I think Rusty's response was good and so was Jim's.
I don't know if there was a complaint.

I think all the Photo's posted, are a bid for attention, or else why would they be Posted.
Of course everyone wants some attention. Problem is some require more.

The Photo's are for CF members to admire and comment.
Are we starting the picking apart thing again ???

Dcarch, I think the presentation is great, even if it effects some members the wrong way.
Can't please everyone.Naturally someone will be upset.

But anyone can use me to "pick on". I've grown accustomed to it and built up an outer shell.
Lou

The presentation of a fish served intact with the head on it is not what gave me the willies.

It is the fact that the fish have been "mutilated"....heads cut off and rearranged on a plate that I find creepy.

Linda

It doesn't bother me at all one way or another, it just doesn't look like something I want to eat.

I still think it would look better head to tail, LOL, the two fishes chasing each other around the bowl...

Annie

Jim, just for you. :)

I emailed a friend last night and she just called me. Her mother was born in the Canton region of China, and her father was born near Beijing. She says her mother told her that while fish is traditiionally served as part of the new year festivities, and that the head and tail must be on it. It has something to do with the year having a happy beginning and end. Her father says that while that is true, the reason itself is utter nonsense and myth, and that fish is served with the head on so you know that you are being served fresh fish and have not been cheated by the fishmonger or the cook. Serving the fish with the head on is a statement by the cook that the food is the best/freshest.

I bet you can guess which parent is the accountant. :)

That first article had several points of interest to me, Rusty. Such as this one:

"Then, finally, there is the cheek, that most tender piece of flesh nestled in the facial cavity. Each morsel is fascinating in texture, and can crunch cleanly or melt seductively. One of the most sought-after selections is "opium fish head," which comes from a deep sea, grouper or cod-like variety."

In my first post to this thread, I said:

"Serving a headless fish deprives diners of the best little morsels of fish, the cheeks."

Now, the cheeks of a fish small enough to be served whole on a platter are about the size of a thumbnail. But here on Cape Cod, we sometimes can get cod cheeks, which are about the size of sea scallops and are cooked on their own. They are good!

I also noted the mention of fish heads cooked in a clay pot. So far as I can remember, the clay pot fish I had was not made with the heads, but it has been a long time since I had it. I can tell you it was one of the best Chinese dishes I've ever had and I crave it.

There is more to say, but we're getting off the topic of dcarch's presentation.

Jim

All this time I thought Dcarch was a woman... (Sharon used the pronoun "he".)

My life drawing professor was from China (near Beijing), and his specialty was watercolor and his favorite subject was a plate of fish. So when he cooked fish for himself, he would take photographs of the plate and then do a watercolor painting of it later. All the fish I saw that he painted had heads on and were intact. I did some interesting watercolor portraits for that class, but I gave them all away. One of them was almost psychedlic because I was exaggerating the colors I saw in the model.

I remember generally getting fish with head on in Mexico, but I was never served a chicken with its head, although you bought them that way (and with feet) in the markets in Mexico. They also sold pigs, snakes, and armadillos with heads on, but I didn't buy any of those.

I thought the best use of fish heads was for stock, although I do like to eat the cheeks, as Jim suggested.

Lars

I was the one who made the grave error (on another thread) of assuming dcarch was a woman. Dcarch was gracious about it though, when he corrected me. Funny how we make assumptions. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: yipes! my error!

"I thought the best use of fish heads was for stock..."

Now you're talking!

When I don't have fish heads from fish I caught myself I sometimes get them free from the fish market. There are easy subsitutes, such as instant dashi or bottled clam broth, but stock from fish heads is the best by far.

Jim

bean,

Your recent post sneaked by me. I just discovered it amidst the fray.

Thank you for doing that. Now my mind is at ease, :-) even though neither the mother's for the father's reason matched mine. I thought it was an esthetic, cultural thing.

Thanks so much for the help.

Jim

I was out on assignment for a little while. I came back and was a little surprised at the excitement this post has elicited.

I do value the different comments one gets in this somewhat international forum, and I truly appreciate your opinions, for or against.

Obvious there was a bit of weird sense of humor involved in the plating of this dish. Let me make a short story long, and give you the heads up :-) of what went into this post.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am lucky that my up bringing and my adult life gave me a lot of flexibility when it comes to food, which I feel have resulted in much enhanced good health and enjoyment.

I am also lucky that I live in an area of multi-culture richness, where it allows me tremendous opportunities to explore and enjoy my culinary flexibility.

