Catfish taste like what? ‘Freshwater seafood!’

Updating a previously published column:

Catfish aren’t likely to win a beauty contest for fish, declared Darrell Taylor, an outdoor sportswriter based in Camdenton, Mo., a gateway community to the Lake of the Ozarks.

He says this species of freshwater fish is so named because its barbels resemble a cat’s whiskers.

 

“They are the ‘piscatorial Rodney Dangerfield’ and ‘get no respect,’ but know this, there is a cadre of loyal anglers who love catfish and pursue them with vigor,” Taylor said.

“Summer is prime time for ‘cats,’ as they often end up as tasty fillets on dinner plates. These palate-pleasers can be prepared in many ways,” Taylor said. “Catfish can be a healthy alternative to red meat.”

Missouri is one of five middle-America states that have adopted the catfish as their “official state fish.” 

Others are Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Tennessee.

Because catfish tend to live in dark, murky waters, their vision isn’t very useful. Their barbels help the fish search out food using their sense of touch. 

When caught, catfish make a noise that sounds like a croak or a grunt, perhaps a bit like a cat purring. Generally, the best size catfish to eat is between 2 and 5 pounds (“pan-sized”). 

Some grow much larger.

At 0-dark-30 in the morning of July 20, 2020, Tyler Barnes, 24, of Pikeville in Wayne County, N.C., pulled a 78.9-pound flathead catfish out of the Neuse River near Maple Cypress Landing in Craven County.

Barnes’ fish was a North Carolina state freshwater record for a flathead catfish. No one has topped it since. 

It was a true “trophy fish,” estimated to be about 30 years old. After the weigh-in at EZ Bait and Tackle Store in Goldsboro, the big ol’ catfish was released back into the river.

Barnes humbly basked in the limelight. Since then, he has hooked up with Catch The Fever Outdoors of Roxboro, N.C., a major manufacturer of rods, reels and other fishing equipment. As a brand ambassador for the company, Barnes has become a darling of social media, promoting a “catfish lifestyle” that is so readily identified with the Southern culture.

He has also formed his own company in Pikeville named 4REEL, specializing in apparel products, tackle and fishing accessories.

 

Southerners, of course, have been eating fried catfish for decades. It pairs nicely with fried chicken to form a delicious blend of “creek and coop” (a good-eatin’ alternative to “surf and turf”), says Hannah Hayes, a food writer in New Orleans, La.

 

The late Craig Claiborne, who was a revered food editor and restaurant critic for The New York Times, was born in Sunflower, Miss. He once wrote:

 

“Like most Southerners, I adore catfish. Eating deep-fried catfish was a ritual (for Sunday outings) and the menu was always the same: cornmeal-coated catfish with its golden-brown crusty exterior and moist white inner flesh; deep-fried hushpuppies; deep-fried potatoes; and coleslaw.”

 

“Now that catfish are being raised in freshwater ponds,” he said, “they are available frozen all over the country and can be used in any recipe calling for a white non-oily fish. Even after freezing and defrosting, catfish remain snow white and as firm as when taken from the water.”

 

The late Willard Scott, former weatherman with NBC’s “TODAY” show, said: “If I go down for anything in history, I would like to be known as the person who convinced the American people that catfish is one of the finest eating fishes in the world.”

 

More and more restaurants are adding catfish dishes to their menus, claiming that “catfish, although a freshwater fish, proudly waves the seafood flag – mild, slightly sweet in flavor with a tender, flaky texture.”

Life at the coast is all about ‘fish or cut bait’

Fish or cut bait. That’s a familiar idiom we hear frequently in Carteret County, N.C., especially in the Down East region.

 

The writers at the blogsite Heroes, Heroines & History (HH&H) tell us: “Fishing for the exact meaning of this phrase submerges us in murky waters. Some people use it to prompt another person to make a choice or decision. Others use it as a spur to get someone to either act or quit.”

HH&H found the earliest print reference in 1837, within the Oneida Observer in Albany, N.Y.: “Politicians cannot shilli-shalli along now. They must either ‘fish, cut bait, or go ashore.’”

Audrey Atkins of Birmingham, Ala., creator of the Folkways Nowadays blog, added: “A little research revealed that in a fishing culture, the act of cutting up bait fish into small and useful pieces is just as important and integral to the whole process of catching fish as…well…actually catching the fish.”

In a culture defined heavily by commercial fishing, the saying emphasizes that “every member of the team or community must pull his and her weight and commit to the mission.”

I’m not sure this is a “fish or cut bait” moment, but I’ve been thinking that the Crystal Coast needs is an official beach music theme song – a tune you can dance to as well as sing along.

