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Monday, August 27, 2007 Restaurants: Quintessential Clam Shack
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Petey's is one hopping place. Families spill out of the building waiting for a table on the upper deck overlooking the ocean or in the calmer dining room while some just sink into the very lively bar and lounge.
Lobsters are priced daily and they were recently $25.99 for the 1 1/4. They can go up to a whopping 4 pounds or more. Dinners come with slaw, fries or baked potato. We skipped the lobster and started with fried zucchini with ranch dressing, a large portion of fresh squash in a light batter ($4.49). There was a sign on the door when we walked in saying that there was a clam shortage and that they had to raise the price of clams, and they were $14.99 that day. They were very fresh and sweet, served with the traditional broth and butter. Lobster bisque ($6.25/small) is good with a hint of wine and plenty of rich creamy soup, although it would have been nice to have more bits of lobster in it and the bisque wasn't as smooth as it might have been. Clam chowder ($5.80/small) was excellent, with the usual chunks of potato and clam but also some delicious herbs and spices, which made it very interesting. Both are served in the paper containers with oyster crackers. There are so many entrees here it took awhile to decide what to try. There are the usual fried dishes with oysters, scallops and clams as well as rolls in lobster, shrimp and clam and broiled fish and shellfish in many different pairings and combos. My friend Vicky tried the surf and turf, a 12 oz. strip steak with five baked stuffed jumbo shrimp. The steak was simple and good and the shrimp were very tasty, the stuffing the common crumb and butter mixture ($19.99). A baked potato was good. I tried fish and chips, the fresh haddock dipped into a thin coating, which I like, so you can still taste the great mild fish ($11.50). The chips were not the British variety, which are thicker, but regular fries. They do have malt vinegar on the table for British fish and chips purists as well as hot sauce. The fish was firm, flaky and tender. I really liked the cole slaw, creamy and crunchy at the same time. There's a full bar here with plenty of summertime cocktails, a short and simple wine list and lots of brews and the service is a bit different in the various rooms. The dining room is more low key and calm while the bar is definitely one lively place. The only snag we had was that the ladies room was out of toilet paper in one area and when the hostess was told about it she barked "Yes, we know!" in a snippy way. Not nice. Petey's is the quintessential summertime seafood restaurant that has it all — the shack for a quick casual bite, a bustling bar with and interesting mix of locals and tourists and some more low-key dining spaces for families and larger parties. You can get anything you crave here, classic New England style. - Portsmouth (N.H.) Herald News: Lobstermen Protest Low Prices
HARPSWELL, Maine — A parade of Cundy's Harbor lobstermen headed back to their moorings last week, preparing to tie up throughout the weekend to protest the low wholesale price of lobsters.
Lobstermen from Cutler to Boothbay Harbor, and now parts of Harpswell, have tied up in protest of the price some dealers are offering, which in some areas is as low as $3.50 a pound. On Monday, more than 70 boats from the Gouldsboro fishing village of Corea and other towns farther east tied up in Corea's harbor to draw attention to low prices. In Cutler on the same day, more than 30 lobster boats came into port after a few hours of fishing and tied up for the same reason, The Bangor Daily News reported. "We have to make a stand and try to do something," said Weston Watts by cell phone as he navigated around Cundy's Point. "They boosted the bait (price) up and then they dropped the price of lobsters. There ain't no need of them being below $4 (a pound)." Watts said after fishermen were told last week that dealers would not be buying lobsters after noon Friday, he hauled five strings of traps and put his bait in the cooler. Robert Watson of Watson's wharf in Cundy's Harbor said he currently pays fishermen $3.90 a pound for lobsters, but as a rule, if the majority of boats tie up, he doesn't sell lobsters because "it goes against what they're trying to do." Fishermen from Harpswell Neck were still out hauling today, but Ted Bear of Orr's Island, a Maine Lobstermen's Association board member, lent his boat to another lobsterman. He said boats are out from all lobster-buying areas — meaning some Orr's and Bailey islands lobstermen are still fishing. But that could change. "If the coast decided to take a 'vacation,' I'd probably take a vacation with them," he said. Bear said lobstermen would be smart to call their stop a "vacation" because of government repercussions from the last strike about eight years ago. Bear noted wholesale prices have been hovering around $4 a pound for Maine lobsters while Canadians are getting $5 Canadian a pound. Their product is closer and spares trucking expenses to over-the-border processing plants. "Which I think is a crock of bull," said Bear. "It seems like every time there's a price decrease, the fishermen take a hit," he said. Before they leave the dock, they've made a $400 commitment in expenses like fuel, hired help and bait, which alone costs $250 a day. Local lobster retailers were not surprised fishermen are refusing to fish for lobsters. When asked if his supply had diminished any, Kevin Gilmore of Gilmore Seafood in Bath said it had. "We had a run early in the season," he said. "Now we're selling them for $4.99 to $6.99 a pound, buying them for about $4.00 or so. The lobstermen I feel for, their equipment, gas, it's all going up yet the price they're getting goes down." – The Times Herald, Brunswick, Me. Food: Beyond Sushi, Sashimi
LONDON – The existence of a fifth taste — referred to as umami — has long been acknowledged in Japan, but without any direct English language translation, it is only comparatively recently that the trend for umami-rich food has hit the West.