Within 20 minutes from my house, there must be 5 or 6 huge (football field size) supermarkets, three Trader Joes, four fish stores, two huge Asian markets, 4 Spanish markets -------------. There is also a gigantic kitchen gadget store, in which if you go in, you will spend, involuntarily, your entire retirement nest egg buying all kinds of kitchen toys.

A couple from out of town came by with their 11 year old son Judd to visit. We decided to go food shopping. We went to the supermarket, got a few things. I was very surprised that, for the first time I saw chicken feet in the meat department, which is very unusual in my area.

We went to an Asian store to buy fresh fish, (swimming fish in tanks), but they sold out the small ones, only the big ones. We saw a pile of fish heads. I told my friends son that fish heads are very special for certain recipes for the Chinese.

We went to a Spanish fish store and bought the porgies. We also saw a whole pile of fish heads. I was told that Hispanics also have a taste for fish heads.

With a few other things we bought, we came home and started to cook.

First, I never ask the fish store to clean the fish. They sometimes get careless and cut the bile gland by mistake and that would make the fish very bitter. As I was cleaning the fishes, Judd was watching and asked if we could eat the heads, which was a pleasant surprise. So I cut the fishes in halves so that Judd could have the head part.

I turned around in the kitchen to do a few other things. When I returned, Judd had the crazy idea of arranging the fishes head to head and tail to tail. That got us all laughing to tears. I decided to cook the fish dish that way. We all enjoyed the fun dish and Judds creativity.

It was wonderful to have a young boy who did not get turned off by seeing and eating fish heads.

Yes, The Chinese, I was told, believe that all things must have a logical beginning and end, thus fish, chicken, roasted pigs, etc. should always come with their heads and tails; furthermore, it is disrespectful of the animals for serving their destined fate as foods and have parts of their life wasted.

But those were not reasons why I enjoy fish heads. I eat them because they taste good.

Have fun guys. :-)

DCARCH

Great story, Dcarch. Wish you had posted this first.

DCARCH, maybe you should preview your messages and think about if this is the right forum to post on. Your explanation helps, that should have accompanied the original post. Sometimes it's best to think twice before clicking on 'submit'.

Why cause an uproar unless that is your intention? You admit there was a weird sense of humor in plating the dish.

Nancy

Add my name to Nancy's post! Yes, I know fish come with heads on, and so do my kids. We have fished. But, Dad always gutted and skinned the fish when he cleaned it. I don't want heads, skin, or bones in my fish! Fastest way to turn me off fish is to see the head, or find scales or bones in it. Sorry.

Tami

I composed a response to your post, Nancy. But I thought twice before clicking on 'submit'. LOL!

Jim

No big deal to me. Everyone has the right to post what they want IMHO. Nothing I would want to eat, but heck...that isn't anything new. I really don't see the whole fuss about it. People have posted about beef cheeks etc. and that kind of makes me ill thinking about it, but whatever....some people hate the look of lobster and shrimp in their natural condition (me included!) but love eating them cleaned up and plated accordingly.

Let's get along and not make such a fuss over stupid stuff. Argue with me if you want. I don't care. We live in America and that makes it okay to fuss all we want!

Duane

When I lived in San Francisco, we could buy live chickens in Chinatown and therefore get them with the heads (and everything else) on. My roommate Bernard bought one and opted to take it home alive. He named her Debbie, and she lived under our dining table. Unfortunately, she was a very stupid chicken and got loose one day, and we never saw her again.

When I first moved to SF, I lived in North Beach, about two blocks from Chinatown, and that was a very intense experience. I didn't last in that neighborhood more than two months - I got tired of the crowded Stockton Street bus, which I had to take most of the time to get home, or else walk through even more crowded streets. Sidewalks are very narrow in that part of town.

I do appreciate cultural differences, however, and did have a very varied experience living there.

Lars

D-personally I saw nothing offensive in your post and I love the story. Aw, heck I have seen worse photos posted here, some on the WFD threads. :)

Lars, a live chicken living in the dining room? Please tell me it used a litter box.

During the "uproar" and all that ensued, I never got around to mentioning something important which was there for all to see. Those were not fish heads. They were half fishes, two tail halves and two head halves. The reason for doing that and arranging the halves in such a way was a mystery to me which has now been solved. I must admit I have never seen fish halved that way. Normally they would be split lengthwise.

Alexa understood the motif right away, IMO, when she referred to "the sun design". I too saw it as a sun. Too bad there was so much commotion over "yuk, fish heads!".

