TalkingFish.org: You are known for your commitment to local and sustainable food. Tell us about your philosophy regarding seafood.

Matt Jennings, Executive Chef, Co-owner and Master Cheesemonger of Farmstead & La Laiterie

Matt Jennings: Quite honestly, I think my philosophy is tied to simple, and what I consider ‘practical,’ ethos. Buy locally-caught whole fish, from dependable sources I know personally, and trust wholeheartedly. I believe that every ingredient that comes through my kitchen has a face behind it- in the case of seafood, fishermen and women who work tirelessly and selflessly to provide fish and shellfish straight from Rhode Island and Massachusetts waters directly to my door.

I work extensively with Trace and Trust – a new program in New England providing traceable, high-quality fish from family businesses that don’t cut corners and go the extra mile to develop relationships with their chefs. This type of seafood is always better and we trust that the fish we bring into the restaurant is from a dependable, sustainable source. Our patrons expect- and deserve- the very best local fish I can provide to them. That is our duty as a restaurant. Period.

TF: What seafood questions do you get most often from your customers?

MJ: Most frequently, my customers are interested in sustainable fisheries and practices, and request information about their seafood’s heritage, manner of harvest and catch location. Thankfully, we are able to provide this information, 100% of the time.

TF: How do you balance offering something fresh and local against having customer favorites always on hand?

MJ: We have been able to educate our customer base, and teach them/persuade them that their ‘favorites’ are whatever products are  freshest that week and that I can procure.

There is no ‘balance’. We go out of our way to source the best local seafood we can, and our customers now expect this when they dine with me.

No compromising. Ever.

TF: You might be aware that a new management system went into effect a year and a half ago for bottom dwelling species like cod, haddock, flounder and pollock – New England best sellers. Over the past year and a half, have you noticed any changes that have affected your business? E.g. In how much seafood is available, price fluctuations, diversity of species, size of fish?

Availability changes all the time. As a chef, I have learned over the past number of years to be flexible. I always put myself and my restaurant at the mercy of the fishermen, and know that whatever they bring in the back door will be of the highest quality, and in turn, the best option for my restaurant. As prices in the market fluctuate, so do my menu prices. This is part of the equation. However, species diversification can always be tricky- we’d rather source out the finest, freshest and locally-caught fish than sacrifice those standards for more variety. If that means having black bass on the menu for a month straight, so be it.

TF: Would you like to share a recipe featuring a New England seafood item?

Another of Chef Matt Jennings's monkfish dishes - this one with apple butter and shaved vegetables (Photo credit: Matt Jennings).

Roasted New England Monkfish with Saffron, Fennel & Apple Relish

2 3/4 to 3 pounds monkfish fillets (about 5), well-trimmed
4 tablespoons grapeseed oil
2 1/2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon (packed) crushed saffron threads

For the relish:

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2  cups chopped fresh fennel bulbs (about 2 large)
2 cups chopped fresh apple (peeled) about 2 large)
3 3/4 cups chopped onions
1 tablespoon fennel seeds, crushed
3 1/2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
3/4 cup chicken stock or vegetable stock
3/4 teaspoon (packed) crushed saffron threads

Make the relish up to 1 day ahead:

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add fennel, onions and fennel seeds; cook until fennel and onions tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Add garlic; stir 2 minutes. Add add apple cider vinegar, honey, stock and saffron; simmer until thick, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Rewarm over medium heat, stirring often, before using.)

Complete the dish:

Using small sharp knife, trim all membrane and gray portions from monkfish fillets. Combine oil, garlic and saffron in large bowl. Add fish and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate, turning occasionally, at least 3 hours and up to 1 day.

Preheat oven to 450°F. Arrange fish, with marinade still clinging, on rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast until fish feels firm to touch and is cooked through, about 15 minutes. Rest for five minutes. Slice fish on diagonal into 1/2-inch-thick medallions. Spoon Fennel-Apple relish over the fillets.

Meet Tricia, the President of our Portland, OR Chapter. Read on to learn about the Portland sustainable restaurant scene and their exciting annual event coming up in March!

What is your role in the Portland Chapter of Chefs Collaborative?