A good candidate may be the classic shaggin’ song “Gone Fishin,’” written in 1976 (50 years ago) by the “king of beach music” General Norman Johnson and performed by The Chairmen of the Board. 

Here’s a bit of it:

I’m going to lock my doors and close my blinds

In my window, I’m gonna leave a sign

Gone fishin’

 

And waste some time (gone fishin’)

Leave my trouble behind (gone fishin’)

Rest my mind, if I don’t get away

I’m gonna lose my mind, hey-hey!

The beat is smooth, mellow and laid-back, like the aura of the Crystal Coast – not frantic.

 

Painting by Norman Rockwell

“Gone Fishin’” is one of the standards that the DJs spin for patrons at the legendary Memories Beach Club in Atlantic Beach, N.C. 

(The tune ranks No. 21 on the all-time beach music hits chart at Radio Station 94.9 FM – The Surf in North Myrtle Beach, S.C.)

 

The American Sportfishing Association and others say there are approximately 60 million people who identify as fishermen or fisherwomen in the United States. 

About 1.5 million North Carolinians are licensed anglers.

North Carolina is considered the fourth most popular fishing state in the nation, trailing only Florida, Maryland and Michigan.

North Carolina offers a variety of fishing experiences from “the mountains to the coast,” which make the state fairly unique. The North Carolina chapter of the Native Fish Coalition says North Carolina has 17 major river systems and more than 274,000 acres of lakes and ponds. 

Our State magazine photo by Derek Diluz.

Additionally, North Carolina has more than 3,375 miles of saltwater coastline.

 Our State magazine photo by Daniel Pullen.

North Carolina has two “official state fish” species. Representing the freshwater category is the southern Appalachian brook trout. 

North Carolina also recognizes the red drum (channel bass) as the state saltwater fish.

 

Smaller “puppy drum” are prized by chefs for “its sweet, mild and clean flavor alongside a firm, flaky white texture.”

The fishingbooker.com website says that one of the “best freshwater targets” in North Carolina is catfish, which “are almost ubiquitous in North Carolina’s rivers and lakes. 

There are different types of them swimming about, with flathead, blue and channel catfish being the most common catches.”

 

“You’ll find great catfishing in rivers such as the Tar, Neuse, Cape Fear and Roanoke,” all in eastern North Carolina. We’ll have to cast a line….

Chef Boyardee gets moved around a lot

Mergers and acquisitions seem to be quite prevalent within the food industry, with major brands often being shuffled about. Chef Boyardee is a good case study – having had five different owners.

The company was formed as a family business almost a century ago – in 1927 – in Cleveland, Ohio. Chef Hector Boiardi, who came to the United States from Italy as a teenager in 1914, was the principal figure.

After relocating operations to Milton, Pa., in 1938, the Chef Boyardee Company was sold in 1946 to American Home Foods of New York City for nearly $6 million. 

It was a noble and honorable deed performed by Hector Boiardi and his brothers, Paul and Mario.

The business had ramped up production during World War II years, employing some 5,000 people to crank out food rations for the Allied troops. But after the war, the discontinuation of government contracts was problematic.

Hector Boiardi did not want to lay off thousands of workers, but he lacked the capital to rapidly expand into the post-war commercial market. 

He rationalized that a larger corporation could provide the financial resources needed to keep the factory running at full capacity and distribute the brand nationwide. And Hector Boiardi was correct in his thinking.

A half century later, American Home Foods was purchased in 1996 by a private equity firm and renamed International Home Foods, with headquarters in Parsippany, N.J. 

Then in 2000, International Home Foods was acquired by ConAgra Foods of Omaha, Neb. The transaction was valued at $2.9 billion.

 

In 2025, Conagra Brands, Inc., which had moved its headquarters to Chicago, spun off the Chef Boyardee brand to Brynwood Partners, a private equity firm based in Greenwich, Conn. 

Chef Boyardee was rolled into a Brynwood subsidiary, Hometown Food Company of Chicago.

 

(Brynwood had formed Hometown Food Company in 2018 to assemble a portfolio of brands purchased from The J.M. Smucker Company, including the U.S. rights to Pillsbury baking products, Hungry Jack pancake mixes and syrups, Martha White, White Lily and Jim Dandy. With Chef Boyardee, Hometown anticipated its annual gross revenues would exceed $1.6 billion.)

 

Brynwood Partners paid $600 million to acquire the iconic Chef Boyardee brand.

At the time, Henk Hartong, CEO of Brynwood Partners, said: “We are excited to add Chef Boyardee to the Hometown collection of nostalgic brands that offer a longstanding rich heritage. We are confident that we can reinvigorate the Chef Boyardee brand and extend into new formats quickly.”

Indeed. In May 2026, Chef Boyardee expanded its product line, launching five new skillet meal boxed kits.

