Company in texture and gentle in taste, swai is a freshwater fish local to southeast Asia.

The fish is essentially farmed (somewhat than wild-caught) in Vietnam, even though it’s additionally produced in Thailand, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia, and Cambodia, consistent with Athena Davis, the North The us advertising supervisor for the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).

“It is lovely standard within the U.S. in addition to another markets all over the world for being a extra inexpensive choice for seafood,” says Maggie Moon, M.S., R.D., a Los Angeles–based totally registered dietitian and the writer of The MIND Nutrition. “Other people can also be searching for it out as a result of it is a lean protein and fish [in general] is excellent for the guts and the mind.”

You would possibly not all the time see the fish classified as “swai” in grocery shops or eating places, even though. The fish, which is scientifically referred to as Pangasianodon hypophthalmus, is sometimes called pangasius, basa, striped catfish, striped pangasius, and tra, says Corbett Nash, the outreach supervisor for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program.

Even supposing it’s a kind of catfish, the U.S. Meals and Drug Management doesn’t allow it to be classified as such on this nation; as a substitute, it’s known as sutchi catfish, he provides.