There is controversy about the O so wonderful tilapia in the kitchen. The Washington Post recently had an article on tilapia. The author, Walter Nicholls, describes the battle between consumer and chef.

Two Sides to Every Tilapia

“It’s Mild and Eco-Friendly. Consumers Have Caught On, but Chefs Aren’t Hooked.”

The chefs: “…But then there’s the taste, or lack of it. What plenty of customers appreciate as versatility is also what gives tilapia a bad name among chefs who think mildness isn’t a virtue. Bob Kinkead, chef-owner of Kinkead’s in Foggy Bottom and Colvin Run Tavern in Vienna, didn’t pull any punches when asked about tilapia, calling it “insipid,” “spongelike” and “inferior.””

The consumer: “That it’s ecologically sustainable and relatively cheap doesn’t hurt, either. In just a few years, Americans’ annual consumption of tilapia has quadrupled, from a quarter-pound per person in 2003 to a full pound in 2006. The National Marine Fisheries Service now ranks it as the fifth-most-consumed seafood in the nation, still far behind shrimp (at 4.4 pounds per person a year) but growing fast. Researchers think tilapia is destined to be one of the most important farmed seafood products of the century.”

The chefs and consumers can argue, but the numbers don’t lie. “That it’s ecologically sustainable and relatively cheap doesn’t hurt, either. In just a few years, Americans’ annual consumption of tilapia has quadrupled, from a quarter-pound per person in 2003 to a full pound in 2006. The National Marine Fisheries Service now ranks it as the fifth-most-consumed seafood in the nation, still far behind shrimp (at 4.4 pounds per person a year) but growing fast. Researchers think tilapia is destined to be one of the most important farmed seafood products of the century.”