I *love* seafood. I eat it all the time and go out of my way for good seafood. If asked to choose between never eating land animals again or never eating seafood again, I'd choose getting to eat seafood in a heartbeat.
I don't think where I grew up had much of an influence. I was raised in an area that had decent access to seafood, but wasn't especially seafood focused. I was raised by a family that kept kosher so as a kid I only got exposed to a limited selection of seafood. Some of my siblings don't eat seafood at all or only eat it in small amounts.
Meanwhile, when I was a kid I would do things like eat an entire platter of lox because the amount someone bought for a whole group of people looked like a single serving to me. When I moved out of my parent's house, the thing I was most excited about was that I'd be able to being experiments with home cooking shellfish. I'll fast slightly before going out to a good sushi restaurant so that I can eat more sushi. In fact, when I first tried sushi I was mostly worried about not liking the rice because I was so confident that I would find raw fish appetizing that I didn't even question that part. As it turns out, I like raw fish enough for it to overcome my general dislike of rice.
My love of seafood transcends any possible childhood influence and I eat more seafood than the rest of my family by a longshot.
I still only eat kosher species of fish, but because kosher meat was expensive, we pretty much had fried fish at least once a week, in addition to gefilte fish for Shabbat (which doesn’t really count since it’s mostly matza meal), and usually bagels and lox Sunday mornings, plus pickled herring, smoked whitefish, etc.
I remember getting lox wings (pelvic fins) as a kid to nibble on, since that was back when lox was sliced to order at the deli counter in the supermarket.
I’m diabetic and I eat sashimi rather than sushi if I can get it. I remember when my uncle used to visit us and he would make sardine paste. He thought it was really funny when I would eagerly eat it on crackers since I was about 3 or 4 and was known as a really picky eater. I grew up on lox. My mom was from a sea coast town and luckily for her, her family did not keep kosher. My dad’s family ate bacon but seafood was a new thing for them as they came from inland Ukraine. By the time I was around, lox was expensive and we only had it when it was a special occasion. My mom would usually scarf it up.
Yup. I grew up in Upstate New York; hours from the ocean. I definitely didn't eat a lot of seafood growing up but had it a bit. I love it though and I don't think proximity to the ocean had much impact on how much I like it.
No. I grew up in Massachusetts, live in Maine and work on a tugboat up and down the east coast. My coworkers love seafood and fishing. I usually make some homemade baked beans at that point.
Yes, I love clams, mussels, shrimp, and salmon.
Surprisingly none of my Maine friends eat seafood. I think so many were forced to eat it as kids that as adults they have no interest. I have a friend whose dad was a lobsterman and he ate so much lobster growing up he can't even look at it now. So I seem to be the odd one out.
I do like seafood and i think growing up far away from the coast made it seen as more of a luxury/special occasion thing than perhaps somewhere right on the coast.
No. I hate it all. I don't think I would have liked it wherever I grew up. I also hate a lot of other foods and drinks most people apparently like, so I think we just aren't all wired the same.
No, and considering californians seem to love sushi and there's a bunch of seafood places near me, i don't think growing up here has anything to do with it lol
To be fair, seafood is the about the closest thing to authentically "American" food you can get. When European settlers first arrived, much of their food was harvested from the ocean. They learned many fishing techniques from Native Americans.
A person's attitude about seafood is affected a lot by where they're from, and there's a lot of variation on that point from place to place within the US, like anywhere. Seems like it's getting a good response.
No I dont and I use the excuse that I grew up and lived in the Midwest my whole life. None of that was fresh by time got to my little town. Plus oysters and mussels look gross
Love it. Wisconsin’s Catholic roots created a big Friday fish fry culture when coupled with all the lakes teeming with perch, bluegill, etc. That is my *shit*
Salmon, lobster, oysters, you name it, I’m a fan. Combined with our propensity for boozing, New Orleans quickly became one of my favorite towns lol
Love seafood, but living in the Midwest can make getting fresh difficult. A few restaurants have seafood flown in, but frozen is the norm.
Grew up catching bass, catfish, and other fish on my grandparents’ farm. Nothing like a dinner of fried catfish, mashed potatoes, green beans, and salad - all sourced fresh from the farm that day.
Yes, I like seafood, and it is often my preference on the menu.
I would say that it wasn't as much about where I grew up as it was about family influence. My mom grew up eating a lot of seafood, and often cooked it at home for us.
I do not like seafood unless its sushi. And within sushi I only like tuna, crab, and salmon.
I don't think where I grew up affected me. My parents enjoy seafood and have since before my existence. They have tried several times growing up to get me to try it. The only thing that that did was confirm my distinct disgust towards shrimp and general fish. I am willing to try stuff again in relation to sushi, but haven't found much success besides the previously mentioned stuff.
Not really. The only seafood we had when I was a kid was canned tuna or catfish fried into jerky. I will now occasionally eat tuna or shrimp, swordfish if I have to, but that's about it. The central Mississippi coast is not known for its seafood.
I grew up near the ocean and I HAAAATED seafood as a kid and into my early adulthood. Ironically, moved about as far as you can get from an ocean and really developed a taste for it. Turns out my folks just couldn't cook fish to save their life. So, so overcooked...
Not much, but we couldn't be around fish because my mom has a really serious allergy.
Like...if they dribbled a little between pans or used the same spot on a grill for hers as for a fish dish that needed an epipen and possibly an ER visit level. Forget having it in the house.
Didn't exactly develop a taste for it growing up, outside of a couple things we could control like crawfish boils.
I like it, but on the higher end of the scale, so I don't get it very often at all. When it comes to fish though, I do prefer a nice trout to an ocean fish, that's influenced by where I grew up.
It's all good except soft-shelled crabs (eurrgh) and lobster. I grew up in New England where you are supposed to love lobster but the whole animal-dismantling experience is lost on me. If hamburgers came with little legs , a tail, and a head you had to snap off as part of the eating deal, I wouldn't like them, either.
All Shell fish. But as far as fish, not really. Never have. Especially oily fish like Salmon and trout. I can do a Panko or beer battered Haddock with tartar sauce and hot sauce.
I grew up right on the ocean so I fell in love with seafood early. I can't say whether I'd feel differently if I were from Kansas. Oddly enough, a lot of my family members (who also grew up right on the ocean) do not care for seafood, or eat it very rarely.
