Fish fries
The fish fry is a fundraising mainstay. Almost any weekend
you can find a community organization or church group
selling fish dinners to raise money for a good cause. The
preferred fish is whiting, cut down the back. The flesh is
delicate and delicious, but watch out for those bones.
Sides usually include red rice, potato salad or cole slaw,
and a roll. You may also get a slice of cake. It could be
store bought, or it could be home-made. My favorite is
home-made pound cake. Because these fish fries are formally
organized, they generally have been reviewed by the health
department, and the churches and charities they benefit
don't have to deal with sales taxes and hospitality taxes.
Not all fish fries are charitable ventures, howerver.
Individual often sell dinners to make extra money so they
can for pay for medical bills, vacations, car repairs, etc.
This sort of informal sale of dinners is not approved by
the health department, so in terms of food safety you run
the risk of eating something that an untrained cook did not
handle properly. Also, because it's an underground-economy
operation, they don't have a business license and they
aren't paying sales taxes, hospitality taxes or income
taxes. But hey, the food is pretty good. How to get one of
these dinners? It's word of mouth, or sometimes there are
fliers posted around the community.