Do not eat vietnamese river cobbler!

A couple of days ago I went shopping to my local Tesco and saw this new fish they are selling: River Cobbler. It looked like cod or haddock, but the price was nowhere near as high. I though, ok it is cheap and new so I'll try it.

Yesterday, I've covered it with white vine and while it was steaming, decided to have a look what sort of fish this is. Good thing that I am curious and do care about what I put in my mouth. I've discovered this website. After reading about river cobbler (also called, Pangasius, Vietnamese River Cobbler, Basa Fish and White Catfish, Tra, Gray Sole. see website) habitat and some readers' comments, the contents of my pan went straight to the bin.

Frankly, I don't care how they import this fish and what corporations this business supports. The important thing that said it all for me, is that it is a scavenger fish from one of the most poisonous rivers in the world - Mekong River. Many people wrote that they did indeed had an adverse reaction, so I figured - why risk it? Plus, I've bought a diesel (or gasoline) contaminated cod from Tesco once, so I wasn't surprised that they sell rubbish like that.

Of course there are many fish farmed in horrible conditions. I always try to buy organic fish and do look at the location it came from. For this reason, I personally will not eat river cobbler and wouldn't recommend it to anybody.