Although the head chef of the highly rated Umu restaurant in London, Ichiro Kubota, has often been cited as having provided Londoners with a guaranteed "umami experience" since opening his restaurant in 2004, it has been somewhat more difficult to find the culinary experience elsewhere in Britain. Worldwide, people have unconsciously recognized the essence of umami since ancient times, but the official identification of the unique taste can be attributed to Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University during his research of the strong flavor of konbu (kelp) broth in 1908. While the definition is nearing its centenary in Japan, it was only in 1985 that the word umami became internationally recognized and the world acknowledged that there was a taste common with tomatoes, cheese and pork, for example, which did not fit with the four already well-known taste categories of sweet, sour, bitter and salty. Imparted by glutamate and ribonucleotides, umami is a subtle, savory taste that occurs naturally in many common foods used widely around the world, including fish, vegetables and dairy products. But umami is often most detectable in ingredients used specifically in Japanese cooking. Now British chefs are turning increasingly to previously unusual culinary items from Japan, including konbu, katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), niboshi (small dried sardines) and shiitake and enoki mushrooms to better capitalize on the powerful taste experience of umami. One such chef is science enthusiast Heston Blumenthal, proprietor of the world-renowned Michelin three-star Fat Duck restaurant in the southeast of England and himself a keen advocate of the use of konbu and dashi stock in Western cooking. In a recent interview published in Britain in the Japanese food and drink magazine Eat-Japan, Blumenthal details a particular creation of his, called Sound of the Sea, which is a seafood dish incorporating konbu and katsuobushi, and is designed to capture the overall experience of being at the seaside. Resembling a beach with a foamy lapping tide, the assembled ingredients are intended to be consumed while listening to the sounds of the sea on a restaurant-provided iPod Shuffle, and Blumenthal insists the maximized umami taste is a strong factor in the multisensory dining experience. "It's like an artist having another color to paint with," explained Tim Jacob, biosciences professor at the University of Cardiff in Wales, who has dedicated much of his studies to the importance of taste in driving appetites and to promoting the credibility of umami in the West. As well as offering Britons a taste variety, Jacob is keen to extol the health properties of a natural umami-rich diet, stating, "The U.K. diet is weighted toward carbohydrates and sweet things, whereas umami is satisfying but it doesn't come from carbohydrates and it's not linked to obesity." – The Japan Times Puffer Disguised as Salmon, 15 Die
BANGKOK, Thailand - Unscrupulous vendors in Thailand have been selling meat of the deadly puffer fish disguised as salmon, causing the deaths of more than 15 people over the past three years, a doctor said Thursday.
Although banned since 2002, puffer fish continues to be sold in large quantities at local markets and restaurants, said Narin Hiransuthikul of Bangkok's Chulalonkorn University Hospital. "Some sellers dye the meat of puffer fish and make it look like salmon which is very dangerous," Narin said. Narin said over the past three years more than 15 people have died and about 115 were hospitalized from eating the fish. The ovaries, liver and intestines of the puffer fish contain tetrodotoxin, a poison so potent that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it can "produce rapid and violent death." The fish is called fugu in Japan, where it is consumed by thrill-seeking Japanese gourmets for whom the risk of poisoning adds piquancy. Every year, there are reports of people dying or falling sick in Asia from eating puffer fish. Eating the fish can cause paralysis, vomiting, heart failure and death. – Associated Press <<<•>>> Tuesday, August 28, 2007 News: Why Lobstermen went on Strike
BANGOR, Me. –According to state and industry officials, approximately two-thirds of the 72.6 million pounds of lobster caught in Maine last year was shipped to Canada for processing.
With a total value of $297 million, that would mean $198 million worth of Maine lobster went to Canadian seafood processing companies in 2006. That does not include lobster that is shipped south out of state or to Europe, either for processing or to be sold in restaurants and food markets. So as hundreds of Maine lobstermen, in harbors ranging from Cutler to Casco Bay, have tied up their boats this week to protest the price they’re getting for their catch, the goal has not been just to get tourists and local lobster shacks to pay more for lobster. They say it is an attempt to send a message — to large-scale dealers and processors further along the global supply line — that the price they’re being offered is not enough to cover their operating expenses over the long term. Some fishermen believe the low price — as low as $3.50 per pound in some areas — is a result of collusion among some of the bigger distribution and processing companies. They say that consumer prices have stayed relatively stable but the boat price, or what they get for their catch, recently has gone down more sharply, leading many to believe that the boat price is being kept artificially low. Industry officials say many processors aren’t ordering as much lobster this year as they have in the past, which could indicate that processors already have a healthy supply of frozen lobster in storage. Fishermen and others have said this week they have heard that Canadian companies plan soon to reduce the amount of Maine lobster they buy, possibly as a counter-response to this week’s tie-ups. "The Canadian processors are not buying," food industry consultant Kristen Millar said Thursday. Until recently, Millar was executive director of the Maine Lobster Promotion Council. Millar said the distribution system for moving lobster out of Maine is inefficient and often results in the lobster passing through many sets of hands before it reaches the consumer. The level of competition among dealers is high, she said, and both consumers and processors sometimes opt for other, less expensive types of seafood that are becoming increasingly available worldwide. Dealers say they also are being squeezed in the middle, both between fishermen and processors and between the low prices and high costs. The relatively small number of Maine processors cannot handle the volume of lobster caught in Maine, Atwood said, which is why between 20 and 25 tractor-trailer loads of lobster cross the border from Maine into Canada every day. Canadian processing companies are becoming bigger players in the world seafood market, according to Atwood. Frozen lobster tails, the processors’ primary money-maker, can be made from different kinds of lobster caught in the Bahamas and Australia, he said, and the processors can concentrate on other seafood products that have lower cost margins, such as crab or shrimp. But Bob Bayer, executive director of the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine, downplayed the notion that Maine lobstermen may be the victim of indifference from the Canadian companies. He said annual increases in lobster landings in Maine over the past decade coincide with the Canadian processing facilities opening for business. Jack Merrill, a fisherman from Little Cranberry Island, said Thursday that the economic model that lobstermen work under is an anachronism in the modern global fishing industry. Unlike other fisheries, commercial lobstering in Maine consists of approximately 7,000 licensed independent owner-operators who fish and maintain their own gear, buy their own bait and fuel, and often pay an assistant to help them haul traps. And, according to Merrill, it is the only industry he can think of where the buyer sets the price for the product. Changes in the lobster market, he said, reflect broader changes in society where large national chains are coming into smaller towns and squeezing out local stores that have existed for decades. Maine lobstermen, he said, stand out in an increasingly corporate, global economy. – Bangor Daily News Feature: Get Paid to Eat
EUGENE, Ore. - Like food?
