Today in Scary Food: Popcorn Fish

By Anthony Todd in Food on Oct 11, 2010 4:40PM

We see a lot of different kinds of products at the Chicagoist test kitchens. Some of it is awesome, some of it is strange, some of it is inexplicable. And sometimes, it's just straight-up icky. But, scary food can have its own appeal, and today's selection is no exception - Popcorn Fish.

No, that's not a typo. We didn't mean to type shrimp. Popcorn shrimp can be a tasty snack, if you overlook the fat content and the possibility of rancid fry oil. Every time we eat them, we manage to gorge ourself into illnesss, so they are now permanently off of our eating list. This is popcorn fish, which, according to the SeaPack Shrimp Company, is a "sophisticated twist on the traditional fish stick." These small nuggets of fish (cut from pollack) come frozen in bags, and is a "versatile and accessible" seafood option.

This might be a decent snack for kids, but when marketed towards adults? Color us scared. The serving suggestions include using them on salads to replace croutons, for a more protein-heavy option - because we've always thought that what our dinner salads needed were fried, breaded, processed fish bits on top of them. All we can seem to think about, over and over, when we read about this product, is the Popplers from Futurama. If giant alien saucers are seen hovering over the popcorn fish factory, we officially give notice that we were against the entire idea.