 

“Chef Boyardee is strategically entering a growing category where consumers are actively seeking easy, budget friendly meal solutions that don’t compromise on taste,” said Dan Anglemyer, an executive with Hometown Food Company. “By bringing its trusted Italian-inspired flavors to skillet meals, Chef Boyardee is offering families a new way to enjoy comforting Italian dinners at home.”

“This is just the beginning,” Anglemyer added. “Consumers should expect to see Chef Boyardee in several new places in the store later in 2026.”

Not to mention Chef Boyardee’s renewed presence on the NASCAR racing circuit. At this year’s Daytona 500, which was run in February, the fabled “Ravioli Roamer” vehicle traveled across the infield, midway and campgrounds, delivering more than 100,000 pasta meals to fans during race week.

Chef Boyardee also is a primary sponsor of the No. 47 Chevrolet Camaro driven by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. He finished second in the 2026 Daytona 500 race, behind winner Tyler Reddick.

 

Stenhouse, 38, a native of Olive Branch, Miss., is a 14-year veteran driver with the NASCAR Cup Series.

Brynwood Partners also owns Carolina Beverage Group of Mooresville, N.C., a producer of energy drinks, carbonated flavored waters and craft beers, which are bottled and canned primarily for private label and contract manufacturing customers.

Chef Boyardee was an American ‘food hero’

Chef Boyardee was a real guy. He was born as Ettore Boiardi in Italy in 1897 and came to the United States as a teenager in 1914 to live and breathe the “American dream.”

Ettore’s hometown was Borgonovo Val Tidone, near Piacenza, in northwest Italy (in the top of the boot). He began working as an apprentice chef in a local restaurant there at age 11 – learning how to peel potatoes…and tend to the trash.

After arriving at Ellis Island in New York City, Boiardi Anglicized his first name to “Hector” and worked in a succession of upscale Manhattan restaurants. He followed his older brother Paul to the kitchen of the Plaza Hotel in New York City, working his way up to head chef.

Chef Hector Boiardi earned a reputation for excellence. In fact, he was tapped to supervise preparations of the “homecoming meal” hosted in 1918 by President Woodrow Wilson at the White House to honor 2,000 returning World War I soldiers.

Hector Boiardi relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, and became head chef at the Hotel Winton. His tenure there lasted until 1924, when he left to establish his own restaurant in Cleveland, Il Giardino d’Italia (The Garden of Italy).

Patrons asked to purchase his pasta sauce so they could serve it at home, and Hector Boiardi obliged, filling up empty glass milk bottles. 

In 1927, he met and collaborated with two of his restaurant regulars, Maurice and Eva Weiner, owners of a chain of self-service grocery stores. The Weiners showed him how to make his food products on a larger scale.

In 1928, Hector Boiardi began producing a complete spaghetti meal kit, including a canister of grated Parmesan cheese that was imported from Italy, a box of dry spaghetti and a jar of sauce. Homemakers loved its convenience.

 

An early customer was A&P, the national supermarket chain. It was during this time that the “Chef Boy-Ar-Dee” brand evolved, so that consumers could more easily pronounce the Italian name. (Later it was compressed to Chef Boyardee).

 

In 1938, the Boiardi brothers (shown below from left are Paul, Hector and Mario) moved their company operations into a vacant textile mill in Milton, Pa., in the Susquehanna River Valley. 

Fertile farmland there allowed the Boiardis to raise their own tomatoes and mushrooms, key ingredients in their food products.

 

During World War II, the U.S. military commissioned the Boyardee Company in 1942 to produce army rations, primarily “spaghetti in tomato sauce with meat or meatballs.” The Milton manufacturing plant began round-the-clock operations, seven days a week, preparing a quarter of a million rations on a daily basis.

 

The factory’s workforce ballooned to more than 5,000 people who were engaged in ensuring that American troops overseas could enjoy the “food comforts of home.” The place was teeming with patriotism. 

Banners set the tone. Some read: “Keep ‘em flying!” “Keep ‘em rolling!” and “ Keep ‘em well-fed!” 

Hector Boiardi received the Gold Star Order of Excellence from the U.S. War Department in 1946, in honor of his company’s immense contributions to the war effort.

In order to avoid post-war layoffs and recognizing that the operation had reached a scale beyond what the brothers could manage on their own, the Boiardis sold the company to American Home Foods later in 1946 for nearly $6 million.

Hector Boiardi would remain on as a brand consultant for the next 32 years, appearing in many print advertisements and television commercials.

Hector Boiardi died in 1985 at age 87, but his smiling face remains the image of the Chef Boyardee brand. 

Today, the product lineup includes Ravioli, Beefaroni, Lasagna and other pasta-related dishes.