Asian Carp, Is It What's For Dinner?
DETROIT (WWJ) - Asian carp could be a huge problem for the Great Lakes if they were to make it into Lake Michigan and reproduce in great numbers.
Putting it in perspective, Asian carp are one busted dam away from cursing the Great Lakes.
So during this National Invasive Species week, WWJ Newsradio 950's Russ McNamara talked with one man trying to eliminate the problem one bite at a time.
University of Missouri professor Mark Morgan has a plan; eat them. Eat all of them.
"It has a lot of health benefits associated with it and it's super cheap. Where can you find a source of protein for $1.99 a pound?" says Morgan, "and that's retail."
So, start thinking white meat, the other, other, other white meat. Carp.
He's eaten the fish in everything from stews to tacos. Morgan says we can solve the problem a forkful at a time.
"Carp have a mild fishy flavor," says Morgan,"it's not really bad but when you season it appropriately, then the seasons and the spices, kind of over power the taste of the fish, so to speak, so therefore you don't really know what you are eating."
Not knowing what you are eating is already a selling point for fast food, in fact, in the state where catfish is king, Asian carp beat out the whiskered fish in a blind taste test.
So it's not a surprise to find out that carp will be on the menu next month on campus in Missouri -- "I think this is an incredible statement because to my knowledge Mizzou would be the first, and perhaps the only university in the nation to address invasive species by eating them," said Morgan.
"Seeing is believing but tasting is better," he says. A true American solution - solving a problem by eating it.
A processing plant is currently in the planning stages in western Kentucky.
