Be warned: ‘Many fishmongers are crooks’
Are you a budget cook or do you splash out? Wat Schaft de Podcast, that wonderful podcast about delicious food and drinks, has devoted a special episode to budget cooking. One of the tips: pay close attention at the fishmonger, because they’re crooks.
Jeroen Doucet and Jonas Nouwen, the podcast’s presenters, investigate how they can halve their grocery budget. When the conversation turns to buying good food cheaply, Jeroen makes a remark that shocks us: pay close attention at the fishmonger.
Ripped off by the fishmonger
Fish is expensive and you can easily be ripped off, says Jeroen. ‘I was recently at a fishmonger I don’t visit that regularly, and they accidentally charged €29.95 per kilo for the salmon instead of €19.95. A mistake? Many fishmongers are crooks. I understand it too, because it’s a perishable product and if you don’t have a high turnover, you have to throw it away.’
The last catch
All the fish we buy has been frozen. It really doesn’t arrive fresh from the sea. So fish at the market or from a fish specialist also comes from the freezer. Only the last catch of fish—the last fish caught before a boat heads back to the harbor—is fresh. But almost all of that goes to the hospitality industry, Jeroen explains.
You pay dearly for fish
And pay close attention when checking out at a fishmonger at the market, say Jeroen and Jonas. Sometimes they charge the price of large sole for the small ones, or quickly switch the price tag so you can no longer see what the price per kilo of your cod was. ‘All tricks, and you pay dearly for the fish,’ says Jeroen.
Sustainability label
At the supermarket, they advise buying frozen fish, especially if you look for the MSC and ASC labels. This is in line with the advice of expert Christine Absil when it comes to sustainable fish. You shouldn’t go to the fishmonger for that anyway, we wrote earlier, because most fishmongers don’t know where their fish was caught or whether it is rated red, orange or green in terms of sustainability.
Also read:
- Fun and informative: with this new podcast series about Champagne, you’ll soon know everything about bubbles
- 3 common mistakes with salmon
- 7 things that are ridiculously cheap at the supermarket