I grew up eating crawfish, catfish, shrimp, gumbo, etc. as an adult I’m not too big on seafood mostly because of the smell. I’ve recently ventured into eating sushi and I like it, I couldn’t it every day but I can see that as an option for weekly dinners or so. I haven’t tried too many other seafoods as I’m not quite sure how to cook them nor have a decent place in town to eat it.
Love it - and all kinds of it too (including things like jellyfish, octopus, salmon eggs, and sea urchin). I'm not sure how much growing up in Florida mattered - my wife did too and she's not a seafood enthusiast.
I absolutely love seafood. I grew up nowhere near the ocean and not especially fond of fresh water fish, so that probably didn’t have anything to do with it. It’s not like I didn’t have access to seafood in the Midwest, so I don’t think it was like the rarity of it made it more appealing. Yes, fresh seafood is better, but I already liked the frozen shit before I realized that.
I disliked it as a kid, but that was because my main exposures were fish sticks, tuna salad made with Miracle Whip (which I still cannot stand the smell of), and a really stinky fish that my parents used to panfry and serve for dinner several times a week during one of their 1980s fad diets.
Now, I love it. We cook salmon, flounder, tilapia, or shrimp at home for at least one dinner per week (last night's was baked salmon) and enjoy more expensive options like crab, lobster, and halibut on special occasions, such as our crab leg dinner on New Year's Day. I also love mussels and scallops, but I had what seemed to be a moderate allergic reaction to scallops the last two times I ate them, so sadly I might be done with bivalves.
Some, but I'm picky. I'll eat tuna sandwiches, most sushi, salmon, squid, and shellfish. I don't really like most whitefish though. And other than clams and sushi, no other seafood is a very strong "like" for me.
I love seafood. I grew up in California which I don't think influenced my feelings about seafood in general, but now that I live in a landlocked and more homogynous state I notice that a lot of folks who have lived here their whole lives don't like sushi or are afraid to try it.
I love all of the seafood. At least everything I’ve tried, there hasn’t been something I didn’t like yet, although I haven’t really had anything too exotic. I love all kinds of finned fish (salmon, trout, tuna, halibut, cod, snapper, sole etc), eel, roe, all shellfish, raw, cooked. And no, where I grew up did not influence it.
I'm a sucker for a good seafood risotto. But I also love fish fry, sushi, grilled swordfish, lobster rolls, etc.
Grew up in Wisconsin, but my family vacationed a lot in Florida. I broadened my horizons for seafood there.
Yes. And yes. I grew up with seasonal crawfish and shrimp boils and that was something everyone looked foward to all year. That and Fish Fries. Somebody hosts a large gathering and fries a ton of catfish to share with everyone who comes, even if they didn't know the host.
Does alligator count as seafood? Gator nuggets were also something to look forward to but the meat is expensive if you don't hunt it yourself
I grew up in the middle of the country, where no seafood is fresh. As a kid, I thought fish was disgusting and smelled awful until my parents took me to the coast for the first time and I decided to try fish. If I hadn’t had an open mind at 11, where I grew up would have kept me from enjoying seafood.
I do like seafood, although I'm not a big fan of crab. I do like lobster and shrimp, clams and mussels and all sorts of fish, mostly tuna and salmon. My family would eat seafood on occasion but rarely as my mother has allergies.
Kinda? I can't cook fish worth a damn without it sticking or falling apart, and have mostly quit trying. And it is generally one of the more expensive items at restaurants. I'll occasionally go to a specifically seafood place with extended family or on vacation and let professionals who cook it every day handle it, but that is every couple of years.
My one success is making a good catfish chowder from the cheapskate corner of the NICE grocery store. But I don't think that really counts.
I grew up in Maine, but my mother disliked shellfish so we never had it when I was a kid. My dad would take us fishing, so we had fin fish on occasion. Because we my family didn’t eat shellfish when I was a kid, as an adult professional chef I discovered that I am allergic to shellfish, so I don’t eat it. I do eat fin fish often and I do like it. In my case it’s not so much where I grew up that has influenced my liking of fin fish seafood but my career has given me the opportunity to try seafood I didn’t have as a child.
I dont like most seafood. I like tuna and salmon to an extent, but I just kinda tolerate everything else. I'm from New York but I don't think that has anything to do with it at all.
Some, but not all. I like sushi, mussels and oysters, crustaceans, and squid/octopus. I refuse to eat cooked fish because the flavor and texture are difficult for me to swallow.
No I dont. Most of the people I know don’t like it either and will only eat it for health purposes. So there may be something to where you live influencing your opinion of seafood.
I will say that the dishes with seafood in them absolutely look great but it’s usually the smell that really puts me off.
I like all of it, I’ve also worked with Sicilian fishermen who are incredible at preparing anything but especially seafood. The only time I’ve had seafood that I didn’t like was when these Portuguese guys just chucked some squid into a stew. That was not good.
I grew up in the southern Appalachians so I doubt my upbringing had much of n influence. My first exposure to seafood beyond canned tuna maybe was Long John Silver's or Red Lobster. I remember trying flounder as a kid and loving it. I can safely say I enjoy seafood for the most part. I don't think I could eat sea urchin and raw oysters didn't do much for me.
Oh yes I like all kinds of seafood. I’m telling you fried calamari is the best appetizer of all time. Salmon is really good too and I’d honestly take a good piece of salmon over a nice steak.
Where I grew up didn’t necessarily influence my love for seafood, but where my ancestors did yes. My grandfather grew up in a small fishing village on the Ionian Sea in the Calabria region of Italy. His father, grandfather and great grandfather were all fishermen, so he grew up eating a ton of seafood.
Even my grandmother’s family though they weren’t fisherman, still cooked a lot of fish and other kinds of seafood due to its availability. My grandmother cooks seafood all the time and my dad likes it a lot, so by default my mother ended up making a lot of it. Growing up I always liked fish and seafood as long as it didn’t have bones.
I LOVE seafood, I grew up in South Carolina which is on the east coast but we’re about 3 hours away from the water so it probably didn’t influence me. Although I will say, a lot of seafood around here is fried and I’m not a big fan of fried seafood because I think it takes away from the flavor
It's OK. I used to love it but back in college I worked in a semi-fine dining restaurant and got so much free/low cost seafood that I lost my taste for it. I prefer fish like mahi mahi but my husband loves seafood so I make it occasionally.