I help the Portland Chapter with marketing, sponsorships, outreach, event planning, and recruiting. We tend to focus most of our efforts on the annual Farmer Chef Connection in March, and then maybe one or two smaller events during the year. I also represented the local chapter at the National Summit in New Orleans this year, which was an amazing experience.

Sure. The Portland Farmer Chef Connection is on Monday, March 5th at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City. We expect to have over 300 producers and chefs come together for networking, learning, and great food.

Our keynote speaker this year is Sam Morgannam, founder of Bi-Rite in San Francisco and author of the new book Eat Good Food. I have heard that Sam is quite an inspiring speaker and we look forward to having him in Portland.

Some of the sessions this year include:

-Heritage Breeds Panel and Tasting

-Fermentation Demonstration

-Direct Sourcing Success Stories

-Localizing the Pantry

I would say two challenging issues facing chefs in Portland and elsewhere is sourcing sustainable ingredients at a reasonable cost and informing customers of the value of those ingredients. It can be difficult to compete with lower cost options if customers do not understand why sustainably produced ingredients cost more than traditional ingredients.

That being said, we have an amazing food community here, from chefs to producers to passionate local food supporters. We have accomplished many things that the rest of the country is still striving towards – one example is that the city offers both home and business food composting services. Because of these achievements, another challenge is always figuring out how to push the envelope even more.

This is a trick question. There are too many to pick just one! My latest favorite is a great ramen place called Wafu. Otherwise, I rotate between my stand-bys… St. Jack, Tasty and Sons, Le Pigeon, Pok Pok, Higgins, and Paley’s Place.

I decided to get involved with Chefs Collaborative to help promote the importance of sustainability in our food system. I learned early in life that every decision we make can have a big impact, especially when purchasing food, and I wanted to be part of providing a forum for chefs to connect with sustainable producers. I am a big believer that we can make the world a dramatically better place just by making educated decisions around our food purchasing habits, whether it be in business or in our personal lives.

We couldn’t agree more!

To learn more about the Portland Chapter & the 2012 Farmer Chef Connection, check out their website here.

Many chefs appreciate the stories behind their food, and for this reason are excited to explore heirloom varieties in their cooking. Heritage grains, for example, many of which are at risk of disappearing, are rich with ancient stories. Hand harvested wild rice is a perfect example of a heritage grain with a long history, and the ancient harvest technique, still in use today, is part of its story.

Grown naturally in the Upper Great Lakes Region of the U.S., wild rice is still hand harvested by Native Americans who navigate through the lakes in canoes, knocking the ripened kernels into the bottom of boat. [See video here.] The rice is only ripe enough for harvest for three weeks every year. The grains on each plant ripen at different rates so that only the ripe ones fall when the plant is hit. Most fall into the boat for collection, the green kernels stay attached to the plant to be harvested in one of the next rounds once they ripen, and the remainder fall to the bottom of the lake, reseeding the crop for next year.

Once the canoes come in with the harvest, which, at this stage looks like large green grass seeds, the grains are then “parched” to remove the husk. This process involves roasting the grains over high heat and it gives the rice its unique smoky, nutty flavor and its light grey green color. While all hand harvested wild rice is produced from the same seed, it is the variations in the parching process that result in differences in the taste of rice from each producer.

The first use of wild rice by human dates back over 2000 years ago. Oral history from the Ojibwe people says that before setting off on a westward migration, a prophet told them to walk until they reached the place “where the food grows on water.” Since then, the Ojibwe and others have been hand harvesting wild rice that grows mostly in the lakes of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Canada.

Confusion exists today regarding a product commonly found in supermarkets that claims to be “wild rice,” but is actually cultivated just like other rice, in patties. In fact, this “wild rice” is tough, takes a long time to cook, and is a central reason why many people believe they do not like wild rice. Hand harvested wild rice, however, is unique, delicious and brimming with ancient tradition. In addition, the nutritional content of true wild rice has remained the same since it has not been hybridized like modern wild rice varieties.

Like many other grains, wild rice is versatile. Among other things it can be used in pilafs, stuffings, soups, and salads. At North Pond Restaurant in Chicago Chef Bruce Sherman is serving hand harvested wild rice with butternut squash and romanesco cauliflower, pumpkin seed mole, grilled fish, and toasted pumpkin seeds. He notes that the grain goes well with mild as well as gamey flavors. “Think about the things it grows around: duck, waterfowl, pheasant,” he says, “It goes really well with pheasant.”

