Rant: "We Don't Know How To Talk About Seafood"

"We don't know how to talk about seafood."
--Barton Seaver

It might seem strange to hear that sentiment spoken at the Seafood Expo North America (SENA), but if you think more carefully, maybe it's the perfect place to discuss this statement. This sentiment was espoused by Barton Seaver two years ago at a panel conference at SENA, yet it continues to resonate with me. As I attend SENA 2019, exploring what the seafood industry has to offer this year, his words are the forefront of my thoughts and it's worth taking a look back at Barton's thoughts. Those thoughts remain as significant and relevant now as they did then.

Barton Seaver, who currently lives in Maine, has been a successful Chef and is now a seafood activist, educator, speaker, and author of 7 books. His website states, "Barton is a firm believer that human health depends on the health of the ocean and that the best way to connect the two is at the dinner table." He is a powerful and persuasive speaker, with an easy, personable style and an infectious passion for seafood. Barton is a compelling advocate for the seafood industry,

When he began his remarks at the panel conference, he started with: "We don't know how to talk about seafood." He continued his speech, noting that we don't have a great definition of "sustainable seafood," especially as there are so many elements to the concept of sustainability. Although many, if not most, of the exhibitors at SENA tout the sustainability of their products, they all have different definitions of what that constitutes. And each year that I attend SENA, it seems the definition of sustainability expands to include additional concepts.

Another important issue that Barton raised is that seafood often isn't included in discussions about "good food" despite it being maybe the only type of food with the term "food" actually in its name. We don't talk about "landfood" or "airfood." We don't talk about "beef-food" or "chicken-food." We need to look at seafood more from a cultural viewpoint.

Barton also mentioned that seafood suffers from "otherness," being seen as different from other foods. Over time, seafood lost its identity, partially from the advent of refrigeration and a decrease in home cooking. When people commonly think of proteins, they usually don't include seafood in their thoughts. It is also the only food that is considered guilty before being innocent. It is something people think must be analyzed, to determine whether it passes a person's standards or not. These same individuals don't conduct that same analysis with their beef, chicken, or pork. A person will ask whether a salmon is farmed or wild, but that same person is unlikely to ask whether chicken is from a factory farm or not.

The culinary aspect of seafood scares people, who feel intimidated when trying to cook and prepare seafood. Education is definitely needed in that regard. Currently, Americans eat almost only 10 species of fish, 8 if you group the types of catfish together. Other fish and seafood is not seen as having the same value as these 10 species. Our fishermen catch so many other species and this is an unsustainable economic situation. We demand the market supply for fish rather than take what is caught. We must all start eating other species of fish and seafood, going beyond the common 10. We need to put less pressure on those common 10 and also help fishermen who catch all the other species.

Barton then raised an issue I hadn't considered before, but which makes much sense. He stated that one of the biggest obstacles to sustainability is the recipe. The problem is that recipes usually are composed to use a specific type of fish. For example, you will find recipes for Cod and Mussels, Salmon and Crab. Some seafood cookbooks break down into chapters for these specific seafood types. However, Barton feels that recipes shouldn't specify the fish type but be more generic, such as a "light, flaky whitefish."

The idea is to encourage home cooks to seek outside the common 10 and use other seafood species, which are similar to the common ones they already enjoy. That is excellent advice, though such a cookbook would probably need to have a list somewhere, grouping seafood species by the generic definitions within the cookbook. For example, the average consumer doesn't know what dogfish is like, so they would need to have some guidance as to what type of recipes it would fit within. Barton also had advice for Chefs, that they should not ask for specific species but should ask for what is fresh. In addition, they should "sell the dish, not the seafood."

Barton then moved on, stating that we need to "end the conversation of wild vs farmed." He feels it is an artificial distinction, that we should treat them both the same and stop arguing about aquaculture. Those sentiments were echoed in a panel conference I attended yesterday, and I'll be writing about that conference in the near future.

As Barton says, "Seafood is such an amazing opportunity" and "Seafood sustains us." He also noted how valuable it is for our health, how numerous studies show that eating sufficient seafood can reduce your risk of heart disease by about 36%. A doctor from Tufts once told him of the 3 Ss of good health: Wear Seatbelts, No Smoking, and Eat Seafood.

"Fish lacks story." Barton is not the first sustainable seafood proponent that I have heard make this point, and its validity is without dispute. Barton feels we need to use other methods to connect people to seafood, and shouldn't start with the seafood. We need to connect it more to cultural issues. For example, we can talk about social issues such as the fact that 52% of the people involved in aquaculture are women. Aquaculture provides plenty of jobs and that is a great story. In addition, we should consider the story of how we keep fishermen in business, the civic values of helping members of our community. We all should "Talk about sustainability in any measure that is meaningful to you."

Barton Seaver provided much to ponder and I hope it helps spark something within my readers as well. People need to eat more seafood, for an abundance of reasons, from improving your own health to helping local fishermen make a living. Stop treating seafood as an enemy and treat it as you would hamburger or fried chicken. Don't treat seafood as an "other."

(This is partially a reprint, with some revisions, of sections of a prior post, but one which is especially relevant as I attend SENA 2019, and which discusses many points which remain as significant now as they did two years ago.)