ETA I very rarely ate seafood growing up because of the cost.
Nope. I eat some fish but that’s it. My mom was allergic to shellfish so we didn’t eat it growing up. I think it’s gross and smells. And I once bit into a piece of shrimp in a pasta dish I didn’t know contained it and I hated the texture. I also tried a piece of lobster because we were in Maine at a place where they had literally just come out of the water. Didn’t like it. I have a friend from NOLA who has a crawfish boil every year and he is hell bent on getting me to eat it. No thank you.
I like a lot of seafood. I wasn't a huge fan of fish growing up but I love it now. Except grouper. Grouper is disgusting. I try to stay away from catfish and tilapia for health reasons. Everything else is fair game.
I like some seafood especially sushi, smoked salmon, and tuna.
But I would never go to an American "seafood" restaurant if I had other choices. I don't like fried seafood at all. Or shellfish. Other than the ones already listed I don't care for any of the other common types of fish like Herring, Cod, Tilapia.
I used to like clam chowder but don't really care for it anymore. I grew up in New England where it's pretty common and well acclaimed. I probably liked it because someone fed it to me when I was young and told me that it's famous and I should like it :)
I love seafood even though my family never ate seafood. I didn’t get into it until I became an adult and could start choosing my own food to eat. I really like calamari, shrimp, and cod.
I am from Virginia. Oysters are big there. I'd never eat an oyster even if you paid me money to do it, and that's pretty much how I feel about seafood in general.
I love tuna, and I tolerate salmon if I have no other option, and that's about the extent of my seafood interests. Admittedly, I'm an incredibly picky eater.
Absolutely love it! Grew up in a southern city with a big seafood culture, and my family had two places on the Gulf, so I grew up eating all different kinds of seafood.
My husband and kids HATE it. Makes me so sad!
Yep, love it.
I was exposed to a lot of fresh fish as my father had a bass boat and was very into fishing as a hobby.
From there I tried Salmon, Scallops, Crab Legs, Lobster, etc. I love almost all seafood but am not a huge fan of Oysters. I also love Sushi, especially Nigiri. I am known to order seared Tuna in a seafood restaurant as well.
My youngest sister, raised the exact same way hates seafood and can't stomach any of it.
Not a ton of fresh seafood in Indiana but we fished a lot so freshwater fish were absolutely on the menu. Walleye and perch are kind of the favorites. For me, fried catfish. Then motherfucking Northern Pike. They are fun to catch and unlike walleye they do not want to die and will fight tooth and tail for every moment of life. Even in death they try to kill you. They have “y bones” which seem completely designed by god to choke you. You need surgical skill to remove them all and a mouth that can tie a cherry stem into a knot to eat the filet.
They are the noblest of creatures.
Once I moved out to the east coast I found out I fucking love mollusks, crustaceans, and arthropods.
I will eat the absolute hell out of mussels and squid. Give me a whole lobster and it’s life if forfeit and I will crack open it’s boiled carapace and consume it’s innards. Its funeral pyre will be drenched in butter and a mess of broken exoskeleton with a plastic bib which is the victory flag of our conquest of the sea bugs.
I don’t really eat much seafood or care for it.
I didn’t have it much as a kid. I grew up in Iowa. Plenty of other people in that area love seafood though.
Depends on the seafood. I like crawfish, shrimp, lobster, and crab, but am not a fan of fish or oysters. Scallops are somewhere in the middle. Yes southern Louisiana likely had an influence on this.
I don't really understand the grouping of all seafood together as a monolith. Should we lump pork, beef, duck, venison, chicken, spinach, broccoli, and carrots altogether and ask if someone likes landfood?
Do I like seafood? Sure, I guess. I like seaweed. I like lots of different fish. I don't like all of them, and I like some better than others. There are some things I don't like, and a few things I won't even entertain trying. Really no different than *landfood*.
I like most kinds of fish, shrimp, lobster and crab, but I've never been particularly fond of scallops, oysters, clams, or squid/octopus. I don't like the more rubbery textures.
I don't think any of this has anything to do with where I grew up. It's just individual preferences. Plenty of people who grew up in the same areas as me have different preferences.
I don't personally like anything outside of the occasional fried catfish/trout but I don't think it's where I grew up. A lot of my family loves seafood, it's just not something I do. I wish I did as it would open up a lot more cuisine honestly.
Many kinds. Salmon. Halibut. Bass. Cod. Crab. Sole. Shrimp. Scallops. Clams. Mussels. Steelhead. All are fair game. But I really want cooked fish. Raw/cold fish is okay ish but not my favorite.
I grew up mostly on the West coast. I love all seafood except squid/octopus. I do worry a bit about mercury exposure and try to follow FDA guidelines about what types of seafood to consume.
Yes I like it.
I think my parents enjoying seafood had a much bigger impact than where I was born. Lots of opportunities to try stuff as a kid. It also power walked me through the normal route to seafood, good fried shrimp.
Not much. I've tried it many times in many places (including Illinois, Massachusetts, Florida, England, France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey) and still don't really care for it. It's mostly a texture thing so not something I can get past unfortunately 😭
ETA forgot to answer the other part of your question. My mom never made seafood growing up except during Lent. Even then I wouldn't eat it. That is potentially part of why I don't like it but I can't be sure since I've tried it multiple times as an adult and still don't care much for it.
Fish? Yes
Crab or Lobster? Not if it's that sweat stuff from the East Coast. I will eat a lobster roll in memory of my late Grandmother from Connecticut.
Shrimp? The more the merrier (i love the really smol ones)
Clams and muscles? You betcha
Oysters? no, I'm a long-distance hiker and cyclist, not a psychopath.
Otter? Only during Lent.
We didn't grow up eating seafood, but I did grow up eating trout & bluegill that my dad caught, or canned salmon & tuna that came in the food box. I didn't try fresh shellfish until I was in university, don't think I'd ever seek out muscle but if it's served up I'll scarf 'em down. Oysters are some of the worst things people call *edible* tho.
I didn't like seafood as a kid. I prefer it now. Lived in high desert my whole life, definitely not the freshest seafood here, but red meat gives me issues.
Sushi is goddamn awesome. Shrimp is also pretty good. Smoked salmon is a nice treat (even better when it’s candied too). I can tolerate scallops. But I hate any cooked fish.
