"I've stopped eating octopus..." Why?

I didn’t want to hijack the Costco A5 Wagyu thread but, in there, two people mentioned the fact that they stopped eating octopus. Why? I am clueless, so please help me understand what that was all about and why it come up in the discussion about A5 Wagyu. I don’t eat octopus hardly at all, but am still curious. TIA

The Octopus Teacher??

Intelligent. Genetic marvels.
Sentient beings.
Over-fishing.

Just some thoughts.

I was the one that initially mentioned it in that thread as I was intrigued by the various descriptions of this very expensive meat that seemingly requires a very specific way of preparing and eating so it doesn’t just taste like expensive fat/grease. In the realm of “yes, you can do it, but is it necessary”, I said I stopped eating octopus as an off the cuff remark.

The Octopus Teacher is just the latest in a large volume of research (although it isn’t research, it is still a good story. There was another BBC documentary last year as well) of how amazing and intelligent these creatures are. It is mind-blowing to think of the system required to instantly change not only the color but the texture of your skin to identically match your surroundings and not just one or two colors but mimic a continuum of patterns in three dimensions. And that is only one aspect of their intelligence. It seems like such a wasteful indulgence to eat a creature like that just because we can, but don’t need to.

A few years ago my girlfriend and I stopped eating animals cuter or smarter than ourselves. Octopus was the first on the list. And The Octopus Teacher brought it home - very hard to imagine eating one after seeing the film.

Whether eaten or not, octopi have it pretty lousy. Most octopus species lose the ability to digest food once they become fertile, and then die of starvation. Some live six months, others two or three years. The giant octopus can live to age five only if it never mates. Talk about getting gypped in the evolutionary sweepstakes!

But on the plus side, you can regrow your arm if you lose one to a shark!

Thanks, Guys. This is the first I’ve heard of, “Octopus Teacher.”

Not too far from why cannibalism is remote.

In today’s culture some folks might find gypped a perjorative term that disparages Gypsies and the Traveler culture.

Just sayin’

Thx… saw that comment in the A5 thread and wondered the same… thanks for following up on the Q Brandon!

I’m just here to serve the greater good, Mark! [cheers.gif]

I’ve never had Octopus and they are on my list to skip … spent some time at Scripps Aquarium talking with the Octopus scientist who explained how their octopus gets really depressed when he doesn’t have interesting challenges to figure out … sentient beings are not on my dining table. I don’t however comment if dining out with others who do order it.

I was free-diving in the Caribbean this last February and saw this happen right before my eyes, Champagne Reef, Dominica. The octopus was basically white as I came over a coral head. When I stopped about 6 feet away to look at it, presto chango. I REALLY had to look to see it and I was 6 feet away! The texture they create is simply unbelievable.

After watching the dinner scene in January Man

You’re vegetarian?

Nope though I was for a long time years ago until I started having dreams about “hot roast beef sandwiches on a hard roll” … it seemed a sign. My children were raised initially as vegetarians but always with the ability to chose whenever they wanted and by then I ate meat in the house and my ex had decided to become a vegetarian so the kids had options. My son has been one his entire life, my daughter stopped when she was around 6 and became a chef cooking all sorts of things. I have a clearly hypocritical list of animals I do not eat that is probably close to Glen’s above (cuter/smarter),

And you?

I’m thinking about giving up octopus, probably will not give up calamari.

Very cool!

There are probably 8 reasons why.