Jim

Much ado about nothing. Knowing that it was the work of an 11 year old makes it perfectly reasonable.

Jo

Well, I ain't eating nothing that's looking back at me... lol

Hush Jessy... LOL

Hugs,
Rita

I would pass on this dish. Not only because of the presentation but there are only a few fish that I care for the taste of. My kids know that all meats, poultry, etc. are living things so yeah, they have heads and tails. Nothing new there. Presenting a dish like this to a child to get them to know fish have heads would probably turn them off fish for quite a while so it defeats the purpose. NancyLouise

Wow, I'm bewilderd and almost stunned at the negative feedback regarding the posting of this picture. Not negative feedback to the picture itself but to the posting of it in the first place.

I mean, I, too, didn't like it and said what I thought, which I thought DCarch could take -- he seems to always welcome all kinds of comments to his posts and surely knew this picture would make some people go ewwww. No problem with that.

But why the comments that he shouldn't have posted to begin with? What am I missing? Is the picture THAT offensive? I actually found this entire thread sort of fun. It was an interesting perspective on the food. Lots of people didn't connect but some did. To me, it was, well, art. I don't like every piece of artwork I see but that doesn't mean I don't want to see it. And after all, can't cooking sometimes be considered a form of art, particularly in the creative presentation? And don't we already know that dcarch is into the presentation of foods?

Where's the harm?

Although I have been to most states in this continent (America), I never ceased to be amazed by the diversity of cultural schism that exists.

Having spend most my time in the North East and the West coast, I have to admit that I am biased in my approaches to many things in life.

If I go to a Chinese restaurant here and order fish, I will be served with the whole fish, If I go to an Italian restaurant and order certain roasted fish dish, they waiter will bring out the whole fish and filet the fish right in front of me. I have no idea that people are so emotional about fish heads.

Having traveled to other parts of the world and realized that our eating habits are truly in the small minority. I endeavor to diversify and sampled many local dishes, (including goats head with eyeballs). I made it a point not to pass on my hang ups to the next generation.

I just didnt think that having a little fun with this would cause some to have so much consternation. Thats is not to say that aversion to stuff like this is bad, we all have our preferred eating habits. For sure, my posts are meant to encourage new ideas, no matter how strange, and none of my posts are meant to offend anyone.

Oh, yes, I expect many different reactions to any one of my posts. I never will find criticism offending, including this one from another food forum where I posted an asparagus dish:

"dcarch, I think that asparagus looks like uncircumxxxed male organs.... I love food, all sorts of food... but that is just repulsive the way it is presented."

And my reply:
"One man's cookbook is another woman's soft porn: there's a certain Sybaritic voyeurism involved, an indulgence by proxy."
(by Margaret Atwood)

dcarch

dcarch, you have GOT to be one of the most diplomatic young men I have ever come across.

And I sincerely hope that you will not let a few queasy attitudes here stop you from posting your innovative and artistic presentations.

Any one of us can easily skip over any thread if we think we might find it offensive or upsetting.

And the rest of us can continue to enjoy them.

Rusty

Some of the comments were pretty snarky, but that is to be expected when there is something out of the ordinary posted around here... Actually, the presentation is pretty cool.

dcarch, I have often been served fish with the head still on in local restaurants, it's easy to remove the head and the entire "skeleton of the fish", just cut the top filet then neatly remove the bones and head. It always kind of reminds me of the cartoons where the cat has the fish skeleton with the intact head and tail attached, LOL.

I don't want the head lopped off and then presented to me, though. Either leave it whole or clean it, don't chop it up, and I'd prefer not to get the head at all.

I love fish and my Aunt Yoshiko made "soup" from the heads, tails and fin, and any skeletal remains if the fish was big enough to bother to filet, so I don't mind picking bones from "pan fish", which to us was bluegill, sunfish, perch, bass or pike, mostly, but I'll eat nearly any kind.

I'd still rather have my fish without the heads, though, and much of my fish I catch myself so Elery is kind enough to decapitate them before I cook them, so no one has to worry that they'll get a picture of a fish head from me. Now, you might get a picture of me holding an entire salmon, fresh from the water, but it'll be intact...