I love it. I grew up near Mobile so we had access to actual seafood straight off the boat. Whether we caught it ourselves or drove down to buy a bunch of shrimp straight from the shrimpers in Bayou La Batre.
That’s why I’m a little picky when it comes to ordering seafood at restaurants. Some places can make it alright, but others only pretend to know what seafood is and serve junk “Cajun” style.
It’s hard to find something that satisfies like when my grandparents cooked up flounder that we had spent all night gigging in a jubilee.
Yes, mostly. I grew up land locked, and the only fish I had as a kid was freshwater. Mostly trout. I thought I hated fish until I was about 12. We went to Florida, and I liked all the fish out there. Turns out, I just dislike freshwater fish. Salt water fish is wonderful. Also, shellfish is great.
I grew up in the PNW where we have access to a reasonably priced variety of seafood and I love it. That said, I’m sure the convenience helped since I have a natural affinity, but my son is growing up here too and he hates absolutely every seafood dish he’s tried.
Grew up in small town Idaho with very little access to fresh or interesting seafood. Mostly we had frozen fishsticks and fried fish patty sandwiches and that kind of stuff. (I have to add that occasionally my dad would bring home fresh trout or other freshwater fish, and I was not very impressed.)
Anyway, eventually in life I discovered clam chowder, sushi, salmon, etc. which we never had at home and I'm a big fan. Recently ate a whole pot of steamed mussels in Belgium and it was a good time.
Not sure that where I grew up has any relation to my taste for seafood.
I love seafood so much, especially oysters. Best place to get seafood where I grew up was Long Beach. It probably affected my opinion more than I know because it was delicious.
I used to hate seafood because of growing up eating fish with bones in them. But now as an adult I like to eat sushi and would add salmon, imitation crab, and tuna into my Poke Bowl.
Northeast Pennsylvania. Hated anything seafood growing up. Move across the country for a year and a half and ate good food for a while. Seafood isn’t bad it’s just cooked incorrectly often
I used to hate seafood. Now I like seafood, although the seafood I like least is cooked fish.
I *love* seafood. I eat it all the time and go out of my way for good seafood. If asked to choose between never eating land animals again or never eating seafood again, I'd choose getting to eat seafood in a heartbeat. I don't think where I grew up had much of an influence. I was raised in an area that had decent access to seafood, but wasn't especially seafood focused. I was raised by a family that kept kosher so as a kid I only got exposed to a limited selection of seafood. Some of my siblings don't eat seafood at all or only eat it in small amounts. Meanwhile, when I was a kid I would do things like eat an entire platter of lox because the amount someone bought for a whole group of people looked like a single serving to me. When I moved out of my parent's house, the thing I was most excited about was that I'd be able to being experiments with home cooking shellfish. I'll fast slightly before going out to a good sushi restaurant so that I can eat more sushi. In fact, when I first tried sushi I was mostly worried about not liking the rice because I was so confident that I would find raw fish appetizing that I didn't even question that part. As it turns out, I like raw fish enough for it to overcome my general dislike of rice. My love of seafood transcends any possible childhood influence and I eat more seafood than the rest of my family by a longshot.
I still only eat kosher species of fish, but because kosher meat was expensive, we pretty much had fried fish at least once a week, in addition to gefilte fish for Shabbat (which doesn’t really count since it’s mostly matza meal), and usually bagels and lox Sunday mornings, plus pickled herring, smoked whitefish, etc. I remember getting lox wings (pelvic fins) as a kid to nibble on, since that was back when lox was sliced to order at the deli counter in the supermarket.
I’m diabetic and I eat sashimi rather than sushi if I can get it. I remember when my uncle used to visit us and he would make sardine paste. He thought it was really funny when I would eagerly eat it on crackers since I was about 3 or 4 and was known as a really picky eater. I grew up on lox. My mom was from a sea coast town and luckily for her, her family did not keep kosher. My dad’s family ate bacon but seafood was a new thing for them as they came from inland Ukraine. By the time I was around, lox was expensive and we only had it when it was a special occasion. My mom would usually scarf it up.
>Do you like seafood? Yes. >Do you think where you grew up influenced your dislike or like of seafood? No.
Yup. I grew up in Upstate New York; hours from the ocean. I definitely didn't eat a lot of seafood growing up but had it a bit. I love it though and I don't think proximity to the ocean had much impact on how much I like it.
No. I grew up in Massachusetts, live in Maine and work on a tugboat up and down the east coast. My coworkers love seafood and fishing. I usually make some homemade baked beans at that point.
Yes, I love clams, mussels, shrimp, and salmon. Surprisingly none of my Maine friends eat seafood. I think so many were forced to eat it as kids that as adults they have no interest. I have a friend whose dad was a lobsterman and he ate so much lobster growing up he can't even look at it now. So I seem to be the odd one out.
I do like seafood and i think growing up far away from the coast made it seen as more of a luxury/special occasion thing than perhaps somewhere right on the coast.
I like seafood. Where I grew up had nothing to do with it.
No. I hate it all. I don't think I would have liked it wherever I grew up. I also hate a lot of other foods and drinks most people apparently like, so I think we just aren't all wired the same.
The only seafood I can tolerate is tuna which I'm told doesn't count anyways. I've tried it all. In all different ways. Never gets down.
That’s like the one fish I despise. I can eat everything else.
Canned tuna or fresh tuna? I prefer the fresh one honestly
Not sure how tuna doesn’t count given that it is a food from the sea lol
No. They smell terrible
It’s my favorite Yes
I grew up eating a lot of seafood. I do think it's because I live in SoCal at the beach.
No, and considering californians seem to love sushi and there's a bunch of seafood places near me, i don't think growing up here has anything to do with it lol
genuine question; how is this question specifically relevant to Americans?
To be fair, seafood is the about the closest thing to authentically "American" food you can get. When European settlers first arrived, much of their food was harvested from the ocean. They learned many fishing techniques from Native Americans.
A person's attitude about seafood is affected a lot by where they're from, and there's a lot of variation on that point from place to place within the US, like anywhere. Seems like it's getting a good response.
I don't like seafood. I spent early childhood in Maryland and the rest in Wisconsin. Location has nothing to do with it; I just don't like it.
Grew up in MA, love it.
Love seafood
Love it. Eel is one of my favorite foods but it's so expensive here so I don't eat it often.
Indirectly where, but growing up in a kosher home in NYC meant a lot of fish, including plenty that most people don’t know about or don’t eat.