Sherman spoke about the “wonderful, earthy, nutty nature” of hand harvested wild rice, its shorter cook time, and the importance of preserving its long history and ancient harvest technique. “It costs more,” he says, “but it’s definitely worth it considering what it is and where it has come from.”

Wild rice requires very specific growing condition and these are currently threatened by climate change and other environmental factors that could affect the health of the rivers and lakes where it grows. According to the Save our Rice Alliance, “Wild rice plays a variety of important roles within the Upper Great Lakes Region. Whether valued for its cultural significance to the Ojibwe; its status as a locally gathered food source; its taste and nutrition as a whole grain; its contribution to wildlife habitat; or as genetic stock for an expanding agricultural crop; all depend upon the continued existence of wild rice within the natural landscape.”

Hand harvested wild rice is just one example of many heritage grains that are rich with history and facing threats to their continued existence. A lot is at stake if it is lost. While the unmatched taste and texture of hand harvested wild rice should be enough to persuade chefs to cook with it, we must also keep in mind our responsibility as chefs and eaters to learn the stories of heritage grain and share them on the plate.

(Photo credit: Jasper White's Summer Shack)

Ask an Expert: Max Harvey, Seafood buyer, Jasper White’s Summer Shack, Cambridge, Mass. – Food is love.

TalkingFish.org: You are known for your commitment to local and sustainable food. Tell us about your philosophy.

Max Harvey: As a seafood buyer and processor dealing with an extensive product list, my philosophy is quite simple. I always do my best to buy dayboat quality fish and shellfish (sourcing products from fishing boats that bring their catch to the dock each day). Yet knowing that this is not always a guarantee, I try to estimate how much fish my restaurants will use so that I can maintain a pipeline of dayboat quality products.

Keeping in tune with which fisheries are open when, both locally and nationally, gives me the ability to find products that are at their seasonal peaks, which allows my restaurants to capitalize on these trends. I always do my best to feature underutilized species of fish that most consumers are not familiar with, thus helping our industries push toward sustainability. The challenge is getting consumers to try something new. I continue to be committed to providing sound and honest information to my customers so that they are comfortable with trying new things, which frankly is a defining goal of most in the seafood industry.

TF: What seafood questions do you get most often from your customers?

MH: It’s not really the questions that stand out. It is a general lack of knowledge. Most customers that tend to speak up are convinced that they know about seafood and the industry. I have had customers call me a liar, telling me that what I am selling is not fresh wild king salmon “because it is July,” and wild salmon is only a spring phenomenon. Far from the truth, but other than giving them my word, most are hard to convince. Often times questions revolve around price comparisons: “Why are your fried clams this much, while theirs are that much?” In this industry, more often than not, you truly get what you pay for.

If a consumer is buying lobsters for $2.99 in August, they are getting newshell lobsters, while at that same time of the year, hardshell lobsters are typically very expensive due to short supply. Try pan roasting a newshell, or stuffing a newshell lobster – it doesn’t work. Comparing these two grades of lobsters during the summer is like comparing apples and oranges.

Almost every single item, fresh and frozen, is broken down into countless different packing grades and quality levels. Take shrimp for example: One processor’s number one grade wild shrimp does not necessarily match another’s number one grade. The same thing with tuna, one person’s number one grade tuna may be another’s “two-plus” grade. Grade with processors is subjective, so finding packers who you are comfortable with is essential.

TF: How do you balance offering something fresh and local against having customer favorites always on hand?

MH: When there are fancy local products available, I always tend to try them. The problem with certain items right now is cost. Most consumers are hesitant to buy items like Nantucket Bay scallops due to their expensive nature. Currently, codfish is extremely pricey. People who are used to getting Atlantic cod, or haddock for that matter, don’t typically embrace these items unless they are affordable. Last week, before the New Year, cod fillets cost me upwards of $12.00 per pound. In a fish market, that would translate to $18.00. Who buys cod around here for $18 a pound?

