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Move over beef; come January there will be a new jerky in Toronto, made entirely from an invasive fish species found in Mexico. And its introduction has got some people thinking Asian carp could also show up on the menu sometime soon.
The snack, El Diablito, is the brainchild of Sam Bordia, who wanted to do something with the scaly suckermouth catfish after seeing how it took over Mexican riverways.
"It's done a lot of damage in terms of fishermen's livelihood because the native species they normally catch can't find food to eat because [the suckermouth catfish] is eating all their food," said Bordia, head of operations for a business called Acari Fish. |
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There's a lot of stigma around the hard-shelled bottom-feeder, mainly because of the way it looks, says Bordia, but the meat is quite versatile and can be used as a substitute for ground beef or turkey.
"The goal of our company is really to try and create an economic ecosystem around the fish that has previously been viewed as a scourge in southern Mexico," said Bordia.
El Diablito, which means "the little devil" in Spanish, will be launching in Canada before anywhere else and the introduction of the dried fish product is already raising the question whether other invasive species can be turned into food.
The big one under the microscope is Asian carp, an invader that's got authorities on the alert on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. It has already infiltrated many bodies of water in the U.S. and is heading north. Canada's Invasive Species Centre is on the lookout. |
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