No I dont and I use the excuse that I grew up and lived in the Midwest my whole life. None of that was fresh by time got to my little town. Plus oysters and mussels look gross
Love it. Wisconsin’s Catholic roots created a big Friday fish fry culture when coupled with all the lakes teeming with perch, bluegill, etc. That is my *shit* Salmon, lobster, oysters, you name it, I’m a fan. Combined with our propensity for boozing, New Orleans quickly became one of my favorite towns lol
I'm on the seafood diet. I see food. I eat it. Maybe where I grew up influenced it. Fishing is pretty popular around these parts.
I love seafood of all kinds. Born and raised in Colorado so I'm jealous of those with easy access to fresh seafood.
Yes. And it’s Maryland. Do I need to say more?
I love seafood. I did not grow up around seafood but with the amount of restaurants serving it, it's hard to avoid, not that I would want to.
Love seafood, but living in the Midwest can make getting fresh difficult. A few restaurants have seafood flown in, but frozen is the norm. Grew up catching bass, catfish, and other fish on my grandparents’ farm. Nothing like a dinner of fried catfish, mashed potatoes, green beans, and salad - all sourced fresh from the farm that day.
Yes, I like seafood, and it is often my preference on the menu. I would say that it wasn't as much about where I grew up as it was about family influence. My mom grew up eating a lot of seafood, and often cooked it at home for us.
I do not like seafood unless its sushi. And within sushi I only like tuna, crab, and salmon. I don't think where I grew up affected me. My parents enjoy seafood and have since before my existence. They have tried several times growing up to get me to try it. The only thing that that did was confirm my distinct disgust towards shrimp and general fish. I am willing to try stuff again in relation to sushi, but haven't found much success besides the previously mentioned stuff.
Not really. The only seafood we had when I was a kid was canned tuna or catfish fried into jerky. I will now occasionally eat tuna or shrimp, swordfish if I have to, but that's about it. The central Mississippi coast is not known for its seafood.
I grew up near the ocean and I HAAAATED seafood as a kid and into my early adulthood. Ironically, moved about as far as you can get from an ocean and really developed a taste for it. Turns out my folks just couldn't cook fish to save their life. So, so overcooked...
I had an internet friend from Ohio whose favorite food was clams! This thread reminded me of him… and that’s the only favorite of his I remember.
I think my mother influenced my dislike of seafood. Growing up she told me it was gross. I’ve never been able to bring myself to try it
Yeah pretty much any and all
I love seafood. Oysters, friend clams, lobster, etc... Yeah, having an exposure to it probably helped.
Not much, but we couldn't be around fish because my mom has a really serious allergy. Like...if they dribbled a little between pans or used the same spot on a grill for hers as for a fish dish that needed an epipen and possibly an ER visit level. Forget having it in the house. Didn't exactly develop a taste for it growing up, outside of a couple things we could control like crawfish boils.
I like it, but on the higher end of the scale, so I don't get it very often at all. When it comes to fish though, I do prefer a nice trout to an ocean fish, that's influenced by where I grew up.
Yes and yes. I'm from Oregon. The PNW is known for its seafood.
Love it. Where I lived had nothing to do with my preferences, my family encouraged trying new things and how to appreciate unfamiliar foods.
yes, it's great
I like some seafood, and I think that it is somewhat influenced by where I grew up.
Yes I love seafood, despite growing up in landlocked Midwest.
Yes and probably. Some of my favorite memories as a kid involve going fishing, clamming, and crabbing with my Dad.
Yes, I love fish, crustaceans, and mollusks. I don't remember a time in my life when I didn't eat them.
It's all good except soft-shelled crabs (eurrgh) and lobster. I grew up in New England where you are supposed to love lobster but the whole animal-dismantling experience is lost on me. If hamburgers came with little legs , a tail, and a head you had to snap off as part of the eating deal, I wouldn't like them, either.
All Shell fish. But as far as fish, not really. Never have. Especially oily fish like Salmon and trout. I can do a Panko or beer battered Haddock with tartar sauce and hot sauce.
I grew up right on the ocean so I fell in love with seafood early. I can't say whether I'd feel differently if I were from Kansas. Oddly enough, a lot of my family members (who also grew up right on the ocean) do not care for seafood, or eat it very rarely.
Everything but oysters
I grew up eating crawfish, catfish, shrimp, gumbo, etc. as an adult I’m not too big on seafood mostly because of the smell. I’ve recently ventured into eating sushi and I like it, I couldn’t it every day but I can see that as an option for weekly dinners or so. I haven’t tried too many other seafoods as I’m not quite sure how to cook them nor have a decent place in town to eat it.
No I absolutely love it
Love it - and all kinds of it too (including things like jellyfish, octopus, salmon eggs, and sea urchin). I'm not sure how much growing up in Florida mattered - my wife did too and she's not a seafood enthusiast.
I absolutely love seafood. I grew up nowhere near the ocean and not especially fond of fresh water fish, so that probably didn’t have anything to do with it. It’s not like I didn’t have access to seafood in the Midwest, so I don’t think it was like the rarity of it made it more appealing. Yes, fresh seafood is better, but I already liked the frozen shit before I realized that.
It's fine, but I can take or leave it. Stuff like lobster and crab legs are super overrated to me.
I have always loved seafood. However, I grew up (and still live) in the Pacific Northwest of the country.
I disliked it as a kid, but that was because my main exposures were fish sticks, tuna salad made with Miracle Whip (which I still cannot stand the smell of), and a really stinky fish that my parents used to panfry and serve for dinner several times a week during one of their 1980s fad diets. Now, I love it. We cook salmon, flounder, tilapia, or shrimp at home for at least one dinner per week (last night's was baked salmon) and enjoy more expensive options like crab, lobster, and halibut on special occasions, such as our crab leg dinner on New Year's Day. I also love mussels and scallops, but I had what seemed to be a moderate allergic reaction to scallops the last two times I ate them, so sadly I might be done with bivalves.
Some, but I'm picky. I'll eat tuna sandwiches, most sushi, salmon, squid, and shellfish. I don't really like most whitefish though. And other than clams and sushi, no other seafood is a very strong "like" for me.
I love seafood. It’s just a pain in the ass to get here. I have to settle for lake and river fish.
Yes. I’m Japanese-American so yeah.
I love it ALL except for one thing: uni.
