Guilty Planet

Fish2Fork

Posted by Jennifer L. Jacquet on February 15, 2010
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i-1218930d938cc49cafc81b99fa9f0cd1-Okada.pngVertical agitation meets shame in Fish2Fork, a new seafood conservation effort led by Charles Clover (author of End of the Line), which seeks to highlight which restaurants are best and worst when it comes to the seafood they sell. The focus on restaurants is a great move and I particularly like how Fish2Fork highlights the ‘top 10′ and ‘bottom 10′ restaurants.

As a quibble, I wish the “We say…” bit on Fish2Fork was a little less whimsical and the main reasons for the negative (or positive) rating were right up top. For instance, Okada, a sushi restaurant in Las Vegas, sells bluefin tuna, Chilean sea bass, freshwater eel and albacore tuna, which is why it’s given the poor rating of five red fish bones, but you have to read quite a bit about the ambience before you get to that point.

But that’s minor. The best thing is that Charles Clover has decided to shift focus from consumer guilt (using wallet cards and eco-labels, both featured in his documentary The End of the Line) to shame on restaurants. In an interview with the Washington Post, Clover says:

“Environmental groups want to tell you the positive things. They want to show you how to do the right thing,” Clover said in an interview at The Washington Post. “Showing what’s wrong is the journalist’s job. And it’s the right thing to do.”

It will be fun following the initiative’s progress.

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Comments

  1. #1 Chas S. Clifton
    February 16, 2010

    No restaurants in my state listed, good or bad. Eat more bison!

  2. #2 Dr Dan
    February 16, 2010

    I think this is a good idea. But I tend to think that consumer guilt is all encompassing. They won’t buy from supermarkets or restaurants. But the more guilt the better.

  3. #3 elmlish
    February 19, 2010

    I found this helpful blogpost on the many pleasures of dining on Jellyfish.
    http://www.deependdining.com/2007/03/all-those-jellyfish-so-little-time-pb.html

    I’ve been a vegetarian for over a dozen years now and have been wondering how well developed the world’s jellyfish dining experience was. It seems that it’s not completely devoid of excitement. The PB&JF sammiches were interesting.

    Does anyone know the nutritional content of your average Jellyfish?

  4. #4 Scott D.
    March 23, 2010

    A few years ago, the St. Petersburg Times did a report on fish served at local restaurants. A good deal of the fish labeled goruper was , in fact, not grouper at all. Most was tilapia. The diners/tourists were none the wiser.

    Some of us can easily tell the difference (grouper musculature is quite different than tilapia and if they are serving gag, it’s fishier). However, I believe restaurants can serve an easily-farmed fish like tilapia in place of many species (especially those overfished)of white meat fish. Simply change the names. Tilapia can be called silver snapper, white porgy, grey grouper, tasty white fish from a stormwater pond, etc.