Sustainable Sushi
Arts & Culture ( 15 )
This is an interesting read for anyone concerned with sustainability and seafood. Trenor’s passion for the topic is evident in the vast amount of research he presents.
Unfortunately, some of the kanji for fish types are incorrect and some of the photos don’t match the seafood under discussion. If you can overlook these quibbles, “Sustainable Sushi” is packed with information about fish origins, mercury levels, PCBs, fishing methods, the “farmed vs. wild” issue and more.
Fish are designated with colors according to how endangered they are: green (enjoy), yellow (use caution) or red (avoid). Keep in mind that this book is targeted to readers in North America, so sourcing for seafood in Japan is naturally different. (Metropolis magazine)
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15 Comments
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gaijintraveller
Maybe the kanji for fish names are different in North America, too. Many overseas sushi shops are run by Chinese or Koreans, not Japanese, which could explain this.
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OssanAmerica
Why do I get the feeling that whoever wrote this isn't Japanese at all. Hell anyone can learn the kanji for fish by staring at the teacup enough times.
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Sarge
"green ( enjoy )"
If I ever ate green maguro, I don'tthink I would enjoy it.
"red ( avoid )"
I always avoid that red tarako stuff.
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outofmydepth
"vast amount of research" - obviously not enough research if some of the kanji are incorrect and the pictures don`t match some of the fish.
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stirfry
if the easy stuff like photos and captions are incorrect, should we really believe the rest of the book is on the level ?
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pawatan
This. Bad research in some areas is a good indication of bad research in other areas.
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abromofo
Ahhh, the sea. It's just like a big pantry, isn't it? But I don't think there's any need to worry about sustainability of seafood. Does anyone really know how many fish there are swimming around? Anyway, if one species did actually become extinct, nature would bump up some other delicious species to take it's place.
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sf2k
@abromoto
I suppose you're joking. Fish are in worldwide decline as we vacuum out fish at ever increasing numbers. Fish farms don't work as well as it concentrates too many fish in one area leading to disease and excessive waste water. As fish is a major staple of protein in Japan I wonder what it'll do for food? With nobody preparing for this disaster it won't be pretty.
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Badsey
I have seen an urban farming technique where fish and plants grow together. This technique cleans the water and feeds the plants. Even trout/perch (difficult varieties) were grown under this format with a very low <1% death rate (he had none for his trout) and no chemicals or fertilizer used.
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sf2k
sounds good badsey, I wonder though will it scale to a commercial operation as you would need more farms?
This points out that all these ideas are good, it's more an issue of scalability, which often isn't the case and becomes a major let down.
We may just have to eat fewer fish to compensate
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biglittleman
I knew a neighbor who had a small sustainable private eco system like that setup in his backyard. It was really cool. Everything there somehow contributed to others allowing for mutual growth. If only all technology was conceived that why.
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OssanAmerica
Considering that fish farms, both fresh and saltwater have been operating succesfully in many countries around the world for a couple decades now, I find the above statement strange. Indeed there are problems with farming and those have been highlighted and widely publicized mostly by the wild-fish supporters as being indicative of all aquafarming operations. This simply isn't true. Go to any fish section in any supermarket in the developed world and see how many products on sale have been "farmed".
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Badsey
www.growingpower.org -aquaponics.
You have your fish and plants in an enclosed urban environment (water is recycled). Nitrates-->Nitrite--->Nitrogen breakdown happens in the rock filtration area by bacteria.
Each fish tank has 1000-3000 fish (7tanks? Total) There is a yellow perch decline in the Great Lakes, this is the first system that was successful in growing Yellow perch (I believe).
I believe this man is also at the forefront of this research (art). -He is the best at this time. There is a PBS special on him.
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