Maryland Chefs Try Cooking With Invasive Snakeheads

Snakehead scared everyone when they first showed up in American waters. Part of the fear was environmental: as the fish, originally from Southeast Asia, crept up the Atlantic coast, they decimated native species. They were at the top of the food chain; smallmouth bass could not compete with their razor-sharp teeth. The other part of the fear was visceral. Snakeheads look monstrous.

Now, though, the Baltimore Sun reports that a group of chefs and environmentalists in Maryland is trying to bring the snakeheads down a notch, by eating them. The brave snakehead cooks have said that firm, fast-cooking snakehead meat tastes like chicken. (This group joins an exciting bandwagon of cooks who are using new recipes to combat the pervasive problem of invasive species.)

This isn't the first time someone has tried the fish; way back in 2002, AlterNet reported the same taste proximity. And the Vietnamese have been eating snakehead—known as Ca Loc—forever.

That hasn't stopped McSweeney's from hilariously lampooning snakehead recipes, though: read carefully and prepare to laugh.

Here's the Baltimore Sun's video report on the culinary trend: