jwsp13_fish_copeland

J W M M A G A Z I N E J W M A R R I O T T. C O M62

"Eat more f ish" has been the mantra of health experts— but environmentalists warn us that careless dining can deplete our oceans. What’s an eco-conscious fish lover

to do? Sarah Copeland offers some practical advice for delicious, sustainable meals

that will nourish body and soul.PHOTOGRAPHY BY GENTL and HYERS | FOOD STYLIST SUSAN SPUNGEN

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Creamy Beet and Pickled Herring SaladVisit facebook.com/jwmarriott for the recipe.


It was an unlikely setting for a Michelin-star meal: the mess hall of Greenpeace’s newest vessel, the Rainbow Warrior. But here, in the hands of Chef Daniel Pat-

terson of Coi, San Francisco, I first tasted the sublime treasure that is Monterey Bay abalone, sautéed with cauliflower and served over winter grains. The course that preceded—local oysters with Asian pear, lime and wild greens—and the li-chen that flavored the small filet of beef on the course that followed had the same implication: we could all eat a little lower on the food chain.

This moment is just one of Green-peace’s answers to a very pressing contra-diction that affects nearly every eater on the planet: fish and seafood are some of the world’s healthiest foods, but overfish-ing and abusive seafood practices have de-pleted our oceans to a desperate state. And it keeps getting worse.

Here’s the conundrum: Fish and sea-food are lean protein powerhouses, loaded with anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty ac-ids, minerals and essential vitamins like B6 and B12. Leading physicians and nutrition experts are increasingly telling us to eat fish twice a week. The dining class has heeded the advice with abandon, with sushi res-taurants being some of most enterprising answers to the call, and one of the largest offenders to the rapid demise of the seas.

Of the 2,500 sushi restaurants oper-ating in the United States alone, 2,487 are not sustainable, according to Cas-son Trenor, creator of SustainableSushi.net whose mission in his current role as Greenpeace’s Senior Markets Campaigner is to disrupt destructive seafood industry practices while supporting a more sustain-able and equitable global paradigm.

“Some of the most popular dishes in sushi restaurants are unsustainable choices: farmed salmon, farmed shrimp, farmed hamachi and ranched eel, as well as Bluefin tuna, red snapper and king crab,” explains Maria Finn, author of The Whole Fish, one of several books published last year aimed at educating eaters how to better eat fish.

Tataki Sushi & Sake Bar, in the San Francisco Bay area doesn’t serve fatty Blue-fin tuna, yellowfin or sea urchin. Bamboo Sushi in Portland, which claims title as the first sustainable sushi restaurant in the world, and Miya’s Sushi in New Haven, Connecticut, another exemplary sustain-able sushi restaurant won’t either. But that’s too few corners of our planet filled with water to make a dent in the problem.

WHERE TO START? How then, do we meet the demand sug-gested by folks like Dr. Andrew Weil, America’s preeminent nutrition expert who says this: “Eat fish at least twice a week”? It starts with looking at the whole story.

Weil follows that advice with this im-portant statement: Choose oily varieties (wild Alaskan salmon, sardines, herring and black cod) that provide anti-inflam-matory omega-3 fatty acids.

“It’s that second sentence that is so im-portant,” says Trenor. “We have to make sure that the second sentence remains firmly attached to the first; it’s what makes that advice good. It calls out three omega-3 fish that are all sustainable options. Eating sardines, herrings and black cod twice a week? That’s a really positive thing.”

Making the right choice is key. But we also need to make sure the demand that is driven by choice—those of us who have the luxury to determine what types of protein we consume—does not eclipse the 1.5 billion people on the planet that

do not have another choice for protein except what comes from the sea.

When it comes to luxury consumer choice, chefs like Barton Seaver, a Nation-al Geographic fellow famed for his con-servation efforts, are leading the way in reversing the damage that’s been done in the last two decades. Seaver says we need more than sustainable seafood. We need restorative seafood, which he describes as the ability to replenish and progress.

To look at Bluefin tuna is to understand the issue in black and white. Since Bluefin in nature is endangered, most Bluefin tuna comes out of fish ranches, where they are fed large amounts of sardines.

“To create one pound of luxury Blue-fin protein robs 20 pounds of healthier seafood—sardines—from the seas,” says Trenor. “The protein larceny is staggering.”

The collapse of the Bluefin directly affects the collapse of other eco-systems. It’s the top predator, and when the top predator is eliminated, there are massive imbalances. Subpredators multiply, and eat away the populations they feed on.

