American consumers are falling for salmon, hook, line, and sinker

A dinner companion ordered salmon recently and asked the waiter if the fish was wild. "I think so," he replied. Since the menu stated Atlantic salmon, that couldn't have been true. Wild Atlantic salmon sold commercially is a thing of the past. In fact, the fish was farmed.

There's a big difference between farmed and wild in both price and taste. Salmon is the most popular fish that American consumers eat. The demand is high, says Kim Marden of Captain Marden's Seafoods in Wellesley, a retailer and wholesaler. "We're selling a ton of salmon," he says. At restaurants, it's sought after with all kinds of sauces; for a weekday supper, it's a quick meal for the grill or oven. Fresh salmon is a traditional part of Fourth celebrations because this was the time of year that wild Atlantic would travel to rivers to spawn, making it easier to catch.

Go to any well-stocked fish market and you'll see a variety of choices, so many, in fact, that it seems confusing. The majority of salmon you see in the markets is farmed; some from Scotland or Ireland might be labeled organic because of what the fish are fed. Where farmed salmon has a rich, creamy quality and falls into large coral flakes, the wild is darker (almost red in the fish case), with a briny flavor and denser flesh.

To many consumers, the supply of the pink-fleshed fish seems endless. That may be because salmon is farmed year-round along the East and West coasts, in parts of Europe, and in Chile. Wild salmon, caught in the Pacific Ocean, is a seasonal treat -- and an expensive one. Some salmon lovers seem willing to pay the higher price tag for wild; others buy it as a reaction against farmed salmon, which has caused environmental alarms in recent years (see story, above).

We're in the peak of wild salmon season; availability tapers off at the end of September. West Coast wild salmon is available in five species: chinook, also called king salmon, has flesh that can run from ivory to deep red; sockeye has a deep red color; chum is pink to medium red; and pink and coho both have a pale pink flesh. New England restaurants and fish markets most often feature king, sockeye, and coho, caught off the coasts of California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska. The flavor is strong and a little "gamey," as one fishmonger describes it. The bright red, pink, or orange flesh reflects the plankton, krill, and other small fish the creatures eat.

At Whole Foods last week, Alaskan sockeye was $10.99 a pound, which was a special. Courthouse Seafood Market in Cambridge was selling coho fillets for a $14.99 a pound; Captain Marden's was getting $20 a pound for wild king salmon, $10.99 for Alaskan sockeye. That compares to about $8.99 a pound (or less) for farm-raised.

The numbers of West Coast wild salmon are closely monitored because of pressures on rivers -- from California to British Columbia -- where the fish spawn, says Therese Wells of Save Our Wild Salmon, which is based in the Northwest and tracks sustainability. Availability is the biggest factor in price, she says. Some salmon species in specific areas are considered endangered. This year the season has been short , with low fish stocks. The dangers and expense of operating boats and crews in the ocean are a factor that makes wild salmon more expensive than farmed, says Wells.

A California fishmonger agrees. "A lot of work and expense goes into that fish," says Tom Worthington, co-owner of Monterey Fish Market, which sells to high-end restaurants in the Bay area, such as Chez Panisse. May fishing was hampered by stormy weather; salmon fishing was shut down in June to allow spawning in the Klamath River to recover. Most salmon sold right now are coming from Alaska. Worthington thinks the catch over the next three months should be good, but fishermen can never tell until "it's on the hook," he says.

Chefs have strong opinions about wild salmon; some insist that they can discern from the taste where the fish fed. Brandon Child, chef de cuisine at Mistral in the South End, thinks wild is worth the tab. The restaurant's king salmon, served with maitake mushrooms, sauteed potatoes, and vincotto, a kind of vinegar, sells for $43. And it does well, says the chef. He attributes that partly to the quality of fish he's been getting from Red's Best of Alaska. He talks to their fishing crew by satellite phone and can receive wild salmon at Mistral less than 36 hours after it's caught.

Not all fish purveyors are finding an audience for the expensive wild varieties. At Courthouse Seafood Market, Joseph da Maso, an owner, says the store doesn't carry king or sockeye salmon. "It's already so high that there's no market for it." In a week, Courthouse might sell three coho salmons, a smaller variety with milder flavor, in fillets and steaks.

Marden says that as the season progresses, white salmon, which has been rising in popularity lately, will be available, along with chum, a smaller, milder salmon that sells for as little as $3.99 a pound. Worthington, the California fishmonger, explains that the flesh of white salmon is lacking pigmentation, but the genetic mutation doesn't really affect the flavor.

The curiosity, he says, is purely visual. East Coast diners may need to see pink.