BOSTON, Mass. — December 6, 2012 — Richard Garcia, executive chef of the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel, has developed a unique sustainable seafood program by giving his customers what they didn’t know they wanted.
Eschewing local favorites like cod and haddock, Garcia is introducing his customers to fish such as sea robin, dogfish, butterfish and Acadian redfish.
Garcia — who heads the Boston chapter of the Chefs Collaborative, an association devoted to sustainable sourcing and safeguarding the environment — said his focus is “on the fishermen instead of the fish.”
Sustainable seafood organizations label seafood as green, for the best choice; yellow, for a questionable choice; and red, for seafood whose population is threatened. “If one thing should be on the red list, the fishermen should be,” Garcia said.
Local restrictions on catching popular but overfished species have made it more difficult to make a living if those are the only fish consumers want to eat.
By paying $2 or $3 per pound for so-called “trash fish” that otherwise might be regarded as worthless, Garcia and other chefs help fishermen earn a decent living. “At the same time, we’re letting the cod and haddock stocks hopefully rebuild,” he said.
Read the full story at Nation's Restaurant News