Annie

Here are a couple of good recipes, for those who might like them.
LOU
- - - - - - - - --

Sopa de Cabeza de Pescado (Cuban Fish Head's Soup)
courtesy of Cocina Cubana Club (please join) / Jose Bernardo Perez and chef Sonia Martinez

2 lbs sea bass heads
1/2 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 cup cubed potatoes
2 chopped onions
1 chopped green pepper
6 mashed garlic cloves
6 cups fish stock or fish broth
4 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 cup soup noodles
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp cumin
3 Tbs tomato paste
1 Tbs finely chopped parsley
Juice of 1 lime
4 slices toasted Cuban garlic bread
Salt to taste

Saute onions and green peppers till soft. Add garlic and saute 30 seconds.
Add fish heads and sprinkle with salt. Stir in cumin, oregano, and tomato
paste. Add fish broth, carrots and celery. Bring to a boil. Lower to medium
heat. Cook 15 minutes.

Add potatoes. Cook five minutes. Add noodles and stir frequently to avoid
sticking. When noodles are ready, about 7 minutes, squeeze juice of one lime
and add parsley. Remove from heat and serve hot with toasted Cuban garlic
bread.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Strong Fish Stock
Epicurious : August 2000

by Jasper White

50 Chowders: One Pot Meals Clam, Corn & Beyond

recipe reviews (5) my notes find out more user rating
100% would make it again

user rating:
4 forks

rate this recipe review this recipe
at a glance
main ingredients
Fish

cuisine
American

type
Soup/Stew

more resourcesFood Dictionary
cooking videos
yield: Makes about 2 quarts

This recipe uses a technique called "sweating" to extract maximum flavor from every ingredient. Although sweating adds a step, this stock is... more
subscribe to Bon Appétit
Ingredients2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium onions, very thinly sliced
4 stalks celery, very thinly sliced
2 medium carrots, very thinly sliced
2 dried bay leaves
1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves and stems
6 to 8 sprigs fresh thyme
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
1 large (6 inches long or more) or 2 small (4 inches long or less) fish heads from cod or haddock, split lengthwise, gills removed, and rinsed clean of any blood
2 1/2 to 3 pounds fish frames (bones) from sole, flounder, bass, and/or halibut, cut into 2-inch pieces and rinsed clean of any blood
1/4 cup dry white wine
About 2 quarts very hot or boiling water
Kosher or sea salt
print a shopping list for this recipe
Preparation1. Melt the butter in a heavy 7- to 8-quart stockpot over medium heat. Add the onions, celery, carrots, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, and peppercorns and cook, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon, until the vegetables become very soft without browning, about 8 minutes.

2. Place the fish head on the vegetables and stack the fish frames evenly on top. Pour in the wine, cover the pot tightly, and let the bones sweat for 10 to 15 minutes, or until they have turned completely white.

3. Add enough very hot or boiling water to just barely cover the bones. Give the mixture a gentle stir and allow the brew to come to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes, uncovered, carefully skimming off any white foam that comes to the surface, trying not to take any herbs, spices, or vegetables with it. (Using a ladle and a circular motion, push the foam from the center to the outside of the pot, where it is easy to remove.)

4. Remove the pot from the stove, stir the stock again, and allow it to steep for 10 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer and season lightly with salt. If you are not going to be using the stock within the hour, chill it as quickly as possible. Cover the stock after it is thoroughly chilled (it will have a light jellied consistency) and keep refrigerated for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.

Cook Notes
Strong Fish Stock can be used in any fish chowder, using 1 or 2 heads form haddock or cod mixed with any combination of flounder, sole, bass and/or halibut frames (bones).

Sol, I'm sorry I offended you. My post was intended as visual humor, another slightly disturbing severed and wrongly reassembled head. The still is from the animated film "Toy Story." The mutant toy is the creation of a neighbor child named Sid who breaks and reassembles toys into odd new toys. The mismatched fish halves instantly brought this image to mind and I went looking for it. As a visual artist, images and associations just occur. Sometimes I express them. As the fish halves arrangement is the inspiration of a child, my association was even more apt than I expected!

Have you never seen the movie?

Barnmom:
You offended me too.
Can we kiss and make up !!!
Don't tell Sol.
Lou

Barnmom. the Toy Story movies are among my all time favorites. That vicious little next door neighbor kid scared the bejabbers out of me.

I love the quotes, too. "Say goodbye to your wife and tater tots."

I've had whole fished served at restaurants. Sometimes the server removes the head and bones at the tableside.

That picture reminds me of a piscine Push Me Pull You.

DC, you do some amazing things but I found this display of fish heads to be a hoot only because of the opinions and attitudes they evoked.

You are luck you didn't have them swimming GRITS!! That would have really riled posters up.

Hmmm.....grits and fish? Panfried little fish swimming in lots of butter on top of grits. Sounds pretty good, especially if it is trailside and someone else has caught the fish, cleaned the fish, and fried the fish over a campfire. I'll be happy to clean up!

