Musings

What to eat?

scallops_app_with_beet_sauce.jpg

I don’t know what to eat anymore.

We went to a new seafood restaurant around the corner that makes noises about how they’re doing the right thing with the ingredients they buy/serve.

Then I looked at this review, of a new book called Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food (Paul Greenberg, 2010, Penguin), which discusses current issues regarding bluefin tuna, cod, sea bass, and salmon (that is, overfishing and depopulation). (I’m on the hold list for a library copy.) I didn’t see cod or salmon on the restaurant’s chalkboard of specials. They served yellowfin, lobster, Apalachicola oysters, and, get this, the waiter went on about this Mediterranean fish they had had the previous week that was really good, and I swear what he called it was branzino, a term I’d never heard before. From the review, I learn that branzino is the northern Italian term for sea bass. Hrrumph. (Or maybe I misunderstood.)

Even sticking to beans and rice isn’t good. You don’t want to know about rice farming. Even if you buy organic, that doesn’t avoid the habitat destruction involved in field construction, etc.

Still, I very much enjoyed my meal. The gustatory part.

And, from our windowseat, we had wonderful bonus entertainment: watching the evening’s pop-up shower become a downpour. Twice.

Note: I LOVE scallops. I know how destructive it is to harvest them. I only indulge rarely. If I buy them for my kitchen, yes, I play the premium and get the more environmentally friendly diver scallops. I only buy them from restaurants that I expect are also using diver scallops. Like this one. (I hope.)

Get your seafood dos and don’ts here, including an iPhone app version.