What is the seafood story you want to tell on your menus?
This question set the tone for the Chefs Camp we hosted in Portland, Maine on Feb. 2. This was the fourth Chefs Camp One Fish Foundation and Slow Fish North America have produced since 2023 after launching the Rising Tide program to engage communities in conversations about local, sustainable seafood with values.
The overall Chefs Camp mission is to get chefs to think more intently about local seafood sourcing, forging relationships with local seafood producers, and spreading the message to staff and customers about why supporting local seafood systems matters.
The above question invites chefs into the conversation. Hosted in collaboration with Chef Jordan Rubin of Mr. Tuna and Crispy Gai, the Portland Chefs Camp brought together more than 20 chefs from across the city and beyond to explore that question.
We began the conversation by asking chefs to share words or phrases that reflect what “sustainable seafood” means to them. Next, we asked them to share challenges they’ve faced in sourcing local seafood. Consistency, quality and transparency were at the top of the list.
Chef Sam Hayward shares several decades of seafood sourcing perspective with a captive audience.
The long view
Sam Hayward shared his perspective on seafood sourcing over a nearly five-decade professional career beginning with his time cooking for research students on the Isles of Shoals in the 70s and ending when he retired in 2022 after co-founding Fore Street and running the kitchen as executive chef there for nearly 27 years, earning multiple awards on the way.
A strip of tiny islands about 6 miles off the Maine/New Hampshire coastline, the Isles of Shoals is home to a marine research lab for students from multiple colleges and universities. Sam learned to cook in a commercial kitchen there, serving hungry research students and staff. Running a kitchen on a remote island means you often make do with the ingredients along your shoreline. Adaptation and experimentation with new species was essential; as was making friends with local fishermen and lobstermen. With a population of marine biologists and scientists on the island, Sam became fascinated with food chains in the Gulf of Maine, making cool discoveries like finding lobsters in the bellies of big cod.
That experience framed much of his perspective on local sourcing and sustainability. “Abundance is the trunk of the tree for menu decisions,” he said, adding that increasing awareness of human impacts on local seafood species and getting to know local fishermen were two core tenets for his budding career.
The concept of relationships carried over to the story Rick Humphrey told about Upstream, the hyper-local, Portland-based seafood distributor that originally launched as the exclusive seafood supplier to Fore Street … and no one else. This meant Sam and his team knew exactly what was available and in what quantities, sometimes even what boat the seafood came from.
Now Upstream serves several Portland restaurants, working directly with chefs and local fishermen. “I have relationships with a lot of you, and that allows me to anticipate what you like and what you don’t like,” said Rick. Those relationships, built on trust, are fundamental to the business model.
Togue Brawn (right) and Dana Morse (2nd from right) describe scallop merroir, anatomy and scallop farming in Maine.
Scallop merroir
Togue Brawn of Downeast Dayboat talked about telling the story of seafood via taste. She described how Maine’s unique geology drives the merroir of the beautiful scallops she sources from small boat fishermen and provides directly to chefs as well as via online ordering to retail customers. She has built relationships with several chefs by educating them about that merroir and the beauty of dayboat scallops which are caught and processed on the same day.
Conversely, scallops harvested on the large boats fishing in federal waters are loaded in cloth bags and set in ice over several days until the boats return to harbor. Those scallops absorb water from the melting ice, which dilutes flavor.
Togue illustrated how the merroir of scallops from different parts of Maine affects flavor with a blind taste test at the end of the day. Folks had to determine which two of three samples were from the same region.
Chefs also heard from Dana Morse, a marine biologist with Maine Sea Grant, about scallop anatomy and how that affects flavor, and about the growing scallop aquaculture movement in Maine. Proper siting and management are critical to successful harvests. The industry is still fairly nascent in Maine, but there is plenty of opportunity.
Ken Sparta shares lessons learned farming oysters and kelp.
Of kelp and oysters
Ken Sparta of Spartan Sea Farms discussed the trial and error cadence of learning how to grow kelp and oysters, with two entirely different sets of rules. Oyster farming in Maine is robust, with new entrants often learning the ropes (literally) from folks like Ken who have been doing it for several years.
Kelp farming in Maine is still emerging, and Ken described some collaborations with local chefs to explore different and creative ways to introduce it on their menus, ranging from spreads, to pasta to ice cream, and a very tasty kelp crumble featuring dried kelp mixed with mushrooms and quinoa that Ken shared during the camp.
Evan Montellese describes the “eat them to beat them” strategy of dealing with invasive green crabs.
Evan Montellese of Tideminded LLC talked about the growing use of green crabs on restaurant menus as one way to deal with a destructive invasive species. During the past 10-15 years, a concerted effort by folks like Evan, and organizations like greencrab.org has increased awareness, curiosity and demand from some chefs. A biology professor at Southern Maine Community College, he also described how changing climates such as abnormally warm summers or abnormally cold winters can directly affect green crab populations and availability.
Chef Jordan Rubin admitted that sustainable seafood sourcing for a sushi restaurant can be challenging. “Our goal was to make Mr. Tuna sustainable,” he said. To start, he had to learn what was locally available and sustainable. That meant meeting and sourcing from local fishermen, working directly with Rick and Upstream, and putting dishes on the menu that met his standards for sustainability.
He also shared a recent experience that further defined his vision for local sourcing. Several months ago, he joined the Coalition for Sustainable Aquaculture, a national group of chefs and other folks whose key focus is to support all aquaculture, including both aquaculture with values (bivalve, kelp, etc.) and industrial aquaculture (finfish aquaculture). But he left the organization when he realized the extent of CSA’s advocacy for industrial fish farming and the massive ecological and socio-economic threats these operations pose.
“There’s a ton of misinformation,” he said. This is why he encouraged chefs at the camp to take the time to learn more about what is locally available, what the rest of the story is regarding industrial fish farming, and what it means to them to source local seafood.
What does sustainable seafood mean to you? Chefs and attendees answered that question with a word or phrase at the outset.
Camp attendees asked great questions, readily dived into complex issues, and discussed the importance of continuing the conversation. This means connecting with local producers when and where possible, exploring options to adapt menus a bit more closely to what’s seasonally available, and educating both staff and customers about why supporting local seafood matters to them.
Perhaps, that also means refining their vision of what seafood story they want their menus to tell.
One hallmark of the event’s success: Chefs and seafood producers/distributors exchanged contact information … the first step toward building a relationship.
Big thanks to Togue and Jordan for providing lunch and to Kerry Haney of Night Moves Bread for bringing the delicious treats! Thanks to all of the storytellers for sharing their perspective and to all of the chefs who joined us on a cold February day to participate in the conversation and commit to local seafood sourcing!
Top photo: Chef Jordan Rubin describes sourcing sustainable seafood for his menu at Mr. Tuna.