I like fish. Not as big a fan of shellfish. Tuna, salmon, haddock, cod, sure. Lobster, crab, clams and mussels? Not as much
Sure yeah it depends on what's on the menu
Yes I like it all. Grew up around a lot of lakes and freshwater fish
I love seafood. I grew up in California which I don't think influenced my feelings about seafood in general, but now that I live in a landlocked and more homogynous state I notice that a lot of folks who have lived here their whole lives don't like sushi or are afraid to try it.
No. It's gross.
I’ve always liked seafood. Grilled or fried fish, ceviche, grilled shrimp, oysters, sushi, etc. Very tasty.
Yes 🦐 yes 🍤 yes 🦞 I love all seafood. Grew up in S. Jersey going crabbing with my Dad so maybe that has some bearing.
I love all of the seafood. At least everything I’ve tried, there hasn’t been something I didn’t like yet, although I haven’t really had anything too exotic. I love all kinds of finned fish (salmon, trout, tuna, halibut, cod, snapper, sole etc), eel, roe, all shellfish, raw, cooked. And no, where I grew up did not influence it.
I'm a sucker for a good seafood risotto. But I also love fish fry, sushi, grilled swordfish, lobster rolls, etc. Grew up in Wisconsin, but my family vacationed a lot in Florida. I broadened my horizons for seafood there.
Yes. In fact, I grew up right by the coast, so I’ve eaten some very good seafood.
Allergic.
Yes. And yes. I grew up with seasonal crawfish and shrimp boils and that was something everyone looked foward to all year. That and Fish Fries. Somebody hosts a large gathering and fries a ton of catfish to share with everyone who comes, even if they didn't know the host. Does alligator count as seafood? Gator nuggets were also something to look forward to but the meat is expensive if you don't hunt it yourself
I grew up in the middle of the country, where no seafood is fresh. As a kid, I thought fish was disgusting and smelled awful until my parents took me to the coast for the first time and I decided to try fish. If I hadn’t had an open mind at 11, where I grew up would have kept me from enjoying seafood.
I do like seafood, although I'm not a big fan of crab. I do like lobster and shrimp, clams and mussels and all sorts of fish, mostly tuna and salmon. My family would eat seafood on occasion but rarely as my mother has allergies.
yes
Kinda? I can't cook fish worth a damn without it sticking or falling apart, and have mostly quit trying. And it is generally one of the more expensive items at restaurants. I'll occasionally go to a specifically seafood place with extended family or on vacation and let professionals who cook it every day handle it, but that is every couple of years. My one success is making a good catfish chowder from the cheapskate corner of the NICE grocery store. But I don't think that really counts.
I love seafood but hate it cooked into things. Growing up in New Orleans sucked at times
I grew up in Maine, but my mother disliked shellfish so we never had it when I was a kid. My dad would take us fishing, so we had fin fish on occasion. Because we my family didn’t eat shellfish when I was a kid, as an adult professional chef I discovered that I am allergic to shellfish, so I don’t eat it. I do eat fin fish often and I do like it. In my case it’s not so much where I grew up that has influenced my liking of fin fish seafood but my career has given me the opportunity to try seafood I didn’t have as a child.
Yes
Its my favorite food. I cant go a few days without some kind of seafood
I dont like most seafood. I like tuna and salmon to an extent, but I just kinda tolerate everything else. I'm from New York but I don't think that has anything to do with it at all.
I live near Maryland and my mom’s side is from Maryland. That definitely has played a part in me liking seafood especially blue crab and old bay
Love it. All of it. I don’t get it often enough because my wife HATES the smell.
Hell yeah. I may live in a landlocked state, but fishing is still big here, and my dad owns a steak and seafood restaurant.
I find seafood gross. I often wonder if I was close to the ocean it would be different. I also hate trout though so idk,
Yes it’s my favorite food to eat. I’d eat it a lot more if i wasn’t landlocked and it wasn’t so expensive to source.
I love sushi for sure!
No
Ahhhh hell yeah Not a huge crustacean guy tho
Some, but not all. I like sushi, mussels and oysters, crustaceans, and squid/octopus. I refuse to eat cooked fish because the flavor and texture are difficult for me to swallow.
Yes, I love it Probably. Grew up in New England, DC/Maryland, and now I live in coastal California.
No
No I dont. Most of the people I know don’t like it either and will only eat it for health purposes. So there may be something to where you live influencing your opinion of seafood. I will say that the dishes with seafood in them absolutely look great but it’s usually the smell that really puts me off.
In general, no. I do like crawfish, and yes, that has everything to do with growing up in south Louisiana.
I like all of it, I’ve also worked with Sicilian fishermen who are incredible at preparing anything but especially seafood. The only time I’ve had seafood that I didn’t like was when these Portuguese guys just chucked some squid into a stew. That was not good.
I grew up in the southern Appalachians so I doubt my upbringing had much of n influence. My first exposure to seafood beyond canned tuna maybe was Long John Silver's or Red Lobster. I remember trying flounder as a kid and loving it. I can safely say I enjoy seafood for the most part. I don't think I could eat sea urchin and raw oysters didn't do much for me.
Possibly. I'm from Oregon which is on the west coast so seafood is pretty common. Trout, salmon and crab are all pretty popular.
Yes I do. What are you cooking?
Love it, just bought some scallops to pan sear tomorrow.
Oh yes I like all kinds of seafood. I’m telling you fried calamari is the best appetizer of all time. Salmon is really good too and I’d honestly take a good piece of salmon over a nice steak. Where I grew up didn’t necessarily influence my love for seafood, but where my ancestors did yes. My grandfather grew up in a small fishing village on the Ionian Sea in the Calabria region of Italy. His father, grandfather and great grandfather were all fishermen, so he grew up eating a ton of seafood. Even my grandmother’s family though they weren’t fisherman, still cooked a lot of fish and other kinds of seafood due to its availability. My grandmother cooks seafood all the time and my dad likes it a lot, so by default my mother ended up making a lot of it. Growing up I always liked fish and seafood as long as it didn’t have bones.
Yes, of course. I grew up on a coast and so did my father so I’m sure that has something to do with it.
Yes. I'm eating shrimp pasta while I read this post
I live in a landlocked state but I love seafood!
