Fish school

From hook to table, or in our case, tank to table.  Our 4-Hers finished up their "Take the Bait" project today; a sport fishing curriculum that introduced the boys to the mechanics of fishing, bait, aquatic ecology, etc.  They learned about fish, went fishing, and now it was time to eat fish.  Because their attempts at fishing were unsuccessful, I thought a trip to Hung Vuong would be worthwhile - they could select a live fish and then clean it themselves...there's no place like hung vuong to bring you closer to food. 

They were amazed by all of the live fish - eels, crabs, catfish, etc. Each boy selected a fish, which the fish monger scaled...they watched him gut fish and skin frogs in record time.  Back at today's meeting place, we went over the parts of the fish and removed the fins with shears...my son's fish was still alive, gasping for air as his gills convulsed - I used this opportunity to distinguish between the dissolved oxygen that fish get from water and the oxygen we get from the atmosphere. 

One boy began to hesitate - he thought maybe we were being mean by killing the fish...I told him that we had to kill it to eat it.  My daughter who was still traumatized from the duck said we were murderers (she's probably heading towards vegetarianism)...and thought we should put the fish in water - that wasn't going to happen, these boys were hungry. 

Next they had to gut the fish - my husband cut each fish along the underbelly and the boys removed the insides - marveling as they identified intestines, kidneys, liver, etc...we were bordering on a biology dissection.  The fish bled, some oozed out yellow, others oozed out blue.  My son's fish continued to gasp until the knife met his belly...it was kind of creepy. 

I told the boys that the fish monger probably raised these fish, casually mentioning that some fish are farm raised while others are wild caught.  Then we talked about all the different ways to cook fish - dry heat, moist heat, and with fat.  I cleaned/washed each fish, seasoned inside and out, and set a tray of veggies (scallions, ginger, garlic, celery, carrots, shallots, lemons) in the middle of the table - the boys stuffed their fish and then I cooked them per their request - steamed, broiled, and roasted. 

I served each boy "their fish" with the coleslaw and corn muffins I made this afternoon.  This is what experiential learning is all about.