Sustainable Seafood at the Serve and Protect lunch event (by Daphne T.)

 

All of us were very excited when we were told that we were going to skip school to watch the dress rehearsal of a seafood cooking show at the IMAX Theatre for the fourth annual Serve and Protect function. What we didn’t know, however, was that this seafood would be Mussels. I don’t know about y’all, but opening a rock to eat its slippery, slimy contents does not seem very appetizing. But, the famous chefs Nicco Romo, and Barton Seaver convinced us all very differently.

  

After getting our delicious lunches of potato salad, lobster wantons, fried shrimp, and much more in the IMAX lobby, the Tucker River Fellows and others headed into the theatre for the show to begin. Before the chefs came out, we learned that seafood such as mussels, shrimp, squid, trout, and lobster are sustainable seafood. This means that we can harvest it safely and un-harmfully without danger of over harvesting the species. These are animals that we can farm and replace without leaving a damaging footprint in the sea.

As the chefs began showing us how to cook mussel recipes such as mussels with pine needles and “Mussel Opa”, the delicious smells wafted around the room and despite having just eaten, our stomachs grumbled. As they cooked, the chefs educated us about mussels. We learned that they are very healthy, inexpensive, accessible, and contrary to some beliefs, they are quite safe to eat. Knowing this, we began to feel a lot less skeptical about mussels and wanted to try preparing this delicious looking and smelling food for ourselves.

This experience at Serve and Protect was very insightful. We learned that eating sustainable seafood is good for the sea environment, as well as our health.  We also learned about some of the basics of preparing some delicious recipes. The chefs made us feel comfortable with the idea of preparing and eating mussels.  We are much more likely to consider eating mussels and other sustainable sea food after this afternoon with the two informative chefs. Mussels are fantastic! And if you want to support eating sustainable seafood as well as try out some fantastic recipes, check out http://www.tnaqua.org/serve-and-protect