Put away your pruners and get out your fishing rods. According to a recent article in Financial Times, backyard fish ponds may be the organic vegetable plots of tomorrow, an easy way for families to sustainably produce their own food.
But first the West needs to get over its aversion to eating carp.
Jimmie Hepburn, organic aquaculture proponent and a one-man carp PR team, points out:
At a time when stocks of many wild fish are under pressure, farmed carp could play an important and sustainable role in meeting our future food requirements. He thinks carp are not only underrated when it comes to flavour, but that they also lend themselves well to controlled cultivation, rather like a kind of aquatic rabbit.
Unlike rabbits, carp are omnivorous and content to live in murky, low-oxygen ponds, making them more sustainable than farmed salmon or trout, which both require high-protein feed. They also lack a fluffy tail or any discernible cuteness, but this is probably a plus, at least when harvest time arrives.
Purged in spring water and deboned, carp is “clean and fine-flavoured, sweet and succulent,” and was rated positively in a blind tasting on the British television show River Cottage. Carp have a long tradition on the table in Asian and Eastern European countries; perhaps it is time to give them a little space in our backyards — and on our plates.
What do you think? Will backyard fish farming be the next trend in kitchen gardens? Or is carp better off in the pond than on the plate?
• Read the article: The return of the eco-friendly carp - at Financial Times
Anjali Prasertong is a cook and food writer based in Los Angeles, California. She is studying to become a registered dietician.
Related: How to Cook a Whole Fish
(Image: Flickr member Lomo-Cam licensed for use under Creative Commons)
How to Bake a Potato: Three Easy Methods
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Straw Mat from The ...
Must-See Small Cool Homes: Week Two
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
Aquaponics definitely is a great idea for those of us who don't mind getting some protein from animal sources. Carp is too earthy for my taste, though, and I've heard there's a lot of little bones to pick out, which would be a pain if cleaning them at home. I'd rather go with a species of Tilapia, a nice plain fish that grows well in murky water and can live on a vegetarian diet.
Well, humans aren't the only species who have a taste for carp.
Each time I've heard someone's account of creating a koi pond here in Northern Illinois, it always ends the same way -- cranes discovered the trove of snacks and ate them all up. One still wouldn't drop its fish even while being chased with a rake by the owner (wish I could have witnessed that one)
I like this idea, but don't think it would be available to as many people as vegetable gardening is. I would do it as long as I didn't have to clean the fish myself...
Love the crane story :)
@Robb The reason for the earthy taste for carp is often the water they are raised in. The same thing can occur with catfish and turtles. Some time spent in fresh water clears it up, purging in spring water as the article suggests would take care of it. Also, most backyard fish ponds have clear clean water so this wouldn't be an issue anyway. As far as bones go, they are really no worse than the pin bones in salmon or the small bones in trout. Score them or change your cooking technique and you can ignore them.
love the idea of growing/raising your own fish, then you know it's fresh when you cook it up that night!
i have a friend who's experimenting with raising tilapia in a big indoor tank, with a grow box on top for leafy greens that use fish waste as fertilizer. the only difference, apparently, is that you can't use the normal aquarium chemicals, and you probably shouldn't name them.