All this talk of fish heads has made me wish I could get some in my little 'burb. I never make fish chowder or the like because I can't make a decent fish stock 'cause I don't have the heads, bones, and trimmings.

Teresa

Detired:
That looks like a face in the middle of the Siamese Twins.
They would have a time in a Rest Room !!!

dcarch, you have shared some cool pics here that's for sure. I'm one that doesn't care for a whole fish on my plate so I was taken back when I first saw the pic.... no big deal to me. After reading the story of how it came to be I did LOL. Kids are a blast to cook with and can come up with some strange ideas no matter the food. Having said that one side of my family roasts a whole pig along with a apple or something stuck in the mouth for family reunions. Glad to finally know your gender, not that it matters, but I've been curious for some time now.

Grandma always buried the heads, guts, tails and whatnot under her tomatoe plants. She had the best tomoatoes. We always cleaned our fish on the dock when I lived on the lake and tossed everything back in the water to feed the catfish that lived under the dock. I did the same with table scraps....we always caught some good sized ones over the years.

Eileen, I remembered that from Toy Story....then I remembered the little dog with the ladies head from Mars Attack. LOL

Rita, you are baaaad! LOL

Rusty, this isn't the first time people here have commented on the yuck factor of a particular type of food, combination of food, or condiments. We all have different likes and dislikes. I personally like the variety of input that has been shared here over the years I've been hanging out here. It's all good IMHO.

David

I'm just dreading the day Arch does something with that white yucky thing ; )

As I said before, I am very sure Arch is interested, as any artist is, in the impact his art has on those who see it. It is meant to solicit comment.

Oh, come on! Not long ago, he was bemoaning that he didn't get a high response rate on his threads. This one should be almost like an early birthday present. It might even max out. And it's a lot more interesting that a meeting of the Mutual Admiration Society.

David, my granmother did the same thing, and her tomatoes were always the biggest and best in the neighborhood.

Sol, I'm sorry I offended you.

Eileen, Eileen, Eileen.
At first glimpse I thought you were joking with your apology, but was quickly taken aback when I realized that was not the case. And Im a little disappointed. I thought you knew me better than that.

It would take far more than a tongue-in-cheek photo of a doll's head to get my knickers in a knot.
If I were that week-kneed, I wouldnt be caught dead swimming in this pool of unconditional Love, we call the Cooking forum.
What with all the much ado about sweetened cornbread, and powdered garlic vs. fresh. Youd think this was a Glenn Beck/Nancy Pelosi face off ;-Þ

Seriously, with everything that's going on in the real world, I cant help but roll my eyes at all the derisions plaguing this forum lately. So much nitpicking, and arguing (from some, otherwise, intelligent, educated people) over nothing, but trivial Bull$h!t.

Have you never seen the movie?

As you know, I have two kids, so yeah, I've seen that movie, at least 37 times. And I even had both eyes open the first 15 times.

So you see, our previous comments shared a common thread, they were both riddled with sarcasm.

In any case, the answer is, NO, of course Im not offended. And Ill prove it to you, by promising that I will sleep very soundly tonight, and every night thereafter [G]

Dcarch, I certainly hope some of the reactions won't discourage you from creatively playing with your food.

Sol

You're right, Sol, there's a lot of bickering going on lately. Also much whining, moaning, and a lot of "poor me" and "I get picked on" accompanied by mutual fingerpointing.

Although I don't think the picture that started this is particularly appetizing and does not make me want to eat it, I don't think it's really offensive either. It's fish heads. (shrug) I'd prefer my dinner not to look at me.

As Renee said, dcarch has mentioned in the past that his postings don't get responses. I think his pictures are posted so he WILL get a response, or he wouldn't post them, just like the rest of us. I also think that some of his pictures are interesting, some are lovely and some are just unappetizing, which is surprising considering that it's all food.

I've begun to not respond to some posts or posters and I always try to simply state my opinion and try not to insult or attack anyone personally, even the ones that I'd really like to say "shut the heck up" to and the ones that are clearly trying to stir things up. And then I cook because, after all, this is the Cooking Forum.

Annie

Just to clarify one thing:

Am I fishing (Hehehee) for compliments? Attentions? May be yes, may be no. It doesnt matter.

I am trying to remember when I complained that my posts have not been getting responses. I cant remember I had ever indicated that. If I did, I like to change that. I am just not that way. Its possible that I could have done that by mistake.