The Food Innovation Center in Portland will pay you to eat it. The organization, operated jointly by Oregon State University and Oregon Department of Agriculture researchers, allows just about anyone to volunteer their taste buds for science. Most research requests come from food manufacturers wanting to test their products against a competitor's or one of their own, Sensory Program Manager Ann Colonna said. Researchers are currently seeking seafood taste testers to evaluate salmon on Sept. 18 and 19, Colonna said. "We're looking for people who like to eat fish," she said. Volunteers will have to contact the Food Innovation Center in advance, but will walk away with at least $20 in their pocket. Researchers will also set up shop at two local events in Beaverton and Salem this weekend. On the menu: peaches today, breakfast bars on Sunday. But those tests will be administered outside the laboratory with no pay, in public settings where it's not hard to find volunteers - especially today at a Beaverton farmers' market, where peaches are the item of the day, Colonna said. "We can be pretty certain that anybody who walks by will be a peach eater," she said. "I actually have people wait in line. People love to give their opinions." At the request of the Washington State Fruit Commission, Colonna and other researchers will evaluate subjects' preferences for peaches regarding their texture, flavor and even juices, among other factors, Colonna said. Subjects will then record their responses onto a touch-screen computer. Peaches have proved to be a particularly popular product, Colonna said. At a previous public testing in Salem, she said more than 500 volunteers lined up. "That was probably one of the biggest testing days we've ever had," she said. This Sunday, the researchers will venture a little closer to Eugene, offering breakfast bars at the Oregon State Fair in Salem. But for aspiring taste-testers who can't make a trip to Beaverton or Salem this weekend, the Food Innovation Center offers ongoing tests at its Portland facility. Past research has sought opinions on just about every kind of food, including onion rings, wine, ice cream and garbanzo beans. Even seemingly repugnant foods can draw a crowd, Colonna said. "We actually did a raw oyster test here (in Portland), and we still had a lot of people come in who loved raw oysters," she said. "There's always a test for somebody." – Eugene (Ore.) Register-Guard New Seafood Entree: Cownose Rays
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - Thousands of cownose rays swimming in the Chesapeake Bay may soon surface on your dinner plate.
Despite a large population in the bay, the cownose ray has never been commercially fished for food. It has a leathery skin and tastes more like red meat than fish. But the ray is getting more attention these days for its high-protein, low-fat, beefy fillet. And the possibility of fishing for rays to help oysters and give watermen a new option to make money is suddenly setting off light bulbs over people's heads. Shirley Estes is the executive director of the Virginia Marine Products Board. She has been working to convince restaurateurs, distributors and grocers that what she calls the "Chesapeake ray" belongs on their menus and in their seafood cases. She calls the opportunity to market ray an extremely rare chance in the seafood world to actually bring forward a new product. – Associated Press Florida Worst in Food-borne Diseases
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — You may want to think about picking your restaurant carefully if you are eating out in Florida, especially if you like seafood.
A new report issued by Healthinspections.com, a Web site that publicizes data from government health inspections, found that more outbreaks of food-borne illness were recorded in Florida than any other state. Eating seafood and ethnic food were the leading causes of food poisoning in Florida, according to the report, followed by dining at the popular all-you-can eat buffets. Florida had 77 separate outbreaks of food-borne illness cases tied to the state's 29,729 restaurants during 2005, the most current year for which statistics are available. Though California has twice as many restaurants as Florida, with 58,426, it ranked second with 62 outbreaks. Ohio ranked third with 38 outbreaks, followed by Michigan with 35 and New York with 31. Roberta Hammond, a food-borne illness expert for the Florida Department of Health, said Florida's numbers could be higher because the state has a strict system for tracking illnesses caused by water and food. Rich Carlish, of Hollywood, Fla., said the industry nationwide has problems. When he eats out locally, Carlish said, he often sees food workers at fast-food restaurants failing to wash their hands, one of the main causes behind food-borne sickness. "Regulators should take this seriously, but they won't," said Carlish, author of Restaurants: It's a Dirty Business, who spent 20 years managing restaurants in North Carolina and New Jersey. "You got a lot of unqualified people managing restaurants." Consumer advocates said the report highlights the need for more training and education, and more frequent inspections. They said gaining easy access to food inspection reports is important to consumers. Based in North Carolina, Healthinspections.com is a public service site affiliated with a software company that works with health departments nationwide. – South Florida Sun Sentinel News: Bluefin Tuna Nearly Gone in Gulf of Maine DURHAM, N.H. – Giant bluefin tuna fisheries in the Gulf of Maine are in danger of collapse, with the number of fish declining markedly in recent years, according to University of New Hampshire researchers.Precisely why the numbers of bluefins are falling is unclear, but UNH researchers say it is likely the result of a number of factors, including over-fishing from European countries in the Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea and shifts in migration and foraging patterns due to global warming. Although the cause of the decline, both in the number and quality of fish, is uncertain, the effects are obvious. In the mid-1990s, UNH scientists documented 500 to 900 schools of bluefin tuna in the Gulf of Maine averaging 100 to 150 fish each, said Molly Lutcavage, director of UNH's Large Pelagics Research Center. She said only a "few" schools would be seen in today's waters. "The horrifying reality is that the huge decline in abundance happened so quickly," she said. The toll is evident in the number of commercial tuna fishing permits, says Rich Ruais, executive director of the East Coast Tuna Association, who estimates that in the mid-1990s, there were 15,000 permits from Maine down to Texas, where today there are about 4,400. As stocks of bluefin tuna continue to dwindle, many commercial fishermen have either stopped fishing them or been forced to diversify their fishing to make ends meet, Ruais said. "In New England, if you're a commercial fisherman, to survive you have to be multi-species oriented," he said, noting that in the tuna-fishing prime of the 1980s and 1990s, many made a living fishing just tuna during the summer season. East vs. West With relatively low fishing quotas strictly enforced in the Western Atlantic, many are pointing to Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean fisherman for the decline in stocks. Atlantic bluefin tuna are known for being highly migratory, with spawning grounds in