Tuna is just as versatile as salmon, and perhaps even more delicious. Like salmon, it can also be expensive. But as a fresh fish purchase, tuna is no longer close to salmon in popularity. According to Seafood Source, salmon was the most popular fresh fish in 2020. Tuna, on the other hand, finished in ninth place, narrowly edging out trout to stay in the top 10. Tuna did significantly better than that in our survey, earning a finalist with the support of 18.03% of respondents (106 votes), suggesting that people still like to cook tuna, even though it’s no longer their favorite fish to buy.
The third through sixth places in our poll were all whitefish. No, not the freshwater species (lake whitefish or Coregonus clupeaformis, according to the US Geological Survey), but rather the broad category of mild-tasting, white-fleshed fish that are invariably delicious when pan-fried or fried. Tilapia got third place with 13.78% (81 votes), cod fourth with 12.41% (73 votes), catfish got a respectable 6.63% (39 votes) and haddock came in last with a measly 3.06% (18 votes).
We expected a little more from catfish, which is a Southern classic (Southern Living calls it a “delicacy”) or can even be made into nuggets. But catfish’s regional popularity only translated to a fifth-place finish in our national survey.
Comments are closed.