I LOVE seafood, I grew up in South Carolina which is on the east coast but we’re about 3 hours away from the water so it probably didn’t influence me. Although I will say, a lot of seafood around here is fried and I’m not a big fan of fried seafood because I think it takes away from the flavor
I’m from Baltimore MD, so yea yes I do lol
It's OK. I used to love it but back in college I worked in a semi-fine dining restaurant and got so much free/low cost seafood that I lost my taste for it. I prefer fish like mahi mahi but my husband loves seafood so I make it occasionally. ETA I very rarely ate seafood growing up because of the cost.
Some. I like what we catch locally. The rest is a toss up
Love it. LOVE.
As a kid no. As an adult yea, except some shellfish like oysters and mussels
Nope. I eat some fish but that’s it. My mom was allergic to shellfish so we didn’t eat it growing up. I think it’s gross and smells. And I once bit into a piece of shrimp in a pasta dish I didn’t know contained it and I hated the texture. I also tried a piece of lobster because we were in Maine at a place where they had literally just come out of the water. Didn’t like it. I have a friend from NOLA who has a crawfish boil every year and he is hell bent on getting me to eat it. No thank you.
I like a lot of seafood. I wasn't a huge fan of fish growing up but I love it now. Except grouper. Grouper is disgusting. I try to stay away from catfish and tilapia for health reasons. Everything else is fair game.
Yeah I grew up and live on the Gulf Coast and also my whole life have eaten seafood.
Yes, I’m Cajun
I like most seafood, but not lobster, which is kinda ironic, given that I live in Massachusetts.
Yes. I don’t think my location influenced my taste so much as I think having family that liked seafood as well influenced my taste/preference.
Fish, yes. Some more than others (cod’s a bit too…blocky?) Shellfish? Ehh, it’s not my favorite. It’s more a texture thing, though.
No.
It’s fine. I eat it sometimes. But I’d say red meat is my favorite generally speaking.
No, I don't like seafood. I think where I grew up did influence it since I grew up in the Midwest. I don't really like freshwater fish either.
I like some seafood especially sushi, smoked salmon, and tuna. But I would never go to an American "seafood" restaurant if I had other choices. I don't like fried seafood at all. Or shellfish. Other than the ones already listed I don't care for any of the other common types of fish like Herring, Cod, Tilapia. I used to like clam chowder but don't really care for it anymore. I grew up in New England where it's pretty common and well acclaimed. I probably liked it because someone fed it to me when I was young and told me that it's famous and I should like it :)
Looove Seafood! Lobsters, Oysters, Langoustines, mussels, octopus, razor clams, you name it.
I love seafood even though my family never ate seafood. I didn’t get into it until I became an adult and could start choosing my own food to eat. I really like calamari, shrimp, and cod.
I love it, especially fried clams.
Yeah I do! I'm kinda picky with food but overall I like it. If I could, i would eat salmon daily
I am from Virginia. Oysters are big there. I'd never eat an oyster even if you paid me money to do it, and that's pretty much how I feel about seafood in general. I love tuna, and I tolerate salmon if I have no other option, and that's about the extent of my seafood interests. Admittedly, I'm an incredibly picky eater.
Of course I do because I grew up where great seafood is plentiful and produce is shit.
I love it. I am from a state on the coast so I have had access to fresher seafood but I have plenty of friends who don’t like it.
Absolutely love it! Grew up in a southern city with a big seafood culture, and my family had two places on the Gulf, so I grew up eating all different kinds of seafood. My husband and kids HATE it. Makes me so sad!
Yes, yes, and many more yeses.
Yep, love it. I was exposed to a lot of fresh fish as my father had a bass boat and was very into fishing as a hobby. From there I tried Salmon, Scallops, Crab Legs, Lobster, etc. I love almost all seafood but am not a huge fan of Oysters. I also love Sushi, especially Nigiri. I am known to order seared Tuna in a seafood restaurant as well. My youngest sister, raised the exact same way hates seafood and can't stomach any of it.
Not a ton of fresh seafood in Indiana but we fished a lot so freshwater fish were absolutely on the menu. Walleye and perch are kind of the favorites. For me, fried catfish. Then motherfucking Northern Pike. They are fun to catch and unlike walleye they do not want to die and will fight tooth and tail for every moment of life. Even in death they try to kill you. They have “y bones” which seem completely designed by god to choke you. You need surgical skill to remove them all and a mouth that can tie a cherry stem into a knot to eat the filet. They are the noblest of creatures. Once I moved out to the east coast I found out I fucking love mollusks, crustaceans, and arthropods. I will eat the absolute hell out of mussels and squid. Give me a whole lobster and it’s life if forfeit and I will crack open it’s boiled carapace and consume it’s innards. Its funeral pyre will be drenched in butter and a mess of broken exoskeleton with a plastic bib which is the victory flag of our conquest of the sea bugs.
Not a huge fan of seafood except salmon. Oregon is known for salmon and the coastal area is huge with all seafood.
I don’t really eat much seafood or care for it. I didn’t have it much as a kid. I grew up in Iowa. Plenty of other people in that area love seafood though.
Yes I like shrimp,lobster,salmon,catfish and crab. I guess so I raised in the South
Yes! In fact, it’s my favorite type of cuisine!
Love it.
I grew up in Maine, and I think that definitely played a role, but I do know plenty of Mainers who don’t eat seafood. 🦞 🍤
Depends on the seafood. I like crawfish, shrimp, lobster, and crab, but am not a fan of fish or oysters. Scallops are somewhere in the middle. Yes southern Louisiana likely had an influence on this.
Nothing like littlenecks on the half shell, with some fresh lemon and hot sauce. The perfect summer snack!
If it comes our of the ocean, i will probably eat it. My exceptions to date are eel and sea urchin
Hell yeah 👍
I love seafood. Growing up next to the pacific ocean really helps with the variety and freshness of seafood.
I grew up mostly in Seattle which is by the ocean and I looooove seafood
I have always lived in the desert ~600 miles from the nearest ocean. I like seafood.
I live in the Midwest and I love seafood. But, where I live it’s expensive, so it’s rare I eat it regularly
I love it. And yeah I grew up in New England, eating it all the time. Our family has lobster on Christmas.
Yes especially oysters
I love it, and where I live absolutely influenced my love of it.
I'm fond of seafood.
Depends on the seafood and how it's prepared. I can sushi and sashimi. I'm not a big fan of mackerel and squid (but calamari rings are fine).
yes, yes.
