shrimp

The holiday season is approaching, which means that it’s time to look for new ways to spice up old traditions. And just in time for the holidays, Food & Water Watch is releasing its very own sustainable seafood recipe cookbook entitled “Fish & Tips.” The recipes featured are provided by fishermen, chefs, and some of our best submissions from our recent “Get Cookin’ Recipe Contest,” and are all meant to be cooked using sustainable seafood recommended from our Smart Seafood Guide.

While it may be hard to imagine the holidays with seafood, consider this: at the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims and the Native Americans actually ate seafood along with their turkey. Whole Foods is putting that concept into practice by having their very own “Shrimpsgiving” – a period of special prices on their seafood, specifically shrimp, so that consumers can have a variety of options for the holiday season. Keep in mind, however, that not all of the offerings at Whole Foods are fair game in terms of sustainability.

If you do choose to buy your seafood there, be sure to only buy those items listed as “safe” in our Smart Seafood Guide and the foods listed on it. For more information about Whole Foods and our concerns with some of their offerings, click here.

When in doubt – try to buy locally instead, and be sure to ask questions about how the fish were caught, treated, and raised. Be sure to choose wild-caught over farmed, and local over imported; choose those that have been exposed to little or no contaminants, and ideally fresh over frozen. If farmed, choose those that require fewer inputs. For more, click here.

Stay tuned for more information on the cookbook’s release and how to obtain your very own copy for the holiday season!(Coming soon.)

Food & Water Watch held the Get Cookin'! sustainable seafood recipe contest to gather the best recipes for the variety of seafood choices we recommend in our Smart Seafood Guide. Over the past several weeks, we received a multitude of recipes from seafood lovers all over the place. We were so excited to see how many people out there care about what they eat and have so many creative ideas for serving it.

We judged the recipes on the basis of several criteria: first, they had to include a type of seafood that we recommend in our Smart Seafood Guide. Other criteria included healthfulness, ease of preparation, originality and of course—most importantly—deliciousness. This last factor might seem subjective, but we had a panel of dedicated judges from the Food & Water Watch staff, including our partner chef, Rocky Barnette, who gathered to cook and taste all the recipes. It took a few rounds of voting before we were able to come to final decisions on all our winners, but we finally did. Throughout the tastings, everyone’s response seemed to be the same: “yum!” According to Chef Rocky, all the recipes were well-written and very professional. All the staff judges had a lot of good things to say about every recipe.

So we’d like to congratulate all of our winners on their wonderful recipes, and thank everyone who entered for their participation and enthusiasm. Stay tuned for the winning recipes, to be featured in a forthcoming recipe booklet out in time for the holidays.

Here are our fabulous seafood chefs:

Elaine Sweet with Crazy Cajun Shrimp Etouffee Cream over Garlic Noodles
Joan Churchill with Curried Clams and Melon Salad
Clayton Jay Davis with “Idaho Meets the Sea”
Roxanne Chan with Lebanese Scallop Salad
Rosemary Johnson with Black Cod with Butter Pecan Sauce
Bev Jones with "Grillted" Pomegranate Shrimp Salad
Candy Barnhart with Puffed Golden Halibut over Zucchini "Pasta"
Francis Garland with Crab Pizzawich with Wine-Soaked Grapes
Ken Hulme with Hogfish Hoagie
Wolfgang Hanau with Alaskan Salmon and Indian Cornbread Pie
Peter Halferty with Squid Risotto

All of these winners will be receiving a copy of the recipe booklet and a snazzy Food & Water Watch chef’s apron (pictured here on several Food & Water Watch staff).

And our grand prize of $250 goes to Jane Ingraham for her San Francisco Fish Stew. Congratulations, Jane!  

To all other sustainable seafood enthusiasts—both chefs and eaters—keep your eyes peeled for recipes to come. You can also click here for more ways to get involved with sustainable seafood--help to protect our oceans from unsustainable fish farming and check out our Smart Seafood Guide for recommended buying and dining choices!

- Erica Schuetz
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Chef Rocky Barnette reports from various exciting locations as he begins his seafood-savvy tour. First, he's stopped in New York.

September 4, 2008

    My first day in the city, I was fortunate enough to have lunch at restaurant WD-50, which is definitely a hot spot and a culinary destination for foodies and chefs alike.  The lunch menu had great variety of appetizers, main courses, and desserts.  I was pleased to see that there were delicious seafood choices available, including cod and scallops.  Finding out where these items were from came as a relief because the cod was from the Pacific, where cod is not overfished, and the scallops were diver-caught, which means they are collected in a way that’s much less damaging to the ecosystem.  They were sensational and I have included menu descriptions and pictures of both.
 
 Cod, smoked mashed potato, pickled mushrooms, red pepper oil

Scallops, hen o’ the wood mushrooms, cranberry, pecan, spice bread consommé

It's important to always ask where your seafood comes from. Though waiters or chefs may not be able to tell you right away, they can and should find out for you. It's good for restaurants to know that their customers are interested in the source of their seafood.

