So long and thanks for all the fish (part 2)

Seafood status: It's Complicated.

I'm sure you've noticed the changes at the fish counter. Where there used to be the local catch of the day, now the fish is flash-frozen and flown in from all over the world. Once-familiar varieties are missing or have skyrocketed in price. Many of the fish are farm-raised. There are new kinds of fish you've never heard of before. Plus there's all the news about mercury, and maybe the President feels confident eating Gulf shrimp, but I'm not so sure I want to drink BP's milkshake. What does all this mean? I knew I was woefully uninformed, so I recently started looking into it. I can't say I like what I've learned.

It was my plan today to do a whole polemic about gillnetting, longlining, and irresponsible aquaculture, but I decided to spare you the gory details, dear reader. If you want a clear explanation of different types of fishing methods their impact, check this out. And if you want to read some really good arguments about why you shouldn't eat fish at all, I refer you again to Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.

But I don't want to give up fish any more that I want to give up beef. And (unlike beef) there are lots of good reasons, mostly to do with health, for eating fish - maybe not the big slow-growing fish like tuna, that accumulate heavy metals, but at least the little sardines and anchovies and - what else? I don't actually know. Guess I'd better do some more research. I'm going to start by reading Paul Greenberg's book Four Fish, about how we all need to expand our seafood palates for the good of the oceans. Here's the author being interviewed on NPR.

Also, here's a handy database with a search function for checking if a food fish is a good or bad choice. It seems like a tool like this should make things very simple, but the matter is complicated by the fact that you still need to know how the fish was caught or raised. While fish packaging now is required to show the country of origin as well as whether it was farm-raised or wild, the labelling doesn't get into enough detail. This is where the politics come in. I'm thinking that it's important to ask a lot of questions at the supermarket so they know that this stuff matters to their customers.

Here's an interesting document from Greenpeace that shows how well different large supermarket chains do in terms of offering sustainable fish. Surprisingly, Target comes out on top (it would never occur to me to buy fish at Target, and there are some excellent reasons to not buy anything there at all right now); Safeway is doing well, though I think it's important to remember that this is an average number, and not everything there is OK. I was surpised that Trader Joe's did so poorly, though they are showing a lot of improvement. Costco, not surprisingly, earns an epic fail.

I was pretty excited a few weeks ago when I discovered the packages of salmon bits and pieces at $3 per pound at Food 4 Less. I bought a load of them when they were available and stuck them in the freezer. We've been using them all summer in stirfry and to make burgers - but now I see that they are farm-raised and therefore seriously uncool. Sigh. Well I'd bought them already, and so I used them. I guess now I'll be asking at the fish counter where the wild salmon bits and pieces can be found.

Those last salmon ends got made into salmon burgers, served on toasted baguette slices with homemade aioli, arugula, tomato, and red onion.

Making salmon burgers is really easy. First (very important) get some wild salmon, or some salmon raised in tanks with recirculating systems. Make sure to remove any bones and skin then chop the salmon by pulsing it in the food processor. Mix in some dijon mustard and some minced garlic, and a little salt - you can use other ingredients, too, like onions, spices, lemon, parsley, sesame oil, teriyaki sauce - then grill on the stove or barbecue.