"sustainable" news and stories

Chicago-based chef Phillip Foss of Lockwood Restaurant and Bar has emerged as champion of a highly unlikely, much maligned fish: the Asian carp.

Originally imported to the U.S. in the 1970s to clean catfish ponds, the fish eventually escaped and have been working their way up the Mississippi river, multiplying and crowding out native species by devouring large quantities of plankton and algae. Astounding jumpers, they're known to leap from the water, frequently breaking jaws and loosening teeth of fishermen who get in their way.

In an attempt to control the carp, state and federal agencies have tried everything from using rotenone to poison the fish, to electric barriers designed to keep them from invading the Great Lakes. So serious is the threat, that in February, the Obama administration announced a $78 million carp control plan.

Chef Foss, however, believes the answer is found on our dinner plates instead, and is using his fine dining pulpit to preach the message.

The past few months have seen a lot of international hand-wringing over the fate of wild bluefin tuna, which are considered by environmentalists to be vastly overfished. March's gathering for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species dashed immediate hopes of banning international trade of the prized apex predator.

But some scientists are betting on bluefin aquaculture to save the species and lessen pressure on wild stocks. The Australian company, CleanSeas, has been been working closely with scientists from Japan's Kinki University breeding programs with two different strains of tuna: Northern Pacific genetic strain for Kinki University, and CleanSeas' from the Southern Pacific genetic strain. Both programs are in their infancy, which means fish is currently trickling into U.S. restaurants.

Unlike tuna ranching, where juveniles are harvested from the wild and fattened in open pens, Kindai tuna are farm-raised from eggs hatched in a laboratory, rather than being taken from wild stocks -- a process so revolutionary that it ranked second on Time Magazine's 50 Best Inventions of 2009.

Salty, creamy, chewy, smoky --a bagel with smoked salmon, cream cheese and caviar pretty much fulfills all promises. But, and here's where a little rain falls on the brunch parade, it's a poor choice unless you select your fish with an eye on sustainability.

Salmon and sturgeon are both on the least-sustainable seafood list (they've been overfished), so, according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch, an easy-to-use buying guide, choose wild-caught Alaska salmon instead of Atlantic salmon, and caviar (roe) from U.S.-farmed sturgeon, or those that are wild-caught from Oregon and Washington.

A classic combination simply becomes a classic with a conscience.

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The folks that brought us the documentary, The End of the Line, showcasing the complex and often frustrating issues surrounding global overfishing, have launched the U.S. version of their Fish2Fork.com website. It's an interactive guide designed to publicly praise chefs who toe the sustainable line, while chastising those who don't. Instead of issuing stars, the site awards blue fish for sustainability and red fish skeletons for offenders who continue to serve well-known avoided items like bluefin, cod, Atlantic halibut, farm-raised salmon or freshwater eel.

No surprise that of the U.S.'s top ten list of worst offenders, seven are sushi restaurants. Bar Masa in New York was given the dubious honor of topping that category, closely followed by 15 East. Cheers were sent to Bamboo Sushi in Portland; Ray's Boathouse in Seattle and Barton Seaver's Blue Ridge Restaurant in Washington, D.C. for food-chain transparency and ethical sourcing.

• Despite the popularity of cheap, delicious food in tough economic times, "Street food trucks roll into red tape."
• "Sustainable" food and "green" cuisine may attract conscientious eaters, but their meanings are at best loosely defined -- and may be misleading.
• Allison Hooper of Vermont Butter & Cheese Co. picked up the cheese-making trade as a student in France, and her company now produces 1.5 million pounds of fromage a year. She published a cookbook, "In a Cheesemaker's Kitchen," to celebrate their 25th year in the business.
• Leftover season is upon us -- so find out everything you need to know about freezing food with the "Big Chill."
• Industrious food-industry businessman Payam Tabibiam got his start selling candy bars at double profit to fellow middle school students -- and has finally opened his own restaurant, the successful Z-Burger, which offers initiatives from food-eating contests to a whopping selection of 75 milkshakes to attract customers.
• Recipe highlights: a healthy but hearty Cod in a Fennel-Tomato Broth; Moroccan-inspired Spiced Carrots; an autumnal Fennel, Persimmon and Pomegranate Salad.