September 8, 2008

I had only been in the city for a few days and found myself on my way back to the country.  This was like no country I had ever seen: I was going to upstate New York.  I went to artist Peter Nadin’s farm in Greene County.  We were not going to see fish on this farm, but rather pigs.  I am currently designing a menu for a “Ceremonial Performance Dinner” in New Orleans on November 1st that opens the KK Projects Art installations and celebrates the New Orleans Art Biennial.  Peter is a premiere artist in the show.  Here is a little more about that:

Roots Menu will feature the highest-quality foods grown in this region, influenced by the offerings of Indian, French, African, and Spanish cuisines interpreted with delectable contemporary sensibility.

The evening is star-studded with celebrated Chef “Rocky” Barnette, former executive sous-chef at critically acclaimed restaurant The Inn at Little Washington. Artist Dawn DeDeaux, the dinner party queen of New Orleans, will be in charge of the setting, creating a magical, mystical evening through art and choreographed performances.

Barnett and DeDeaux have collaborated on a conceptual menu and presentation that deconstructs New Orleans gastronomical/historical traditions towards the creation of an indelible, highly original amalgamation of tastes synchronized with sights and sounds. 

Barnette – partner chef of the consumer advocacy organization Food & Water Watch, which promotes sustainable seafood in restaurants – will incorporate sustainable Gulf Coast fish together with indigenous grains and vegetables.  His culinary team will include the highly regarded New Orleans-based chefs, the que crawl boys, who have delighted guests for two previous KK Projects gala dinners. 

DeDeaux first utilized the dinner arena as art form in 1982 with Feasting with Panthers: The 100th Anniversary of Oscar Wilde's Visit to America, sponsored by the New Orleans Museum of Art.  Here again, she will work with local and international artists to produce a highly original theatrical experience – complete with customized dining utensils, table sculptural form, and choreographed live performances.

The dinner will feature sustainable Gulf Coast seafood and pork from Peter Nadin’s farm.  These pigs really have the life.  They live on a beautiful piece of land and, along with their normal diet, they are able to forage to their hearts’ desire.

I will also be doing a dinner in mid-October for the people attending Peter’s symposium and the first showing of his work since 1991.  We will be featuring one of his pigs and a sustainable fish that has yet to be determined.  I call it “operation porkfish.”

September 10, 2008

    I am back in the city and amazed (and disappointed) at the number of restaurants that don't know the origin of the fish they serve.  Often, they don’t even seem to care where they seafood comes from.  At the Fulton Fish Market, a chef or restaurant can buy any type of seafood, from anywhere in the world, with little thought of any ramifications for the environment or fishing communities.  It’s a big problem, and can seem overwhelming. But really, anyone who eats seafood has the power to help change this. If people start asking where their seafood comes from (and shopping accordingly), restaurants and grocery stores will have to change to meet the demand. This, in turn, will support fishermen whose practices are sustainable and good for human health and the environment, and ultimately can encourage other fishermen to transition to good practices. It’s common sense, really.

    I did have the wonderful opportunity to dine at a traditional English fish & chip shop called “A Salt & Battery.”  They had a sign posted at the register where orders are taken announcing their stand against Atlantic cod and informing diners that they are using haddock.  Hook-and-line caught haddock, in particular, is a good sustainable choice. The fish and chips were lovely and spot-on.

September 11, 2008

    I decided to find out what kind of fish people were buying when they were going to buy it themselves in a grocery store, rather than dining out.  I went to the local Whole Foods, where they “ensure that we only source farmed seafood from the world’s leaders in environmentally responsible aquaculture” and “know that we can trust our farmer partners because, like us, they’re committed to the healthiest, most environmentally friendly farmed seafood.”  I was really hoping this was not just environmental lip service.

  

On this day ALL the shrimp there were from Thailand.
 

There is no sustainable Chilean seabass.

 

Atlantic Salmon as far as the eye can see.
 

Russian Crab.

I am trying not to be overly critical of Whole Foods’ buying and selling practices, because I do realize that they often provide environmentally responsible choices for a variety of foods. Still, with all good things they do, they have the opportunity to be even better, and should be – especially with regards to seafood.