the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean. The bluefins that come to New England waters, typically do so in June and stay as late as October foraging. But there is much mixing of stocks between the Eastern and Western Atlantic and much remains unknown about where the fish spend the rest of the year. Tagging from UNH scientists has shown the fish travel long distances, often mixing with stocks in the Eastern Atlantic, Lutcavage said. The Western Atlantic's bluefin quota is about 2,500 metric tons per year, while the Eastern's is more than 10 times that, with many fisherman pulling out even more fish than that, she said, hurting populations stateside. Fish farms in Europe are flooding the market with tuna and keeping prices low for consumers worldwide even as stocks along America's coast continue to decline, Ruais said. Quality declining Worse still, the quality of fish caught has declined, too. Walter Golet, a graduate student at UNH's Large Pelagics Research Lab, analyzed Campbell's fishing logs from 1991 to 2004 and discovered that fish caught today are leaner and have a smaller fat content, making them less valuable. Some, like Campbell, hope the recent downturn is cyclical and that the fish will return, but others aren't so sure. Lutcavage said the best way to increase stocks in the Western Atlantic is to strictly enforce lower fishing quotas in the Eastern Atlantic, but European Union regulators have done little to reduce catches even as their scientists advise them otherwise. – New Hampshire Union Leader <<<•>>> Wednesday, August 29, 2007 News: Marine Industries, Fish Houses Fading from N.C. CHARLOTTE, N.C. – From Calabash on the South Carolina line to Currituck, more than 300 miles north near the back bays of Tidewater Virginia, marine industries have flourished in North Carolina nearly 400 years. But, according to Business North Carolina magazine, the working coast is rapidly shrinking in the state.The decline crosses nearly all sectors. In 1995, the state seafood industry ranked 10th in the nation. A decade later it was 14th, with annual sales falling nearly 40% to $65 million. From 2000 through 2006, 39 of the state’s 117 fish houses closed. The number of fishing piers has dropped from 36 in 1980 to fewer than 20 now. Beaufort Fisheries, the last fish factory in the state, closed three years ago. What’s the reason for the decline? Imports have driven down seafood prices, and increased high-end development along the coast has made the land too valuable to keep for many seafood-industry owners. Lot prices nearly tripled in many coastal communities from 2000 to 2006. Many say change is inevitable and not all bad. A relatively new industry, building upscale boats, is thriving. Fishermen and fish-house operators are getting record prices for their property, which one real-estate agent calls their version of a retirement plan. But others decry the loss of a way of life. And the state has recently stepped in, adopting several key measures aimed at preserving waterfront businesses and access. – Business North Carolina Food Myths: Flake Style Seafood Just Flakey
We talk and talk of processed foods, and we love 'em even as we denounce 'em. Few among us don't have fond memories of neon-orange Cheeto dust making our fingerprints and our parents' walls far more colorful than they ever should have been.
But the stories of American food have been commandeered and manipulated through so many generations of carefully calibrated marketing that it's become difficult to discern what's real. Let's examine two case studies of questionable reality that have become such a part of their products' fabric to become virtually invisible. Don't mock me Consider the Louis Kemp Seafood Co. product "Crab Delights," which features an even more intriguing modifier: "Flake Style." The major ingredient is usually a basic fish — in this case "real, premium steam-baked Alaskan Pacific White Fish" (that's a lot of adjectives) — that has been broken down into its organic parts and reconstituted as crab doppelganger. Or, in some cases, lobster and scallop stand-ins. Crab flavoring has been pumped in, as have enough water and emulsifiers to approximate crabby texture. Reddish-orange coloring attached to one edge of each piece lends further visual authenticity. Finally, we have "flake style." In this varietal, the biomatter has been reconstituted to approximate how real crab meat flakes when it's pulled out of the unfortunate crustacean that donated it. (Other styles include "chunk style," "leg style" and "easy shreds," which "offers up "the great taste of crab, pre-shredded for your convenience.") The Louis Kemp Web site, pointing out that North Americans consume more than 170 million pounds of surimi each year, actually asserts that the impostor has become a genuine article and that the company, "through consumer education and marketing programs, has helped change the way people think of surimi seafood." Now, the company says, its offerings are seen as "much more than imitation shellfish. They're simply nutritious, economical and delicious seafood products." They just happen to be from crabs, scallops and lobsters that never actually existed. That krazy Kris Snapple, which makes a living dreaming up new and fruitier flavors of iced tea and juice like drinks, offers a tasty concoction that's half lemonade, half iced tea and marketed under the name "Kris's Mix-Up." The story on the side of the bottle goes like this: "One day, Kris — a long-time Snapple Mixologist — accidentally mixed a batch of Iced Tea with Lemonade (she made us promise not to say how it happened). Everybody thought the mix tasted so good that it was made into a new Snapple flavor. Let us know what you think of Kris's Mix-Up." The cartoon on the front of the bottle shows a pony tailed, slightly wacky woman — Kris, presumably — gleefully pouring two pitchers into a wooden barrel. One contains lemonade, the other iced tea. This presents problems. It seems implausible that Snapple is regularly mixed in open wooden barrels by wacky women pouring pitchers. Also, right there on the bottle, it says, "Lemon Juice from Concentrate and Natural Flavors." That sort of casts the "mix-up" into doubt. Finally, ingredients include "gum arabic," an unlikely contributor to homespun pitchers of refreshment. So what, you say? Why does this stuff matter? Consider: Multiply this a thousand times by a million corporate dollars and you get a landscape of food fiction in which we have no idea what we're really eating and where it really came from. We know things are artificially colored and flavored. We accept that. But creating artificial narratives as well? It just feels a bit icky to create stories that tap into our sense of comfort even as we acknowledge, consciously, that the real story may be different. We want to believe. There is an actual Kris, according to a 1999 CreativeMag.com review of the tea-lemonade hybrid. It says Kris' Mix-Up is named for Snapple employee Kris Mains, a "manager and flavor specialist in Snapple's Research and Development department." That's a revelation as refreshing as a Snapple itself. But let's not forget that Kris is an R&D "flavor specialist." Still think she had an accident with two pitchers and a wooden barrel? – Ted Anthony, writing in the Daily Herald, Chicago Food: Some Seaweed can Contain Arsenic
Q: I have seen some warnings about hijiki seaweed as a possible source of high levels of arsenic. How alarmed should I be?
