Top chefs from around Canada gathered at the Vancouver Four Seasons Hotel with industry people and seafood lovers on Friday, May 3rd to show their support of making National Sustainable Seafood Day official in Canada - a day is to declare our commitment to choosing ocean-friendly seafood year-round. The event was presented by Vancouver Aquarium's Ocean Wise, SeaChoice and Blueyou Consulting and featured ocean-friendly seafood tastings and inspirational guest speakers including Dr. David Suzuki and Barton Seaver. 

It was a sold out event, the ballroom was packed with people who had come out support the cause!

The twelve chefs each created their own dish featuring ocean-friendly seafood generously donated by different sponsors from the seafood industry. Everything was so delicious and it was even more satisfying because I knew we were not harming the environment by eating them!

Chef Whittaker of Forage Restaurant prepared some delicious mussels for us.

Salish mussels, farmed and raised by Fanny Bay Oysters, with foraged greens, pickled hop shoots and ruby ale dressing.

Chef Robert Wong of The Original Szechuan Chong Qing Restaurant, the first Chinese restaurant to go Ocean Wise, served Qualicum Bay scallops from Fanny Bay Oysters and Taylor Shellfish.

Szechuan scallops with Szechuan chili sauce and Fagara spice.

Chef Ben Genaille from Thompson Rivers University featured ThisFish traceable sablefish from Dan Edwards of the Helen 2.



Sablefish a la "Helen 2" with Sunchokes, Smoked Maple Bannock, Corn Sprout "Salad"


Chef Kyle Groves of Catch & The Oyster Bar in Calgary put his seafood twist on the traditional cowboy breakfast featuring closed containment farmed salmon courtesy of Albion Fisheries.

Cowboy Breakfast with Eggs, Beans and Pancakes. They were soooo good!


Chef Lee Humphries from C Restaurant featured Northern Divine sturgeon and caviar in his bite sized seafood creation.

Cured Sturgeon with Creme Fraiche, Green Onions and Northern Divine Caviar.

Northern Divine Caviar's sturgeons are raised in closed containers on land making them the first producer of certified organic caviar in North America. It takes 13 years for the fish to mature and its eggs to be ready to harvest! That takes quite the commitment!  

We also got to try the caviar by itself.

They put it on our hand first and let us collect it into our mouth. We let it sit on our tongue for about 30s to taste the brininess then burst the eggs on the roof of our mouth for a nutty and buttery finish. This was the first time I've ever had caviar and it was divine. Northern Divine is sure aptly named! Each container of Northern Divine caviar contains eggs from the same fish and are labeled so if you like the caviar from a particular fish, they can get the exact one for you!


The longest line in the place had to be for Luma's Lobster Burgers prepared by Chef Jason Bangerter of Luma in Toronto featuring Nova Scotia lobsters courtesy of Sing Lobster/The Bates Family.



Luma Lobster Burgers with Togarashi mayonnaise, pickled cucumber, coriander and crispy shallots. The burgers disappeared as fast as they were put out onto the plate!

Blue Water Café's Chef Frank Pabst yummy bites featured Pacific sardines supplied by North Delta Seafood.

Sardine Rillettes with preserved lemon, picked ramps and capers.

Chef Quang Dang of West Restaurant prepared BC Albacore tuna from the Highly Migratory Species Foundation and North Delta Seafoods.

BC Albacore tuna tartar with black sesame and Thai basil.

Chefs Ned Bell and Sean Murray of YEW Restaurant prepared two seafoods donated by Blueyou -  SELVA shrimp and day boat handline yellow-fin tuna. Unfortunately, in my haste to eat the delicious morsel, I did not get a photo of the tuna taco and by the time I went back, they had RUN OUT. D=

SELVA shrimp in two bowls carved from ice.

Chef Robert Clark of The Fish Counter prepared tacos using spot prawns from Organic Ocean. This was a little preview of the spot prawn season, which is almost upon us! In fact, the Spot Prawn Festival, which the chef came up with, is this Saturday!



Chef Barton Seaver prepared Pacific oysters from Fanny Bay Oysters and Taylor Shellfish.

Mmmm Fanny Bay oysters!

Fanny Bay oyster topped with spicy lamb Merguez sausage.
 
There were several speeches made throughout the evening, starting with Fin Donnelly making the opening speech. (Remember to sign his petition to make National Seafood Day official in Canada)

Executive Chef Ned Bell of YEW Restaurant and a driving force behind Seafood Day spoke of how we can change the world by just changing our diet.

Dr. David Suzuki took the stage next and gave an inspiring speech about how we are connected to fish and how we need to start being smart with our eating habits to preserve the seafood for future generations! "I love fish because I am fish. We are all fish"

I filmed part of his speech, you can view it here:

Chef, author, speaker, and National Geographic fellow, Barton Seaver flew in from Boston to attend the event and give a speech about sustainable seafood.

Later on, some members of the Siyamin Stamsh Canoe Family of the Squamish Nation spoke of how sustainable seafood is important it is to them and shared some of songs with us.

Seapotato and I managed to catch a photo with the president and CEO of the Vancouver Aquarium, Dr. John Nightingale, and Chef Ned Bell.

 We also met the knowledgeable Dr. Suzuki in person! I was in awe. I didn't know what to say to him!





Choosing Ocean Wise seafood should be important everyone. If we don't take care the fish now, there won't be any delicious seafood left in the future for us to enjoy! For more information on sustainable seafood, visit seachoice.org. Also please take the time to sign the petition to make National Seafood Day official in Canada!