It is a catch-22, because customers come in and don’t see cod, wonder why, and draw conclusions on their own that are often negative. It can be tough. I always have to remind myself that I need to buy the best and stick to my guns. It is easy to buy “treated scallops” (with preservatives added) for half the price of true “dry” sea scallops (fresh off the boat that day), but I just won’t do that. Once again, you get what you pay for.

The oyster bar at Jasper White's Summer Shack (Photo credit: Jasper White's Summer Shack)

TF: You might be aware that a new management system went into effect a year and a half ago for bottom dwelling species like cod, haddock, flounder and pollock – New England best sellers. Over the past year and a half, have you noticed any changes that have affected your business? E.g. In how much seafood is available, price fluctuations, diversity of species, size of fish?

MH: What I have noticed is higher average prices. I am fine with price stability, and by no means want binge and purge fisheries, which is part of why we are in the situation with groundfish like cod and flounder that we are right now, trying to rebuild depleted populations.  Most of the time there is always fish to buy, but the total volume landed is less, so there is more competition from the purchasing end.

One of the primary impacts to groundfish in the Northeast is the Canadian dollar. Canada has been a big part of our groundfish supply for a long time, but with the strength of the Canadian dollar, much of the Canadian harvest now stays in Canada, as the dealers and fishermen up there are able to get similar money without having to export their share of this wild resource. So there is less cod on the market here.

There are two sides to every story, and cod in particular continues to get bad press as a biomass that is overfished. The topic is a hot spot in the industry, but most fishermen will stand behind their frontline assessments that what they are seeing out there indicates a rebounding biomass. Scientific biomass assessments currently don’t back this up, but the question is: When, how and where did the scientists define their data? Fish move constantly. If I go and fish on top of Stellwagen Bank in April for cod, I’ll catch fish one after the other. If I go on top of Stellwagen in July, I will probably only catch an occasional cod, but bring in a whole bunch of dogfish. Biomass assessment is a difficult nut to crack.

TF: Would you like to share a recipe featuring a New England seafood item?

MH: This one is simple. I just want people to give pollock a chance.

Go and buy a fresh, glossy, pinky piece of pollock from your local fishmonger.

Smell it and assess freshness, it should have little or no smell.

Cut 5 oz. cutlets on the bias so as to even out the thickness of the fillets as you progress toward the loin.

In 3 bowls, line up one with seasoned flour (2 cups AP flour with 2 T old bay and 1 T kosher salt.)

One with 3 eggs, beaten with 2 T of water to thin it out.

One with a generous amount of white Panko breadcrumbs. Use a large bowl.

Place each cutlet into the flour, then into the egg after excess flour has been tapped off, then into the panko. Shake the bowl side to side and the crumbs will jump on top, press the cutlet into the crumbs, remove and set aside.

Chill cutlets for a 1/2 hour and then pan fry in vegetable oil. Preheat pan with 1/4 ” of oil covering the bottom. Once the cutlets are added and are sizzling, moderate the heat to medium so you don’t burn the crumbs. Flip when golden brown. It should take about 4 minutes per side. Place on a paper bag and hold in the oven at 150˚ if you are doing a couple of batches.

Mix 1 T of Sambal chili sauce with 1 cup of Hellman’s Mayo for your dipping sauce. Dip and eat.

If you bought quality pollock, now tell me you don’t like pollock!

Pollock can be used in place of cod or haddock and is versatile in all cooking applications except for grilling.

Remember, some sort of fat is always needed when cooking fish whether it be butter, olive oil, vegetable oil, etc. When steaming, adding a bit of olive or sesame oil to the fillets is always a good idea.

Originally posted here.

Seafood Sessions Highlights

Pig/Lamb Breakdown Highlights

Joel Salatin Interview

Dana Cowin

Beef Tasting

Steve and his partner Chris have consistently been leaders in sustainable fishing practices around southern New England. Forgetting for a moment the high quality of the fish they bring in, their use of Trace and Trust technology through their Wild Rhody brand constantly provides a jumpstart for the all too important conversation about the state of our oceans. Whether it be among chefs, when Wild Rhody came to speak at our inaugural meeting of the Boston Local this past fall, or through larger venues, such as when Rhode Island Local Leader, chef Derek Wagner spoke of Steve and Chris’ work in The New York Times.