September 13, 2008

    My last day in New York, I met my best friend Rob Ramirez in Chinatown.  It was the day of the Chinese Moon festival and Rob’s wife is from Taiwan, so we decided to celebrate with a barbecue and cook some fish.  We went to Chinatown to find out what kinds of choices they had for whole fish in the market.  In Chinatown the celebration was already underway and I felt like I was swimming through an ocean of people.  We went to a few different stalls and finally decided on the one that was the cleanest and had the freshest-looking selections.  There were so many fish that I could not identify because I had never seen them before and I could not read the placards that were in Chinese.  We finally settled on a seven-pound bluefish and two three-pound Spanish mackerels. These aren’t the best choices out there, but for what was available that day, they were. (There are a number of questions you can ask a seafood provider to help lead you to the best choice available – check out our Smart Seafood Guide.)  I took the fish on a six-block tour of the city and a subway ride to Brooklyn.  There I turned one mackerel into ceviche with red onions, fresh lime juice and zest, poblano peppers, red pepper flakes, oregano from the garden, and salt, sugar, and cumin for seasoning.  The other mackerel was filleted, seared in a pan and coated with lemon juice and black soy sauce molasses.  With the big daddy bluefish I scored the skin and rubbed him down with a chunky peanut and chili oil paste and coarse salt.  We roasted him whole on a bed of Thai Basil from the garden over a charcoal fire.  The fish was a hit and there was nothing left but a mess of bones.  I realized after eating these fish that it was the first time that I had eaten or cooked either one.  People would do well to to lose their inhibitions and get out of whatever salmon/tuna/cod rut they are in and find out more about lesser-known and fish.

You want safe shrimp to eat; restaurant owners want a good product to sell; chefs want delicious ingredients from which to create a winning menu; and domestic shrimpers need our business to survive as an industry. It’s one big circle – and our choices in one area impact others. This circle was made obvious by voices raised in New Orleans at the 2008 Women Chefs and Restaurateurs National Conference.

The attending women were eager to hear from Food & Water Watch, who sent me to get out the word about the health and environmental price of cheap imported shrimp. Chefs and restaurants got tips and important information about how they can improve their shrimp purchasing practices in the panel, "There’s Something About Shrimp."

 "The only way to make sure that we are getting safe seafood and that we continue to have a domestic industry to supply us with it is to shift demand. "

A lot is at stake for shrimp, and audience members got a well-rounded perspective on the issue from our esteemed panel. Panelists included moderator Leigh Belanger from the Chef’s Collaborative, local New Orleans shrimper Ray Brandhurst, chef of Commander's Palace in New Orleans, Tory McPhail, and Brennan Group operations head Haley Bitterman.

Giant shrimp buffets and growing portion sizes are just two reasons why demand for cheap, imported shrimp has grown immensely (learn more in our report Suspicious Shrimp). The safer, sustainable domestic shrimpers have lost and gone out of business. In addition, natural disasters such as hurricanes have wreaked havoc on shrimpers' boats and the industry’s infrastructure.

Ray, an innovative entrepreneur, talked about how the direct-purchasing relationships that he established with local restaurants have kept him afloat. He’s even begun shipping his shrimp directly to restaurants throughout the country via FedEx.

The overarching message from the panel was clear – eat domestic shrimp. The only way to make sure that we are getting safe seafood and that we continue to have a domestic industry to supply us with it is to shift demand. And we all have a part to play in that – whether we’re consumers, shrimpers, or chefs. To find out more about industrially produced shrimp and why you may want to avoid it, check out our Suspicious Shrimp report.

olive oil
parsley
potatoes
a little garlic
lemon juice
pepper

These are some of the ingredients contestants are adding to showcase seafood in scrumptious sounding dishes submitted to our Get Cookin' Sustainable Seafood Recipe Contest.

We've got $250 to give away for the recipe that tickles us and our taste buds the most. All the top entries win a Food & Water Watch Chef's apron and have their recipes published in our Get Cookin' Sustainable Seafood Recipe Booklet.

Who are the lucky judges? In addition to Food & Water Watch staff, locally renowned chef Rocky Barnette will be evaluating the finalists' submissions based on the following criteria:

• Taste
• Uniqueness
• Healthiness
• Simplicity 

Bonus points are given for using sustainable/local ingredients.

Most shrimp consumed in the United States is imported from East Asia and Latin America, where it was raised in industrial shrimp farms. If you are reading this, you are probably at least familiar with some of the environmental and social devastation caused by these operations.

We were sadly reminded of this devastation recently when security guards at Acqua Clara shrimp farm in Brazil murdered Francisco Cordeiro da Rocha. It is quite clear that industrial shrimp farming has yet to evolve from the violence that has taken so many innocent lives over the years.

On April 9th, Francisco and his friend Vilson Oliveira do Carmo had gone out to hunt waterfowl nearby the shrimp farm, a traditional activity in the region. When Francisco entered the shrimp farm to take a detour around an area too muddy to walk through, security guards shot him immediately. Then guards shot at Vilson, but thankfully he was able to escape.

Community members present during an interview a few days later told about the horrors they have experienced at the hands of Acqua Clara. These include difficulty in obtaining information on the case, the violence towards the farm’s employees, the environmental destruction caused by the farm, and the poor working conditions.

This tragedy reminds us of the true costs of consuming cheap, imported shrimp. Its production comes at the expense of the environment and communities, and on a sad day this April, it cost Francisco Cordeiro da Rocha his life.