Dire is correct. Tilapia have a bland taste. They are one of the most taste-deficient of all table fish on today's market. They do have eye appeal--that light color and clean look. The reason they are sold in such large quantities is in part because they are fast-growing and easy to raise in large quantities. Neither of those advantages has anything to do with taste. It's about profit.
The safest fish to eat is FARM-RAISED CATFISH. Wild catfish can pick up contaminants in the food they eat, contaminants such as mercury and PCBs, among others. The taste of wild-caught catfish is unpredictable. Farm-raised catfish are fed a wholesome diet based on nutritional studies carried out in Alabama and Arkansas at Federal Government research facilities of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service by the late Dr. Harry S. Dupree and Dr. Walt Hastings. You will not encounter contamination by pesticides, antibiotics, heavy metals or other contaminants in FARM-RAISED CATFISH. I know whereof I speak. Harry Dupree was a personal friend and colleague of mine. I was a member of the taste-testing panel he employed in his studies of the relationship between the taste of catfish and the kind of feed they are supplied. He proved that catfish would not taste "fishy" if they were fed a ration containing plant-based oil during the last 5 or 6 weeks before they are harvested. His work eliminated the guesswork catfish farmers often faced in producing table fish of good market quality. The good taste of channel catfish you enjoy today is attributable to Harry's pioneering work in the 1970s. The program of catfish research carried out at the Southeastern Fish Cultural Laboratories in Marion, Alabama and Stuttgart, Arkansas jump-started and nourished the catfish farming industry and has paid great financial dividends for southern and mid-western catfish growers. Your government at work. Here is some good information on catfish:
http://www.foodreference.com/html/art-catfish.html
THE NOBLE CHANNEL CATFISH--Ictalurus punctatus