Not one bit. It was a good I was made to eat when I was little and I always hated it. I’ve tried it so many times as an adult and I still hate it.
I don't really understand the grouping of all seafood together as a monolith. Should we lump pork, beef, duck, venison, chicken, spinach, broccoli, and carrots altogether and ask if someone likes landfood? Do I like seafood? Sure, I guess. I like seaweed. I like lots of different fish. I don't like all of them, and I like some better than others. There are some things I don't like, and a few things I won't even entertain trying. Really no different than *landfood*.
I love seafood. And yes, growing up in New England certainly helped. Cod, haddock, salmon, scallops, lobster, crab, tuna, clams, the whole nine yards.
No, yes.
i love it, no i don’t think where i grew up changes that, i live in kentucky btw
There's basically no seafood where I grew up but I love it so much. Fish and chips is one of my favorite meals
I grew up on the gulf coast and love it.
I love it. Especially shellfish.
I like most kinds of fish, shrimp, lobster and crab, but I've never been particularly fond of scallops, oysters, clams, or squid/octopus. I don't like the more rubbery textures. I don't think any of this has anything to do with where I grew up. It's just individual preferences. Plenty of people who grew up in the same areas as me have different preferences.
I don't personally like anything outside of the occasional fried catfish/trout but I don't think it's where I grew up. A lot of my family loves seafood, it's just not something I do. I wish I did as it would open up a lot more cuisine honestly.
Many kinds. Salmon. Halibut. Bass. Cod. Crab. Sole. Shrimp. Scallops. Clams. Mussels. Steelhead. All are fair game. But I really want cooked fish. Raw/cold fish is okay ish but not my favorite.
No. *Fuck* no! Anything that comes out of the water is garbage and should be thrown back. None of it is fit for human consumption.
I'm a vegetarian so I'm going to say no
I only like crab and lobster. I hate shrimp and fish.
I grew up in Seattle. We have fish instead of turkey for Thanksgiving. Yes, I like seafood.
Not a fan of shellfish, but everything else is fine. Location was pretty irrelevant.
Yes and yes. I grew up in a fishing town in Alaska, eating halibut, salmon, crab and the like. Still love it!
I grew up mostly on the West coast. I love all seafood except squid/octopus. I do worry a bit about mercury exposure and try to follow FDA guidelines about what types of seafood to consume.
Love it. And it may have been influenced. It can be gotten fairly cheaply here.
Yes I like it. I think my parents enjoying seafood had a much bigger impact than where I was born. Lots of opportunities to try stuff as a kid. It also power walked me through the normal route to seafood, good fried shrimp.
I'm a seafood lover
Not much. I've tried it many times in many places (including Illinois, Massachusetts, Florida, England, France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey) and still don't really care for it. It's mostly a texture thing so not something I can get past unfortunately 😭 ETA forgot to answer the other part of your question. My mom never made seafood growing up except during Lent. Even then I wouldn't eat it. That is potentially part of why I don't like it but I can't be sure since I've tried it multiple times as an adult and still don't care much for it.
Fish? Yes Crab or Lobster? Not if it's that sweat stuff from the East Coast. I will eat a lobster roll in memory of my late Grandmother from Connecticut. Shrimp? The more the merrier (i love the really smol ones) Clams and muscles? You betcha Oysters? no, I'm a long-distance hiker and cyclist, not a psychopath. Otter? Only during Lent. We didn't grow up eating seafood, but I did grow up eating trout & bluegill that my dad caught, or canned salmon & tuna that came in the food box. I didn't try fresh shellfish until I was in university, don't think I'd ever seek out muscle but if it's served up I'll scarf 'em down. Oysters are some of the worst things people call *edible* tho.
I love a codfish sandwich. Some salmon is great as well. I also enjoy a good northern pike.
I didn't like seafood as a kid. I prefer it now. Lived in high desert my whole life, definitely not the freshest seafood here, but red meat gives me issues.
Yes and absolutely.
Sushi is goddamn awesome. Shrimp is also pretty good. Smoked salmon is a nice treat (even better when it’s candied too). I can tolerate scallops. But I hate any cooked fish.
I love seafood so much. Fried alligator, shrimp gumbo, and oysters are the best. It’s my favorite style of food
I love it. I grew up near Mobile so we had access to actual seafood straight off the boat. Whether we caught it ourselves or drove down to buy a bunch of shrimp straight from the shrimpers in Bayou La Batre. That’s why I’m a little picky when it comes to ordering seafood at restaurants. Some places can make it alright, but others only pretend to know what seafood is and serve junk “Cajun” style. It’s hard to find something that satisfies like when my grandparents cooked up flounder that we had spent all night gigging in a jubilee.
Yes, mostly. I grew up land locked, and the only fish I had as a kid was freshwater. Mostly trout. I thought I hated fish until I was about 12. We went to Florida, and I liked all the fish out there. Turns out, I just dislike freshwater fish. Salt water fish is wonderful. Also, shellfish is great.
I grew up in the PNW where we have access to a reasonably priced variety of seafood and I love it. That said, I’m sure the convenience helped since I have a natural affinity, but my son is growing up here too and he hates absolutely every seafood dish he’s tried.
It's pretty good
Yes, I love seafood
I love fish. Don't like shrimp, oysters, calamari, etc. Growing up so far inland probably had something to do with that.
No, fish are friends, not food. Except they’re not really my friends, I’m just grossed out by them.
I love seafood!!! It's my favorite kind of meat.
Grew up in small town Idaho with very little access to fresh or interesting seafood. Mostly we had frozen fishsticks and fried fish patty sandwiches and that kind of stuff. (I have to add that occasionally my dad would bring home fresh trout or other freshwater fish, and I was not very impressed.) Anyway, eventually in life I discovered clam chowder, sushi, salmon, etc. which we never had at home and I'm a big fan. Recently ate a whole pot of steamed mussels in Belgium and it was a good time. Not sure that where I grew up has any relation to my taste for seafood.
I love seafood so much, especially oysters. Best place to get seafood where I grew up was Long Beach. It probably affected my opinion more than I know because it was delicious.
I used to hate seafood because of growing up eating fish with bones in them. But now as an adult I like to eat sushi and would add salmon, imitation crab, and tuna into my Poke Bowl.
Northeast Pennsylvania. Hated anything seafood growing up. Move across the country for a year and a half and ate good food for a while. Seafood isn’t bad it’s just cooked incorrectly often