Fish & Co.

On facebook last week there was an article that went around showing a dead whale, and its stomach content.  Inside this poor whales stomach was a ridiculous amount of pollution – cans, rubbish, bottles and the like.  What this was highlighting was how we as humans, are rubbishing our environment with devastating consequences. 

Nutrition- 9

Taste- 9

Service- 7

Ambience- 5

Extra mile- 10

Budget – medium

*Scores are out of 10

Fish & Co. rating – 40/50 on a medium budget (but expensive for fish & chips)

Nards

When I see things like this, I often feel overwhelmed and wonder to myself how I can possibly make a difference.  Fortunately, I can, and it doesn’t involve extreme actions such as joining those crazy folks at Greenpeace and firing water cannons at boats.  I can make a positive contribution by the choices that I make at home.  I’m not going to launch into a full breed rant on protecting our environment, however, simple little acts such as recycling, and using eco-friendly products certainly go a long way in making a difference.

 

Another way that we- MC and I- choose to make a difference, is to be very aware of the type of seafood that we eat.  Clearly, eating fish and seafood is an integral part of our healthy diet, but not all fish is worthy of eating.

 

We choose to ignore fish that have come from unsustainable sources where possible- the kind of fish that are caught in bulk much to the detriment of the fish numbers and the environment.

 

Last week we were excited to discover a sustainable fish café/restaurant in Annandale.  Every fish on the menu has been caught using methods that are humane and mindful – a great way for us to get our fish fix whilst keeping our conscience clear.

 

Interestingly enough both MC and I ordered things that we never order.  I ordered the fish pie (I have not eaten one of those since high school when it was a firm favourite of Mums), and MC ordered Salmon!  Risky.

 

My dish was great, however, it was so piping hot I couldn’t eat it for a long time, and MC was almost done with his meal before I had even made a dent on mine – a pie then is worth reconsidering if super hungry!

 

Mike

Yes, in my aging years and developing maturity I am finding out many things about myself. One very big one being just how adaptable I can be, this never so evident in the stubbornness I have stripped from my diet, and the vast array of foods I now enjoy.

If you’ve followed this blog since my ’52 meats’ days of 2012 then you’ll know seafood is still pretty new to me.

However, I get it in where I can these days and often order it when dining out.

 

Fish & Co. provided the perfect complement to my continuing seafood experimentation, for both the fish itself and the methods in which they are caught/trapped/fooled into ending up on my plate. Sustainability is another of my maturing qualities, and something I now give considerable thought when anything fishy nears my mouth.

My absolute go-to resource for this I the Australian Sustainable Seafood guide. I have the app on my iPhone and use it in any questionable situation. A special note to my friend ‘Cat Fish’ who had a hand in designing the incredibly easy to use app.

If you live here in ‘Straya, download this and tell me it’s not painfully handy and simple to use!

 

Right, so ethical stuff out of the way, let’s get to my stomach. Where most of my attention goes. Because if you spend any time around our house it’s incredibly obvious that I value food highly, so much so that I talk to my food, often.

Anyway, I digress. Clearly dinner is approaching…

 

Perhaps because of my long standing aversion to seafood, but also because I generally think it sux balls- I avoid salmon. Smoked salmon, no good. Fresh salmon, no good. However, I am very aware that most salmon (here in Australia at least) is farmed. This I take exception to.

Farmed salmon is the caged chicken of the water. Living a life nothing like what it naturally would. This dramatically effects the end result of its meat, seriously impacting the nutritional benefits of eating it.

 

So, in my limited research I have discovered that very readily, and reasonably affordably, here in Australia one can buy canned wild line caught Alaskan salmon. This somewhat blew my mind. How is it that it’s tough to find wild caught fresh salmon, but the wild stuff is packed in a convenient can in the kind of supermarket isles I normally avoid.

Oh, that’s how I hadn’t noticed before…

 

Anyway, I realised that canned doesn’t hold up to fresh, as is very much the case with tuna, but I’m thinking this might work in reverse- bear with me here-  I dislike canned tuna but love the real stuff, and dislike fresh salmon, so maybe, just maybe, I’ll like this wild canned stuff?

Crazy?

 

I think not, you see the key word here is wild. Wild salmon makes all the difference. And this the (somewhat long winded) point I am getting to with my order at Fish & Co. is that I backed the Wild Salmon special to be nothing like its poor cousin farmed salmon.

And boy was I right. This piece of fish was exquisite.

 

That’s all there is to it. I will happily pay the restaurant main meal price tag for something of this quality and taste. And I certainly won’t be settling for farmed salmon again.

I will be trying out this canned wild salmon theory though. Stay tuned…

MC & NN