A: Hijiki, the branched seaweed frequently used in small amounts in salads and garnishes, and other kinds of seaweed do contain more arsenic than other foods, but no arsenic-related health problems have been traced to hijiki in the United States. But seaweed arsenic is a matter of concern and is under study, along with arsenic levels from known risks like contaminated water and soil. To better assess arsenic levels, the National Exposure Research Laboratory of the Environmental Protection Agency announced plans in 2004 to develop a database of how much of which kinds of arsenic are found in several target foods, including seafood, rice, carrots and apples. One problem is that food testing efficiency varies widely. For example, for commercially available seaweed and sushi wraps, extraction efficiency ranged from 26 percent to 73 percent, and the testing did not differentiate well between kinds of arsenic found in a sample. There are many forms of arsenic, both naturally occurring and from mining, industry and pesticides. What is sometimes called fish arsenic has a lower toxicity than other kinds and is rapidly excreted in urine, but seaweed may also contain high levels of more toxic inorganic arsenic. – New York Times Restaurants: Country of Origin for Catfish
LAYFAYETTE, La. – The Catfish Institute of the U.S. is spearheading a drive to require that country of origin labels for imported food be displayed on restaurant menus. The institute says congressional hearings and ongoing news reports of health threats from China suggest the federal government can't effectively protect Americans from contaminated food imports. The labels, according to the institute, would assist consumers with self-protection.
Such labels would also help protect the Louisiana seafood industry from unfair foreign competition. The problem is particularly acute for Americans who eat catfish regularly. Cheap and often contaminated fish imported from Asia have captured about one-third of the catfish market in the U.S., the institute says. Seventy percent of catfish is consumed in restaurants, where there is no obligation to identify on menus the country of origin. The current Congressional session will resume shortly, and we hope our readers will contact their senators and representatives to urge passage of a committee-approved bill mandating country of origin labels on restaurant menus. A Catfish Institute survey shows that 96 percent of consumers would like to know if the catfish served in restaurants is imported. According to the Food and Drug Administration, Chinese catfish have been found to contain a number of illegal substances including malachite green and crystal violet, strong industrial dyes and known carcinogens used by Asian fish farmers to kill fungus and microorganisms. Banned fluoroquinolone antibiotics have also been found. This antibiotic family is banned in the U.S. for use in food because consumers quickly build-up a resistance to the drugs, rendering them ineffective when needed for medical treatment. The FDA says it is doing a good job of keeping dangerous products out of the food supply. Yet Alabama officials have checked 94 samples of Chinese catfish since March and found that 41 tested positive for fluoroquinolones. Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana also have found banned drugs in imported seafood. According to The New York Times, FDA personnel "inspect less than 1 percent of all imported foods and conduct laboratory analysis on only a tiny fraction of those." Entry reviewers at one FDA field office have so many items to screen that they typically have less than 30 seconds to decide whether an import needs closer scrutiny, according to the Times. Congress will take up the labeling bill when the session resumes. Opponents will argue that cost of complying will be prohibitive. Other imported food products are labeled, however, without the adverse effects predicted by opponents. With the health threats identified in Asian products and the FDA's inability to provide adequate checks on imports, Americans need to be able to protect themselves. Identifying the country of origin of seafood on restaurant menus will help to guarantee such protection. Along with the labels, we need to push for better resources for the FDA. – The Daily Advertiser, Lafayette, La. <<<•>>> Thursday, August 30, 2007 Wine: Pairing with Sushi DALLAS – This month, our tasting panel got serious about pairing wine with sushi. Casual yet luxurious, sushi is fast becoming a popular takeout dinner from restaurants and supermarkets.Pairing sushi with a randomly selected white wine won't necessarily ruin your meal, but it may not bring out the best in it. Fish this fresh and pristine deserves a good wine match. Finding good wines was such a challenge that it took us two rounds of tasting. First, we picked up sushi from Whole Foods Market on Preston Road to sample with 15 promising wines under $20, all but one of them whites. We thought the hard part would be trimming a long list of contenders. We were wrong. Although most of the wines were outstanding on their own, only a few met our criteria. We wanted wines that enhanced the sushi experience – that harmonized with the contrasting flavors in a standard sushi order: fish, rice, soy sauce, wasabi and an occasional bite of pickled ginger. We sought a wine that walked the tightrope of holding its own with these flavors, while letting the sushi shine. Some wines overpowered, others washed out and a few were simply unremarkable. Armed with hindsight, we chose different wines and reconvened at Little Katana, a Japanese restaurant and sushi bar on Travis Street. This time, we sampled a wider array of sushi and added sashimi. Out of 13 wines sampled, we found six winners. Alas, one has since vanished from Dallas. The verdict? There are some great Western wine matches for sushi, but they aren't obvious choices. Our winners spanned the globe: from an Alsatian pinot gris, to a Bordeaux blanc, to a California blend of six varietals. In addition, we even found a red wine suitable for strong-flavored or fatty fish. 2006 Tangent Ecclestone, Edna Valley, California 2005 Chateau Reynon, Bordeaux Blanc, France Scharffenberger Brut Sparkling Wine, California Rive della Chiesa Extra Dry Prosecco 2005 Lucien Albrecht Pinot Gris Cuvée Romanus, France Casal Garcia Vinho Verde, Portugal 2004 Ferrari-Carano Merlot, California What about sake? Although our wine tasting focused on Western wine with sushi, we also paid respect to an original sushi wine: sake. Here's a big bottle to buy if you're having a sushi party. Aramasa (Reformation) Junmai Sake Akita Prefecture – Dallas Morning News On the Web: Red Lobster Rebranding
In an effort to follow the market toward healthier menus, and a "fresh food" brand position, Red Lobster has launched a new rich-media Web site with video features, a "chef's blog," an interactive kitchen, a fresh-fish recipe book and videocasts.
