Photo: Brian O'Connor, www.brianmoc.com
The world is our oyster. Also our shrimp (China, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Thailand), our catfish (Southeast Asia), and our squid (global). Our scallops (China), our roughy (Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans) and our swordfish (global). Our tilapia (Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia) and our giant prawns (India, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam).
The US imports 84% of the seafood it eats; of that, less than 2% is inspected. If it were, officials might find contamination with mercury, PCPs, dioxins, arsenic, antibiotics and pesticides. Those aren’t the only concerns. Unregulated fishing and aquaculture often have heavy environmental footprints, from depletion and trawling, which may leave the ocean floor uninhabitable for other marine creatures, to invasive species and water pollution by waste, chemicals and uneaten food released from farms. And, of course, there’s the impact of shipping food halfway around the world.
All of which makes us Bostonians very, very smug. Because here, in the heart of the historic fishing grounds of the northeastern United States, in the nation’s 3rd largest seafood market, we don’t have to eat imported fish, mollusks or crustaceans at all. We have our own oysters (from Wellfleet, Duxbury, Cotuit). Fertile clamming beds. World-famous lobsters from Maine. And a wealth of piscine species such as mackerel, bluefish, haddock and cod.
To celebrate our local abundance, and to encourage more of you to buy and cook local seafood, Slow Food has partnered with Cambridge Brewing Company and the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance to bring you a nonstop marine feast this Saturday, August 6th, 5-11 pm on location at the brewery. All menu items— from butter-poached lobster with chorizo oil and garlic chives, smoked bluefish cakes and Wellfleet littleneck ceviche, to grilled wild, striped bass and miso-marinated cod—will be paired with a specially crafted beer. And, yes, we’re heading landward for dessert, peach-blueberry cobbler. Come early! Stay late! No reservations needed.
Anastacia Marx de Salcedo posts monthly on PRK for Slow Food Boston.