However, I remember having said something like this:

On many other Forum formats and including YouTube, they tell you how many visitors have viewed you posts, even if they dont leave a comment. The problem with GWeb here is that you never know, so you can never tell if your topic is of any use to the public and if you should post more of the same material.

Some of my YouTube videos have 9,000 viewings, and some of my other postings have 10,000 viewings and yet they have very few comments.

dcarch

Dcarch, the forum has an ongoing "what's for dinner" thread. Many members post daily fare photos/recipes there.

Whether or not you want the head served on your fish/animals depends on how you grew up and also a cultural thing. When I was growing up there was never a head on anything on our table. Later in life I saw things served this way in magazines. It isn't my taste to do so.

A few years back I went to spend a day with friends and they didn't know I didn't like fish or seafood. The Mister was grilling outside and bringing it in. Imagine my shock when I sat down at the table and he placed a plate under my nose with a fish's eye staring up at me. That was my first time to actually have fish served in this way. I would not serve anything with a head on it to my friends.

Beverly,
I'm curious! What did you do? You were in an uncomfortable position to say the least!

YIKES!

dcarch has posted more pics. They are on the "I really want to like tofu, but..." thread and they are quite graphic. Apparently he doesn't care who he offends.

Those who gag at the sight of tofu may want to avoid that thread. :-)

Jim

I wouldn't say you were complaining exactly, more like pining or making it sound like your felt you weren't getting adequate applause -- which may or may not have been your intention. I'm not going to spend any time searching out the specific thread because frankly I'm not that interested.

Thanks for the warning Jimster. You're a good man.

Jim:
LOLOLOLOLOLOLO

Rusty

At home, I almost always serve fish filleted so it's rather nondiscript.

But, when we're offshore on a cruise and have caught our dinner from an afternoon of drifting with a line in the water we'll clean the fish & toss them on the stern BBQ without cutting off head/tail. We use the head/tail as handles to eat. I've never given it much thought until this thread. It's common practice amongst boaters. Not cutting them off is less opportunity to cut ourselves. :) Keeping knife useage to a minimum on a rocking non-commercial boat makes pretty good sense.

Here, at our marina's cleaning station, it's about 50/50 for tossing the heads to the gulls & leaving them intact. There are some first-mates (women) that are squeamish & get gaggy when their captains (DHs) plunk whole fish down on the galley counter.

We also have a whole pig roast every August at the marina. Some smart-alex always puts a whole fish in the pig's mouth. We are all rather crude, I guess. When that pig is done...we just attack it with our fingers, forks, & other implements of destruction eating it right off the spit down to the carcass. There's usually about 125 of us & we've got whole freshly caught tunas to go with the pork. That's the reason for the roast...to celebrate the tuna catch. Everybody shares what their boat has brought in.

It never occured to me that I should prepare the g-kids about fish & pig heads. Now, I'm feeling bad. :( Nobody has ever said a word so I hope they haven't been traumatized. My granddaughter is a little drama queen so I think if she was grossed out I'd surely have heard about it!

Interesting thread, dcarch.

/tricia

Interesting thread. Thanks for posting Dcarch. I didn't really think much about it being fish heads, just liked the color and symmetry. But after reading all the comments especially the original mind behind the design, I asked my 9-yo DS what he thought of the picture. He thought it looked cool... especially the double fish heads, then proceeded to analyze the ingredients and decided it would taste pretty good too (except for the lettuce, he said that didn't really go with the dish.)

Ann

"Posted by barnmom -------Dcarch, the forum has an ongoing "what's for dinner" thread. Many members post daily fare photos/recipes there."

I go there infrequently because even with DSL connection, it just takes too long to view and load the posts. I dont post there because I feel like I would be intruding with the conversations going on there.

I also want to thank you all for making this a very interesting, entertaining and educational thread. Ive learned a lot.

dcarch

I'd just like to say ... yowie zowie. I'd have never thought this picture/presentation would elicit such responses. My mouth is still hanging open, rather like the fish.

My first response was, yummm.. panfish. I love panfish. Made me start thinking of crappies and such. Then I was looking at the fish and thought it interesting how they were cut pretty evenly in half and that the ones eating the heads wouldn't need to feel gypped. The story behind how it came to be was cool. So great to cook with kids and I appreciate supporting his creativity by cooking and serving it to his imagining. I saw it as the head looking at it's tail. LOL

I just don't get the edge of meanness of some posts. Not new but still, makes me sad... and a bit peeved. Yeah, Like Duane said, this is America, thought this forum was for everyone. Comments pro and con are understandable but sheesh.