The new Redlobster.com has content on healthy eating and video featuring Red Lobster's senior executive chef Michael LaDuke and executive chef Darryl Mickler. In the Chef's Blog, LaDuke and Mickler answer recipe requests and cooking questions, talk about seafood recipes and tout menu items like Maple-Glazed Salmon and Shrimp, which are featured in new ads. The two will also host videocasts from different locales. The first will be on Cape Cod, which will feature fresh seafood tips and how-to preparations from Red Lobster. The Interactive Kitchen feature has a virtual "Chef's Notebook," "Wine Cellar," a Seafood Guide that highlights regional textures and flavors and a Test Kitchen. A Gourmet Gallery comprises videocasts on fish-market shopping secrets and cooking demos. The site also offers a Virtual Fresh Fish Cookbook with recipes and tips as well as a Seafood & Health section that has a calorie counter. Richards Group, Dallas, is creative AOR. Digital agency Real Branding, San Francisco and GCI, Atlanta, Red Lobster's PR firm, worked on the rich-media redesign. A spokesperson says the new site is an extension of Richards Group's new campaign for the Orlando, Fla.-based company, which launched in July to support Red Lobster's foray into a fresh-fish menu expansion. The new effort, which also introduced a new tag line, "Come see what's fresh today," highlights Red Lobster's daily fresh-fish menu, including red snapper, blackened tilapia and rainbow trout. Also part of the rebranding is a "Maine coast"-themed redesign program for its more than 680 restaurants, the first of which opened in Dallas last month. The company is also introducing new plates, silverware, menus and other table amenities. – Marketing Daily News: Small Lobster Nets Fisherman $3,000 Fine
John E. Caines of Rencontre East was fined $3,000 and prohibited from fishing lobster for the first two days of the 2008 commercial lobster season after being convicted of the offense in provincial court in Harbour Breton June 12.
On the same day, Jeffrey R. Roberts of Hermitage and Howard Loveless of Seal Cove were convicted in Harbour Breton provincial court of possession of v-notched female lobster. Roberts was fined $1,000. Loveless was fined $1,000 and prohibited from fishing lobster for five days at the start of the 2008 commercial lobster season. On May 8, 2006, while conducting a lobster patrol in Fortune Bay, fishery officers from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ office in Harbour Breton carried out an inspection on Caines at the lobster buyers float in Rencontre East. The inspection included a catch check which revealed that Caines was in possession of 12 lobster that were less than 82.5 mm in length, which is the minimum legal length. The undersized lobster were seized and returned to the water. On May 5, 2007, while conducting a lobster patrol in Hermitage Bay, fishery officers from the DFO office in Harbour Breton, conducted an inspection on Roberts near Gaultois. The inspection included a catch check that revealed two v-notched female lobster. The lobster were seized and returned to the water. On June 8, 2006, while conducting a lobster patrol in Connaigre Bay, fishery officers from the DFO office in Harbour Breton conducted an inspection on Loveless at Seal Cove. The inspection included a catch check that revealed two v-notched female lobster in Loveless’ holding crate. The lobster were seized and returned to the water. In St. John’s, Wayne Joseph Lee and Scott Francis Comerford of Riverhead, St. Mary’s, were convicted Aug. 10 in provincial court of exceeding the daily bag limit for recreational groundfish. Kevin Hearn of St. John’s was also convicted on Aug. 10 of exceeding the daily bag limit for trout. Lee was fined $500 and forfeited 14 codfish to the Crown. Comerford was fined $500. Hearn was fined $500 and forfeited 36 trout and a rod, reel and line to the Crown. On July 28, while conducting a routine patrol, fishery officers from the Placentia and Trepassey offices, discovered that Lee and Comerford had exceeded the daily bag limit for recreational groundfish. On June 24, two guardians from the Placentia detachment inspected Hearn in the Salmonier area and discovered he had gone fishing that same morning. When his basket was checked, 36 trout were found, thus exceeding the daily bag limit of 12 by 24 trout. - The Telegram, St. John’s, Newfoundland News: Restoring Native Chesapeake Oysters
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – State officials endorsed a new plan for restoring native oysters in the Chesapeake Bay, including a recommendation that Virginia double its spending next year on the struggling program.
