Aquaculture initiative brings paiche to US

Tell diners a giant river monster is on the menu and they’ll want to see what it looks like. Fortunately, for the chef introducing little-known paiche, most people have a smartphone handy.

“A lot of people bring out their cell phones and Google it right then and there. It’s a very interesting looking fish too,” says Andrew Adams, executive chef for Acre Restaurant in Memphis, Tenn.

Paiche, also called arapaima or pirarucu (Arapaima gigas), is a freshwater fish native to the Amazon Basin. It has a face that looks more like a bird than a fish, and it is a giant. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) they can grow to be as big as 450 pounds and 9 feet long.

But the real monsters in paiche’s history have been humans, who once severely overfished wild populations. Now a sustainable farming initiative is trying to restore it in the wild while introducing it to diners around the world.

“I don’t want to use some cheesy slogan, but it’s considered the king of the Amazon,” says Adrian Burstein of ArtisanFish in Ventura, Fla. The company is marketing and wholesaling the farmed fish to U.S. retail and foodservice buyers.  

Click here to read the full story which ran in the February issue of SeaFood Business > 

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