Any Guy's Food Blog

Tilapia is a group of fast growing trash fish that are often overabundant in certain areas. Tilapia is actually a generic name referencing several related species of fish. Tilapia originally gained popularity because of their price. Typically tilapia were a throw away fish that was caught in high quantities in the nets of fishermen going for other fish. Because of their abundance, fishermen would sell the tilapia cheap for a little extra coin. It's just good business.

Tilapia tend to be so plentiful because they are fast growing and do very well in certain climates. When hipsters that flock to Trader Joe's in waves to find stuff that they believe to be part of their "healthy" diets found out about tilapia, then things went downhill. Or uphill, if you consider the prices. Trader Joe's and stores like it carry a bunch of food with words like "grain," "baked," and "natural" on the box to make people think they're buying something healthy. I could write a 30-page paper on this marketing strategy and the problems with many people who buy into it, but that's not really the point. Before I get back on track, actually KNOW what you're eating before you're eating it if you want to eat healthy.

Anyway, fish is generally a very healthy food in the first place and tilapia claims to be among the healthier types of fish to eat. It's lower in fat than many other fish. Fish, in general, tends to carry fats that are good for you. For people that are concerned about mercury content, tilapia tends to have a lot less mercury present. So combine these health facts with the original low prices and hipsters go ape for tilapia. Now you have people talking about it as if it's some sort of delicacy. No. It's trash. There are still NO tilapia fleets that go out searching for the famed tilapia of the vast seas. In fact, with the increasing demand for tilapia over the past several years, most tilapia is farmed. The reason for farming tilapia is easy: increased demand, quick to supply. The other consequence of the increased demand is an increase in price. I remember paying $3.99/lb 6 years ago. I used to buy tilapia because it was cheap and I was poor. Now I have seen tilapia as high as $6.99/lb, the same price for which I can usually purchase salmon, New York strip and ribeye.

Some Informational links:
Popular Fish, Tilapia, Contains Potentially Dangerous Fatty Acid Combination
Tilapia on Wikipedia
Tilapia on Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch