I just get cravings for sashimi and pan-seared tuna instead.