“Bluefin is like a traveling policeman that moves through the North Atlantic and without it there, we’re looking at havoc.” Trenor says.

We’ve reached a critical point. When we demand more high quality meat, vegetable or grain products, they are produced. By contrast, the majority of fish we eat are not farmed, but mined from the ocean, often without a plan for replenishing the source. So, is the answer to get everyone to start eating sardines? Not exactly. THE BEST ADVICE In practical on-the-plate terms, the solu-tion to restoring the seas doesn’t lie in sea-food. Seaver says it has to do with heeding mother’s advice: eat your vegetables.

We must continue to eat the best seafood possible, and we must eat it with a big pile of vegetables.


“We must continue to eat the best sea-food possible, and we must continue to eat it with a big pile of vegetables,” said Seaver in a recent TED Talk on sustainable seafood. “The best part about that is that vegetables are an ingredient available to every family.”

There are other answers. Some of the best conservation organizations in the world are working to place more responsi-bility on the folks whose food dollars count in double, triple and quadruple digits: su-permarkets and restaurateurs. Chefs across the globe have tapped their creative natures to find delight cooking lower on the food chain, searching for sustainable seafood to star in their cuisine and cooking and eat-ing the whole fish. In Europe or Asia, the

whole fish mentality is second nature. Else-where, it’s catching on. At Uchi, one of the top seafood-focused Japanese restaurants in the U.S., you’ll find Japanese sea bream with citrus, olive oil and myoga (Japanese ginger) among entrees of wild prawns and Saba fish (mackerel). And for staff meals, they may be serving the prawn heads with spicy masago (fish roe) and Saba tail meat. We can help by choosing those restaurants and buying from fishmongers and grocers with a known sustainable-seafood program, asking them the questions and letting them know you plan to think before you buy.

“If we spend the most time educating businesses about caring for the ocean, then we can educate consumers not on how to buy seafood, but where to buy

PAN SEARED ARCTIC CHAR WITH SORREL If you like the idea of salmon but wish for something with a milder taste, you’ll love Arctic char. Most of it comes from the U.S., Canada, Norway or Ireland and is farmed in low-eco-impact tanks that prevent escape. ��ǡ��ƪ��

are particularly well matched to the healthy fats found in Arctic char, wild or line-caught salmon or lake trout, close relatives and the best substitution when Arctic char is not available. | SERVES 4

1 small bunch fresh sorrel, stemmed

½ bunch fresh basil or parsley leaves,

or a mix, coarsely chopped

½ cup/ walnuts, coarsely chopped

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1 lemon

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

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To make the pesto: STACK several sorrel leaves on top of each other on the cutting board. Slice into thin strips and transfer to a bowl.

ADD the chopped herbs and nuts to the sorrel along with the garlic. Zest the lemon and add to the sauce with the olive oil. Halve the lemon, and squeeze a bit of juice into the bowl. Toss all together with a spoon and season with salt and pepper.

HEAT olive oil in large non-stick or stainless steel ��Ǧ��Ǥ��Ƥ��salt and pepper and add it to the pan, skin-side down. Cook until the skin is crispy and pulls away ��Ƥ��cooked through {you’ll know when the translucent ��ƪ��sides and edges and is still shiny in the thickest part}, ��Ǥ��ƪ��ǡ�ƪ��Ƥ��ƪ��ȓ��ǡ�simply cover the pan with the lid and cook until just pink throughout but still a touch translucent}, and ��Ƥ��ǡ��shiny pink inside, about 4 minutes more.

TRANSFER��Ƥ��ǡ��over the top, and serve.

Recipe by Sarah Copeland, edibleliving.com. For this

recipe and others, visit facebook.com/jwmarriott

Pan Seared Arctic Char with Sorrel


Seared Scallops with ��ƪ��ǡ�

Lime and Radish

JW Marriott is proud to promote sus-��Ǥ��Ƥ��depend on healthy seas, we are also deeply committed to preserving our ��Ǥ��ǡ��Oceana, the largest international ad-vocacy organization dedicated solely to protecting the world’s oceans.��ǡ��ǯ��

��ǡ��have been winning victories for the oceans with targeted science-based campaigns. Among its many impres-sive victories, Oceana has protected ��Ǥ��and innumerable sea turtles, sharks, dolphins and other sea creatures. ��ǡ��ƥ��in the United States, Europe, Central and South America.