But to many watermen and seafood merchants, the plan sounded eerily like old ones that have done little to reverse population declines in recent decades. During that time, diseases, lost habitat, poor water quality and overharvesting have nearly wiped out the signatures species in the Bay. "I do not understand why we implement the same management plan over and over," C. Robert Johnson, who owns Johnson & Sons Seafood in Suffolk, told the Virginia Marine Resources Commission at a meeting in Newport News. Johnson was a member of a state-appointed Blue Ribbon Oyster Panel that spent the past year studying restoration efforts to date and recommending new strategies. The panel's conclusions were debated Tuesday. While sympathizing with the plight of Virginia's devastated oyster industry, state commission members said they had to keep trying different methods. And in the end, the commission voted unanimously for the plan. Environmental groups including the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and The Nature Conservancy backed the plan, as did the commission's top science advisers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. It calls on Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and Virginia lawmakers to appropriate $2.5 million next year for native oyster projects, up from $1.2 million this year. Among its innovations, the plan urges a "rotating system" of oyster sanctuaries and harvest zones. The first one, in the lower Rappahannock River, would allow watermen to gather oysters in previously closed areas. At the same time, these commercial fishermen would be paid to keep large adult oysters, which likely are resistant to diseases, and transport them to sanctuaries so they can keep spawning what officials hope is a genetically tougher species. If fruitful, the state might try the same system in tributaries of the Potomac River, in Pocomoke and Tangier sounds, and in the lower James River, said Jack Travelstead, state director of fisheries. – The Virginian Pilot, Hampton Roads, Va. Waiter! There’s Ice in My Soup LOS ANGELES – Summer in Koreatown has long been marked by the sounds of slurping. The season for naeng myun — cold noodles — is now in full swing, and at restaurants across the neighborhood, huge bowlfuls of chewy buckwheat noodles quickly disappear. Occasionally there are pauses for a spoonful of icy-cold tangy broth, a bite of crunchy pickled daikon or cucumber, a sliver of crisp-sweet Asian pear, or a slice of tender beef brisket.Naeng myun is a light, refreshing dish from North Korea especially popular during the humid summers of the Korean peninsula's monsoon season. At the restaurant chain Yu Chun in Los Angeles, the broth is icy cold — with snowy, shaved ice piled on top. It's not unheard of at restaurants here to find ice cubes floating in one's broth, although the practice of adding ice isn't de rigueur in the Koreas. The soup is traditionally made with a combination of beef broth and dongchimi brine (the clear liquid used for pickling a particular type of daikon kimchi), and its cold temperature doesn't stun or overwhelm so much as heighten the interplay between sweet noodles and sour soup. In mul naeng myun (cold noodles in soup), the most popular preparation of naeng myun, noodles are piled high in the cool, beefy-tangy broth. Other traditional styles include hoe naeng myun (cold noodles with raw fish), in which the noodles are topped with slices of raw fish and mixed with a chile-pepper dressing, and yeolmu naeng myun (cold noodles with young radish), served with fermented baby radish in the soup. Mul naeng myun always comes with that neat stack of thinly sliced beef, typically brisket or shank, lightly pickled cucumber and daikon, sliced pear and half a hard-boiled egg — a small mountain of chewy and crunchy textures. The slurping may not commence, however, without a dollop of Asian hot mustard, a splash of vinegar and a sprinkling of sugar administered table side. Tangy mul naeng myun is so popular a refresher that it also doubles as a palate cleanser after a main course of kalbi, Korean barbecue beef short ribs. Large bowls of it are dropped off at the table like entree-size desserts, complete with new sets of chopsticks and soup spoons. The sweet noodles and cold broth feel just right after the parade of sticky, sauced beef. Making the dish from scratch requires only enough time to make a quick beef stock and enough patience to allow the soup to cool to an icy temperature. Most important, according to several Korean restaurants with a signature naeng myun, is striking the right balance between homemade beef broth and the dongchimi (watery radish kimchi) brine, sold in large tubs at most Korean grocers. The brine typically is made with water, garlic, ginger, green onions, chiles and pear. – Los Angeles Times <<<•>>> Friday, August 31, 2007 In India, Fish is Brain Food Here are a few reasons to eat a variety of fish and shellfish as part of a balanced diet.Fish is an excellent low-fat food Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fatty acids found in all seafood, including shellfish, oysters and shrimp. Most shellfish and white-fleshed fish like flounder and even some dark-fleshed fish like yellow-fin tuna contain less total fat than any other form of animal protein. 60 per cent of the brain’s solid matter is composed of essential fatty acids. Omega-3 fats found in cold water fish make up a large portion of the communicating membranes of the brain. Brain cells must constantly refresh themselves with a new supply of fatty acids. DHA is a particular omega-3 fatty acid found in fish that appears to boost brain development. A great source of protein, vitamins and minerals Marine fish including vitamins A and D, phosphorus, magnesium, selenium, and iodine. The protein — like that of meat — is easily digestible and favorably complements dietary protein provided by cereals and legumes that are typically consumed in many developing countries. Calcium is an added bonus offered by canned salmon. The bones in canned salmon are soft and edible, making canned salmon an excellent source of dietary calcium, vital in the fight against osteoporosis. The oils in fish are important for unborn and breastfed babies DHA is critical to infant eye and vision development. Pregnant women who eat more of a key fatty acid found in fish have babies who show signs of more mature brain development, according to a new study. Those newborns whose mothers had more of it in their blood had heartier sleep patterns in the first 48 hours after delivery compared to those whose mothers consumed less of the compound, known as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Fatty fish such as tuna, mackerel and sardine are particularly a good choice for the diet of pregnant and lactating women. Eating a variety of fish helps to reduce your chances of stroke or heart attack Two recent Harvard studies support the American Heart Association’s advice to make fish a regular part of a heart healthy diet. As reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association and the New England Journal of Medicine, several weekly servings of fish — a prime source of omega-3 fatty acids — seem to help protect both men and women from heart disease. Omega-3 fatty acids, as components of the phospholipids in cellular membranes, may help guard against cardiac death by protecting the heart cells from the effects of ventricular tachycardia. These fatty acids may also inhibit the development of heart disease by lowering triglyceride levels and by reducing platelet aggregation. There is also some evidence that omega-3s may help improve endothelial dysfunction, an indication of developing atherosclerosis. Cold-water fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel, and herring are particularly good sources of omega-3s, but most varieties of fish contain some fat in this form. Fish, like aspirin, keep platelets from clumping and, therefore, help prevent clots. – The Times of India Restaurant: Fight with Otter for your Dinner
NANAIMO, British Columbia – Carole Seggie recently found herself in a tug of war over a 40-pound ling cod. She held onto the frozen tail, while a hungry sea otter aggressively pulled on the head.
Seggie has been serving fresh food at Trollers Fish and Chip Stand on Nanaimo's waterfront for years. She works hard and she is "quite strong," she said. But the eager otter won the battle of the fish that day as he made off with his heavy dinner. At least two, but sometimes eight, sea otters come snooping around the back of her floating restaurant. The hungry critters have been around for at least four years, but have become a particular nuisance in the past year. The otters come up through a hole used for discarding fish remnants from the prepared meals inside the kitchen. Once on board, they get into whatever they can in search of food. They have opened the fridges to steal fish and have even tried coming into the kitchen. Seggie's staff flip through photo albums and point to a series of photos taken over the years. They laugh about the time when one otter came to the kitchen doorway, opened a cardboard box and made off with a five-pound bag of shrimp. "He swam away with it and kept trying to take it under the water with him, but (because of the air) he kept floating back to the surface," Seggie laughed as she ran a sharp blade along a lengthy piece of cod. To fill in for the busy Seggie, crew member Ashton Rintala finished telling the story: "He ended up swimming across to the shore. He sat there on the rocks and tore open the bag, eating everything right in front of us." Despite the animals' slightly "annoying" behavior, Rintala and her coworkers don't mind having the otters come by every other day. Around the corner and further down the dock, however, Margaret Harvey would not mind if they disappeared. The owner of a raw seafood stand sells fresh fish from her boat, the Iron Maiden. She has caught the otters opening the heavy lids of her large blue totes, where she keeps most of her food on ice. They take crab, whole salmon — whatever they can get. "They can get into anything," she said. "If it's not locked down, they get right in there. I have no patience for them." – Nanaimo (B.C.) Daily News Langoustines keep Scottish Fishermen Afloat
Editor’s note: Langoustine are good, but keep in mind that some North American fish houses object to calling them lobster.
Whether you call them Dublin Bay prawns, Norway lobsters, or Scottish langoustine as the marketers would prefer, the beleaguered Scottish fishing industry agrees that pink crustaceans are scrabbling to its rescue. Strong demand from the Continent for the small lobsters, similar but distinct to large prawns, are proving a valuable source of income to trawlers that have been hit by the decline of cod and haddock in the North Sea. The price of whole langoustine has risen 12 per cent in the past year and the European quota for landing them is rising too, in line with the number being found on the seabed, according to Seafood Scotland, the industry body. Scotland currently lands the world's largest catches of langoustine, about 25,000 tons a year in an industry worth £85m to the UK, said Nicki Holmyard, communications manager for Seafood Scotland. "It's an industry which is growing. The quotas for landings are good and are increasing and it's being fished sustainably." She added that while buyers in France, Spain and Italy were willing to pay premium prices for whole langoustine, British people were less enthusiastic and tails were made into scampi here. "People are often frightened of things with a shell. They prefer things that are ready shelled and that's something we're trying to work on," she said. Seafood Scotland acknowledged the abundance of langoustine may have been caused by the steep decline in cod, which eats shellfish and which has been fished to the brink of commercial extinction around the UK. One of the two methods of catching langoustine — along with lobster pots called creels — is bottom dredging. That damages wildlife on the seabed but langoustines can continue breeding because females burrow into the mud when they have eggs. Fishing is an important industry in Scotland, employing about 5,000 trawlermen, and 27,000 people across the industry. However the number of boats fell by 48 per cent in the 10 years to 2003 and 165 boats were decommissioned from the whitefish fleet, which catches cod and haddock, between 2001 and 2003. – The Independent, U.K. Which Fish are Best for the Grill?
Thanks to improved transportation, refrigeration and freezing, our selection of seafood has never been better. Not all seafood, especially delicate varieties, grills well. Most fishmongers can point out the varieties best suited for grilling.
Following are five of their top picks: Salmon: This fresh and saltwater fish is sold in steaks or fillets. Both are dense enough and, at 1 to 2 inches thick, perfect for the grill. High in omega-3 oil, consumers can choose between salmon caught in the wild or farm raised. Sea bass: A fish with good-sized white fillets, a mild flavor, a pleasantly firm texture and a high fat content. This combination makes it hard to overcook on the grill. Mahi mahi: An exceptionally versatile fish, its thick white meat and delicate flavor make it a grill favorite. Grill as steaks, or cut into squares, grill and serve as an appetizer. Halibut: This saltwater fish has little oil and no overpowering flavor. Available in steaks with or without bones, it takes simple citrus marinades wonderfully. Be sure not to overcook it so it doesn't dry out. Shrimp: For a quick and easy meal, grill medium to colossal shrimp for about three minutes per side. Large shrimp can be placed directly on the grill. Secure smaller shrimp with skewers to prevent them from falling through the grate. – The Courier Post, New Jersey Mercury Scare Vastly Over-blown NEW YORK – Eaten sushi in the past week? How about fish? Most likely, the answer is yes.American Council on Science and Health staffers are all familiar with the mercury hype — telling us to watch what we put in our mouths, that our salmon is not just filled with healthy omega-3s but also with metal. A hitherto unknown group calling itself GotMercury.org just released a study warning New Yorkers against eating out at favorite sushi locales like Haru and Benihana because 20 percent of the fish samples the group analyzed contained mercury levels higher than 1 part per million. At this level or higher, the FDA has the authority to prohibit the fish from being sold to consumers. If there were evidence pointing to undeniable health risks from consuming tiny doses of mercury in fish, we'd be concerned as well. But in reality, minute levels of mercury in fish and seafood pose no risk to human health, says ACSH's Dr. Gil Ross. Recent studies have shown that those who eat more fish have better heart health. And even in pregnant women, the newborns of those who eat more fish have better psychomotor development than those of women who eat less fish. GotMercury.org should keep fishing for more substantive health scares. – American Council on Science and Health, New York |