I could go on with examples but the point is this: fishermen have no easy lives. Their work has always been dangerous, and in recent years they’ve seen new and necessary fishery management make earning a decent living increasingly difficult. Steve Arnold, like so many fishermen, is invaluable to the food sustainability community. Both in the superb quality of product he provides to our chefs, but also in the way his and Wild Rhody’s practices foster and support discussion of the hard facts around seafood.

Saturday was an absolutely stunning day here in New England. The skies were clear and the thermostat hung lazily in the mid to high 50’s. But as we were in our cars, our homes, our kitchens, or our backyards, Steve and his crew were out to sea facing harrowing prospects. Thanks to the efforts of the United States Coast Guard, all made it back to land safe if not sound. We here at Chefs Collaborative hope for the best for all involved and urge you all out there reading this to remember where your food comes from.

Fabulous pie crust made with whole wheat flour? Impossible. Or so I thought. Whole grains might have the upper hand nutrition-wise, but most everyone in the professional baking world knows that the refined stuff simply makes a flakier croissant, a light, fluffy biscuit and the most delicate pie crust.

So color me shocked when last week, GCB Cuisine Director Piper Davis returned from Kneading Conference West – an artisan baking confab in Mount Vernon, Wash. – talking up the whole wheat crust she made for a fruit pie class. Bakers and farmers at the conference were buzzing about the resurgence of regional grains and small-batch milling. So naturally, Ms. Piper and her baking buddy Julie Richardson of Baker & Spice got their hands on some whole wheat pastry flour grown and milled in Eugene, Ore., at Camas Country Mill (which happens to make the delicious whole wheat bread flour now used in Grand Central’s hearth breads).

Fruit pie class is in session at Kneading Conference West with, from left,  Julie Richardson (Baker & Spice), Piper Davis and Mark Doxtader (Tastebud).

They wanted to use it to make a pie. Wheat farmer/miller Tom Hunton appreciated their interest, but countered with a warning: Not even his mother, he said, can make a good pie crust with whole wheat flour. Well, responded Piper, if anyone can do it, Julie can. So Piper sat back and watched while Julie followed all the right steps for a buttery, flaky crust, with some minor tweaks to make allowances for the whole wheat, one being overnight refrigeration for the dough. The proof, of course, was in the finished apple pie, baked in Tastebud’s mobile wood-fired oven as part of their pie workshop for the conference.

Piper, whose pastry vocabulary normally doesn’t include words like “whole wheat,” pronounced the crust delicious, tender and with a flavor “like buttery Wheaties.” Still wearing her oven mitts, she tracked down Tom Hunton, the wheat farmer, who also loved the results. (Tom’s comment to me in a follow up phone call: “I think your boss is really brave.”) Having tried the recipe myself, I can tell you that it doesn’t look or taste like classic pie pastry, but paired with the right filling (such as crisp, full-flavored fall apples), it makes a delicious rustic dessert.

Notice that flaky crust? Overnight chilling and resting for whole wheat dough is the key.

What did these two professional bakers do right to make the whole grain flour play nice, instead of becoming mealy and tough in the form of a pie crust? According to Piper, Julie paid close attention to three parts of the pastry dough process:

1. Sufficiently hydrate the flour. Piper explained to me that water is often the enemy of good pastry; you want enough to allow the dough to come together, but not so much that it ends up wet and impedes the butter-flour alchemy that makes a flaky crust. But whole wheat flour absorbs more liquid than white flour, so you’ll need to add a bit more, a tablespoon at a time, enough so that when you squeeze a bit of dough in your hand it holds together. The good news about working with whole wheat flour is that you can use a heavier hand than normally recommended with pie dough (usually a quick path to an overworked, tough crust). Mix it as much as needed to make cohesive dough.

2. “Stack” and wrap the dough before chilling. Piper likes to mix the dough by hand. When it just comes together, she turns it out onto a clean surface, cuts it in half with a bench scraper and places each piece on plastic wrap. She pulls up the edges of the plastic wrap, gathering chunks of loose dough and forming it into a rough ball, and gently flattens it into a disk with the heel of her hand and wraps it tightly in the plastic. The pie dough can be a bit shaggy at this stage because it will gather moisture as it chills. This “stacking” helps form buttery layers that encourage a flaky crust.

3. Chill the dough overnight. You can get away with chilling most pie dough for an hour or two. Not so with whole wheat flour. It needs that extra time, says Piper, to pick up moisture and to let the gluten relax. That makes it both easier to roll and more tender when it comes out of the oven. And don’t rush the process: If the dough starts to crack when you roll it out or otherwise becomes persnickety, put it back in the fridge to chill for a bit, then proceed.

Julie’s pie was lovely, but we’ll have to take Piper’s word for it, because it disappeared before someone thought to haul out a camera. Here’s an apple pie I made using the Whole Wheat All-Butter Crust recipe and served warm on a recent rainy, blustery night.

Homey, yes, but delicious. Whole wheat pastry flour passed muster in my apple pie, delivering a flaky crust with a flavor like buttery Wheaties.

It’s a bit rustic looking but the crust tasted earthy and sweet and had lots of flaky layers. And the pie was gobbled up by my tasters, including two dubious teens.

Baker’s note: You can make the recipe below with 100 percent whole wheat pastry flour or use up to 50 percent all-purpose white flour for slightly flakier results. Any whole wheat pastry flour works in the recipe. We used Camas Country Mill’s Oregon-grown whole wheat pastry flour, which isn’t sold in supermarkets but you can find it at the Creswell and Springfield farmers markets (Oregon), or through Hummingbird Wholesale.

Whole Wheat Flaky Pie Dough

Whole wheat pastry flour makes a buttery, flaky pie crust if follow a few crucial steps: Use very cold ingredients; add enough liquid to make the dough hold together (you’ll need more than you would with white flour); and refrigerate the dough overnight before rolling it out, so it’s adequately hydrated and easy to work with. The stronger flavor of the wheat flour is especially nice with apples or other fall fruit pies.

Makes 2 disks, enough for a double-crust pie

2 ½ cups (10.6 ounces) whole wheat pastry flour, chilled
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, well chilled
2/3 cup ice water, plus or minus 1 tablespoon
1 tablespoon lemon juice

In a medium bowl, whisk together the whole wheat pastry flour, sugar and salt. Slice the butter into 1/2-inch cubes and toss with the flour mixture. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until the texture is mealy and butter is in pieces ranging from the size of a lentil to a pea. Make a well in center of the mixture. Combine the water and lemon juice in a small bowl and add to the flour mixture all at once. Gradually pull the dry ingredients into the well with a fork, mixing gently until combined. Check the dough by gathering a small fistful; if it holds together, it’s ready.
Place two large pieces of plastic wrap on a clean surface and divide dough between them. Take one half and gather the edges of the plastic wrap together to form a round dough ball, stacking shaggy bits of dough on top of each other (this encourages flaky layers in the crust). Press the ball into a disk using the heel of your hand and wrap tightly in plastic. Repeat with other half of dough.
Chill the dough overnight. Use as directed in your favorite pie recipe, making sure to refrigerate it between steps.

Are the embattled populations of Atlantic cod collapsing or making a comeback?

It depends on who you ask and when you ask it.

Fishermen and fisheries officials were taken aback earlier this month by an initial assessment of Gulf of Maine cod populations conducted by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Patricia Fiorelli, a spokeswoman for the New England Fishery Management Council, said in an interview after a preliminary draft of the assessment was issued. “There is a lot of speculation that cod populations are dramatically lower than anyone expected.”

The new findings fly directly in the face of a NOAA assessment conducted in 2008. That study presented an optimistic picture for New England cod, saying that the once-decimated population was no longer overfished and was rebuilding rapidly. The discrepancy may be explained by overfishing, or lower-than-projected reproductive rates. Fisheries scientists are currently reviewing the new assessment and will issue their final report early in 2012. “We won’t know for sure until then,” said Fiorelli.

Meanwhile, a group of Canadian researchers writing in a July issue of the journal Nature, reported that the populations of cod and other bottom-dwelling predators on the Scotian Shelf, a shallow area east of Nova Scotia, are finally rebounding. In 1992, the Canadian government put in place what was to be a two-year moratorium on cod fishing after a sudden, catastrophic collapse in the 500-year-old commercial fishery. For some reason, even with fishing banned, the populations did not begin to recover for more than a decade. No one could explain why.

The answer to that mystery may provide an important lesson for American fisheries managers. “This recovery is about an entire ecosystem reestablishing itself, not just about the recovery of cod,” said William Leggett, a biology professor at Queen’s University in Ontario and one of four authors of the Nature paper.

Leggett said that when overfishing dramatically reduced the population of cod, haddock, and other so-called groundfish, the smaller, minnow-like forage fish that they normally preyed on underwent an uncontrolled population explosion—900 percent over the ensuing decade. These small fish in turn ate the eggs and larvae of groundfish, consuming any young that the few surviving cod produced. Eventually, the population of smaller fish became so great that there wasn’t enough food to sustain them. Scarcity of food caused them to begin dying off, whereupon groundfish populations finally began to rebound. Today, Scotia cod have climbed back to 30 percent of their historical population levels. Haddock populations are even bigger than before the collaspse.

“Fisheries management has to be evolving toward having a broader, ecosystem-wide approach,” said Leggett, “not just focusing on individual species.”

The good news is that the job of rebuilding fish stocks may be easier in waters off the United States than those off Nova Scotia. Leggett noted that in New England, dogfish—which are scarce in Canada—are abundant and prey on smaller fish that would otherwise eat the juveniles of species like cod improving the odds that the population will bounce back and do so in less time.

For the Gulf of Maine’s iconic Atlantic cod, recovery can’t come soon enough.

—Barry Estabrook

Chefs: at the end of your shift tonight, head into your walk-in and throw half the contents away. Producers: walk straight past your stall at the local farmer’s market and place a quarter of your vegetables directly into the dumpster. Eaters: when visiting a restaurant, tell the server not to bother bringing the second half of your entree. It’ll save time, embarrassment, and a nasty smell in the back of your fridge if it goes directly into the trash.

Photo property of myzerowaste.com

We wouldn’t dream of doing this, right? No, but the fact is, we do, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. These scenarios fairly accurately illustrate how we as a society deal with excess food. From the fields to distribution centers, to supermarkets, restaurants and fast food chains, to your home and into your garbage – and then out to the landfill – the supply chain that brings us an abundance of food also lets huge amounts of food fall through the cracks. Namely, between 25 and 50% of it, depending on how conservative (or optimistic) you’d like to be with your guestimate.

The realities of food waste have been even more on my mind lately, given both my job at Chefs Collaborative and my own personal Depression-era sensibilities. At the Collaborative, we talk a lot about how to effectively build sustainable supply chains that benefit all stakeholders. Addressing what happens to food waste is as important to a sustainable food system as addressing the supply. This is an issue that many in our network are actively grappling with. What if we brought the issue of food waste to the forefront of our discourse when we talk about a sustainable food supply? What if, alongside “where do you source your meat and your produce?”, consumers learned to ask “how does your restaurant deal with food waste?”, and chefs asked farmers and distributors the same question?

I just finished reading “American Wasteland”, in which the author, Jonathon Bloom, argues that food waste is not as simple as teaching people to clean their plates. But, I believe that addressing food waste begins with the consumer and that businesses change their practices – for the worse or for the better – to give consumers what they want.

On the farm, produce that is irregularly shaped and not appealing to consumers or is too fragile to ship is left to rot. (See Barry Estabrook’s Tomatoland, for a prime example of how one highly-shippable, highly symmetrically-shaped vegetable nearly killed him as he drove along the interstate in Florida.)  Distribution results in another 10-15% loss of even the hardier produce, then still more is thrown out after hitting grocery store shelves.

On the other end of the food production spectrum are the “value-added” meals that consumers get when dining out from fast food joints, buffets, caterers, and restaurants. 4-10% gets thrown out by kitchens, 17% of meals are thrown out untouched by customers, and 55% of leftovers will stay on the table after the customer leaves.

Clearly the point to make is, there are opportunities to minimize waste – from the farm to the kitchen to the table.

Food waste needs to be a part of the conversation about sustainability, because after all, as much as we are what we eat, we are also, I’d argue, what we throw away. The above suggestions are just three ways you can minimize food waste. Please feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments section or by visiting us on Facebook and Twitter.

Sources:

http://www.americanwastelandbook.com/

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/from-farm-to-fridge-to-garbage-can/

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703440004575548391291973152.html?

This month we put the spotlight on Cara Rosaen, Co-Founder & Director of Vegetable Outreach of Real Time Farms, Chefs Collaborative member & recent sponsor of the 2011 National Summit in New Orleans. Real Time Farms is a crowd-sourced online food guide based in Ann Arbor, Michigan that aims to connect and educate producers, chefs, and eaters alike on where exactly their food comes from. Their mission: to collectively document the entire food system. Sound a little intense? You just haven’t met Cara.

Let’s start with the basics: You co-founded Real Time Farms with your husband, Karl Rosaen, describing it as a “for-profit social venture” and “crowd-sourced online food guide.” What exactly does all that mean?

Our mission is a social one: collectively document the food system, so people can make informed decisions about what they eat.

How did you personally become involved in the world of sustainable food?

In that same vein, where did the inspiration for Real Time Farms come from? Was there a specific “lightbulb moment?”

I’d love to say there was a moment of revelation, but no. We were troubled about the current state of the food system. After a lot of research into our own local food system, we were delighted to find a set of great options for what to eat. Bad news, it took a lot of work to learn about where our food came from and how to find food we felt good about eating.

Many months of talking with farmers, vendors, and restaurant owners later, we got to the heart of what people really needed.

People really needed a single location, where they could intimately connect to the people, stories, and information about where their food comes from, so they could easily find food they feel good about eating.

Director of Vegetable Outreach sounds like a pretty cool job title. What is your favorite part of your job?

Working with people: chefs, farmers, students, and other community members who have a real passion to lift the veil on what we eat and empower people with the knowledge to make informed decisions.

What would you classify as a couple major accomplishments since Real Time Farms’s founding in 2010?

• Launching the first ever tools for diners to trace their food back to the farm. Working with 60+ of the top restaurants so far to change the way people know food.
• Our launch of the Food Warrior Program – an educational internship for students across the country to learn, document, and immerse themselves in their food system.
• Being asked to speak at TEDxManhattan Change The Way We Eat this January, after attending last year, in awe of presenters such as Josh Viertel, Britta Riley, and Curt Ellis.
• Capturing data on 4000K farms and food artisans, 6500+ farmers markets, and now 60+ restaurants.

How does the service Real Time Farms provides benefit to chefs?

We provide web tools to meaningfully communicate the depth of what they do – the stories of each of their ingredients and their purveyors. This builds consumer trust and appreciation for what they are eating, which will undoubtedly mean repeat customers.

By connecting their menu to an ever growing community guide of farms and food artisans, we are bringing that menu to life. Not only do diners get answers to questions before walking in the door such as ”how was beef raised?”, “the lettuce grown?”, but they are also learning the stories, and seeing the pictures of the people and places that the chef knows so well but doesn’t have the time to share.

For example, here’s a bird’s eye view of Chefs Collaborative member Seth Caswell’s emmer&rye.

Here is their farm-linked menu on Real Time Farms and on their own website.

Click on any ingredient, see the farm name. Click on the farm name, and you are brought to a rich profile with stories, images, and more on the farm or food artisan.

Now when they update their menu on Real Time Farms, it updates their menu on their own site automatically, with all of the sourcing information – saving the time and money that would need to go into telling the individual stories of each purveyor and artisan.

How can our members get involved in Real Time Farms’s mission?

If you are a chef, try our web tools to tell your menu’s story. (Free 2-week trial. $40/month after that.)

If you are a farmer, fisherman, rancher, or food artisan, add yourself to Real Time Farms. (Free.)

If you are an eater (that’s all of us), play around on the site, and share what you know. (Free.)

Why are you a member of Chefs Collaborative?

To get to know all the partners of the food web, so we can build useful tools to trace each part.

With the holidays coming up, everyone’s got menus on the brain – any favorite dishes/ingredients this time of year?

This is not gourmet of me at all, and maybe not politically correct, but I really like canned cranberries.

We don’t judge!

Feel free to contact Cara with any more questions at cara@realtimefarms.com or at 650-814-7796.

Anyone can register on RealTimeFarms.com for free; sign up and add your favorite local restaurants, farms, artisans and markets to their ever-growing database.