For the Love of Fish- Event Summary

Aspiring and established chefs step up to (sustainable) plate at the first-annual For the Love of Fish event.

To raise awareness and to display the culinary community’s efforts to go green, established and aspiring chefs from 11 restaurants and four culinary schools competed on November 17th at the first-ever SeaChoice For the Love of Fish competition. Using seafood products appearing on the SeaChoice “Best Choice” list, these chefs proved that sustainable choices definitely serve to enhance the culinary experience.

In the judging room, Executive Chefs Daryle Nagata, Karen Barnaby, and Rob Clark started off with a close examination of the sustainability of the seafood products used: the type of seafood as well as the harvest location and production or catch method. In the end, the panel had a chance to savour creative dishes with such local ingredients as trap-caught spot prawns, land-based farmed rainbow trout, trap-caught sablefish, and troll-caught albacore tuna.

In the student tier, Ann Reynolds from the Northwest Culinary Academy (NWCA) thoroughly impressed the judges with her “Dungeness Crab Trio”. Another NWCA student, Jerah Verville, came in second place with her “Tapas Pescado”. Third place went to yet another female contestant, Christina Bertsch, from Vancouver Community College. Miss Bertsch used sablefish and spot prawns.

Ms. Bertsch prepares her prawns in the student kitchen.

In the professional tier, Jason Rojas from the Delta Vancouver Suites cooked up a first-place rainbow trout dish. In second place, came Romeo Oloresisimo from A Kettle of Fish, with his pan roasted sablefish. In third, serving marinated sardines was Andrea Leung from the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel.

A plate is rushed off for judging.

At the awards reception, speakers from SeaChoice, Oceanwise™, and the Green Table Network addressed the guests, followed by a message from sustainable seafood ambassador Rob Clark. The unified message was that the dedication of B.C. chefs and restaurants to sustainable seafood has been an important driver for propelling the movement forward. Not only do they influence suppliers through their buying power but, by taking a leadership role and offering sustainable seafood options, restaurants and chefs are helping to raise awareness and changing consumer preferences in a direct way.

Suppliers, producers and governments are taking notice. The demand for sustainable seafood is up and progressive purchasing decisions are encouraging concrete improvements in practices and management. Good news for seafood lovers and our oceans.

The winners and judges of the For the Love of Fish competition.