About

Hello, my guppies!

Welcome to the blog, “PiscesCulture”, a blog speared towards those who like eating fish, but may be a little intimidated to cook it at home, and for those self proclaimed curious picky eaters who may want to try fish for the first time. Perhaps you only order fish at restaurants and wish you had the skills to cook it at home. Or perhaps you’ve always wanted to know what fish tastes like, but are too nervous to try it. 

It’s okay! 

Trying new foods, especially for those of us who are “picky”, can be very scary. 

I would know. I was once one of those so-called “picky” eaters. I was so picky, my grandmother famously had a legitimate worry I’d never find a boyfriend because I’d forever be eating chicken nuggets on date night and never anything “grown up” – as though this is a real problem to worry over in the 21st century. Two things, Grammy:

• ONE: I eventually grew out of my pickiness once I got older. And –

• TWO: I’ll gladly order chicken nuggets with my boyfriend TO THIS DAY because they are yummy… and he’s not afraid to share them with me.

(By the way, Grammy, I love you very much, but your worries were luckily all for nothing. You’d be very proud of me.)

Anyway, yes, I was very picky. I grew up on chicken nuggets and cheese pizza. My first hot dog was when I was 12, and my first ground beef Americanized taco at age 15. Probably never had chicken without breading around it until I was well into high school. I finally decided “burgers aren’t so bad after all” when I was given a fresh one from McDonald’s on a college trip to Scotland (yup, had to go all the way to Scotland to like a burger for the first time). And the list goes on.

It’s probably due to several factors, one being that I have a severely deviated septum and an enlarged lob up my left nostril, both of which hinder my sense of smell and therefore taste. Basically, nothing tastes good because I have a crappy nose. Which sucks, because even though I have yet to get the surgery to correct the problem, I know for a fact food does taste good. In fact, I love eating food. Thanks to the chef I had as a professor in college and to my foodie boyfriend, my impaired taste buds have begun to experience wonders.

In this blog, I will be posting tamed yet tasty recipes perfect for those trying fish for the first time (and maybe some adventurous ones here and there), information about aquaculture/fishing practices, and detailed flavor profiles for various fish as well as their cooking methods (which do vary from fish to fish).

Happy eating!

“But, Courtney. Why Fish?”

I’m glad you asked!

My journey started back in March 2020. That’s right.

THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.

I ended up getting furloughed from my serving job (which I had only been at for 5 weeks, fml). Hoping it would only be temporary, I quickly snagged a job at a very popular Florida-based grocery store chain. I started in the deli, but in July 2020, the week of my 26th birthday, they started to send me to the seafood department once a week because they needed help filling their scheduling needs. You could say I was… hooked. Eventually I transferred to the seafood department full time beginning in October of that year and the rest is history.

Mind you, I had very very little knowledge of fish, let alone selling it. I didn’t eat it back then. I had a basic understanding of shellfish due to my time in the marketing department of a restaurant group who operated a seafood restaurant within their portfolio. But fish? Nope. Not a clue. So I studied as much as I could. I didn’t want to not know what I was selling, that’d be stupid. So during my down time on my closing shifts, I’d study the reading material provided to us by the company and from the world wide web. Now, I can sell fish to almost anyone. In fact, one of my favorite things to do now is talk about fish. I find myself praying it comes up in conversation just so I can talk about it. It’s gotten bad, guys. 

Because of this, I love my job (and I am NEVER going back to hospitality unless it’s on my own terms), as I spend a good portion of my day answering questions and educating customers about cooking seafood. Not only that, but my customers are always giving me excellent recipe ideas. It’s absolutely wild to realize of all the things I never thought would work! There are so many fish out there and multiple ways to prepare them. Like, I know it’s not fish, but did you know you can put shrimp in a smoker? ‘Cuz I didn’t. My customer buys the 16/20 Argentinian reds and smokes them. Again, mind blowing! At least to this recovering picky eater.

I love to learn and my hope is to pass this valuable information onto you.