To learn how you can get involved, please visit oceana.org.


SEARED SCALLOPS WITH CAULIFLOWER PUREE, LIME AND RADISH

This restaurant-style dish is easy to re-create at home and features sustainable sea scallops, found either diver-caught or farmed worldwide. The important thing is to get a good sear on the scallops to create a golden crust that yields to the succulent sweet meat inside. | SERVES 6

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cut into small pieces

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

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2 radishes, thinly sliced and cut into

matchsticks

½ green apple, thinly sliced and

cut into matchsticks

Zest and juice of 1 lime

COMBINE cauliflower and 4 cups salted water in a medium pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high ��Ǣ��Ǧ��Ǣ��Ǥ�

DRAIN and puree cauliflower in a food processor ��Ǥ�Season; set aside to keep warm.

PAT scallops dry on both sides and season well with salt and pepper. Melt remaining butter and oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Cook scallops without moving until the bot-��ǡ��Ǥ��Ǧ��ǡ��Ǥ��plate. Remove pan from the heat; add remaining lime juice and zest to the pan and swirl to bring together with cooking juices.

PLACE a dollop of cauliflower puree on the center ��Ǣ��ǡ��and apple matchsticks and drizzle cooking juices over the top. Serve warm.

Recipe by Sarah Copeland, edibleliving.com. For this

recipe and others, visit facebook.com/jwmarriott

seafood so they can reward these busi-nesses with their food dollars and be confident that the big issues are largely taken care of by watchdog organizations.” Trenor says, in regards to the efforts of the dozen of conservation organizations aimed at protecting the seas.

Fish2Fork, an online guidebook, helps with the consumer end. It rates restaurants in five countries—Belgium, France, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S.—on their seafood sustainability. It has rated 107 in the U.S., 581 in the U.K., 112 in France.

It’s difficult to keep current on a topic as dynamic and massive as sustainable seafood. But we can try. Organizations like Monterey Bay Seafood Watch and the Marine Stewardship Council offer online resources and guides for what’s fair game

FOR LEAN, FLAKY FISH: When pairing

��Ƥ��ǡ��ƪ��Ǥ��white wines have that nice acidity,

vibrancy and a sense of minerality that

��ƪ��Ǥ��Ǥ�FATTY FISH: Arctic char and salmon

��ƪ��the earthiness and spice of Pinot Noir.

��ƪ��Ƥ��Ǥ�SHELLFISH: Starting on one end of the

spectrum, oysters have the taste of

the sea, a distinct minerality. Pair with

��ǡ��Chablis that lifts that up with their quiet

enhancing qualities. At the other end

of the spectrum, abalone have depth

and meatiness. Choose a wine with a

��ƪ��Ǥ��Ƥ��lobster are well matched to a succulent

��±ǡ��ƪ��aromas of white wine, but the richness of

red berry fruit like a red. — S.C.

O ��ǡ��Ƥ��meant one thing: white.

Enter the new guard—new

rules, and a new ethos, led

by winemakers like Jon Priest, wineǦmaker for Etude Wines in Carneros, Napa

��ǡ��ǡ��ǡ�Pinot Noir and Rose of Pinot Noir are all

��Ƥ��like Sustainable Winegrowing Practices

and Fish Friendly Farming.

“We’re in the watershed of the San

Francisco Bay, we’re not too far away

��Ƥ��Ǥ��ǡ��ơ��Ǥ��ơǡ��ǡ��Ƥ��into the bay and subsequently into the

ocean,” Jon says. “It’s hard to think

��Ƥ��in it when we’re up looking at a vine, but

��ơ��downstream.”

Here are his simple rules of thumb

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on any given day. Perhaps most impor-tantly, we can rearrange our expectations. We can’t expect to eat salmon wherever we go. We must eat King George Whiting in the hands of chef Ben Shewry in Attica, Australia, order Arctic char with Trumpet Mushrooms and Peas at Rick Moonen’s Seafood in Las Vegas and line-caught wild Cornish sea bass with salsify and lemon caper butter at Catch in London. We must be nimble, willing to change and to some-times pass on the fish and chips, and opt for the mushrooms shepherd’s pie instead.

Does that mean no more fashionable species? No more tuna, ever?

“Eat it once a year. Celebrate it. Open a bottle of wine. Light a candle and en-joy the privilege that eating represents,” Seaver says. [

��ǡ��ǡ��ǧ��ǡ� VISIT US AT FACEBOOK.COM/JWMARRIOTT

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