Salmon Tasting
in Articles
I love eating fish – especially salmon. When Roy is away it is usually my food of preference. This week I found myself in a supermarket trying to decide whether to buy pink or red salmon; what’s the difference?
After some research, this is what I discovered:
Pink salmon is found in freshwater, not far from where it was spawned and is often farmed. It eats a diet of plants and has less flavour than red salmon. It is used in recipes that require a mild-tasting fish. Sadly, some salmon farmers add colour enhancers to the diet of these fish to fool consumers into thinking that they grew in the wild.
On the other hand, red salmon lives in the wild, swims great distances in salt water and returns to freshwater to spawn. It has a varied diet of plankton and crustaceans, and has more protein content and more omega3 fats in it. In other words, it is healthier and has more flavour.
So, if we were salmon, what kind would we be?
The flavoursome kind who have left their comfort zone and tasted some of the cultures of the world? A people who have faced up to challenges because they are going against the flow, taken risks and grown mature because of it?
Or would we be the kind who stays in the security of our comfort zone, sticking to a familiar diet, and not straining ahead to greater things?
Paul describes himself a “red salmon” in Philippians3 v 12-14
“I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: by no means do I count myself an expert in all this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward – to Jesus. I’m off and running and I’m not turning back.
So let’s keep focussed on the goal, those of us who want everything God has for us.” (The Message)
Salmon are at their most flavoursome at spawning time, just before they die. We too, are called to die – not physically, but to our own longings and desires in order to live for God and to be life-givers to others.
This Easter I encourage you to take a little time to reflect on salmon eggs and not just on chocolate ones!
May you have a blessed Easter time! Shirley
