We all know that eating sustainably is important. Buying local food, organic produce, and reducing food waste are all essential steps to protecting our planet. Eating sustainably may sound like a sacrifice. However, sustainability is often the best choice not only for the earth but also for your health and for your palette too! This is particularly true for seafood. Sustainably caught seafood provides more nutrients, tastier meals, and a clean conscience!
What Makes Sustainably Caught Fish Better?
While we all know that sustainably harvested products are the right choice, it isn’t always the easy choice. There are a number of reasons people may shy away from sustainable products. However, sustainable seafood can be a great choice in every way!
Sustainable Fish Isn’t Always Expensive
Higher prices often keep people from shopping sustainably. However, there are many sustainable options for reasonable prices. When you factor in the nutritional benefits, sustainable fish is an obvious winner. Bycatch fish is a way to eat sustainably for cheap! These are fish accidentally caught during commercial fishing. They are often considered trash. However, they can actually be quite delicious!
Sustainable Fish is Delicious
Another common but false fear is that sustainable food won’t taste as good. Highly processed foods are often loaded with fat, salt, and sugar. While these simple flavors are enjoyable, quality foods contain far better flavors. Junk food simply masks the poor quality of the ingredients with excessive oil, salt, and sugar.
Poorly farmed fish is a good example of the importance of quality. Farmed fish such as salmon are often fed low-quality diets. Also, they are not exposed to the cold water and physical stresses of spawning in rivers. This leads to a less fatty, less flavorful fish. Farmed salmon has to be fed food coloring to give it the pink color consumers expect. Without dyes, farmed salmon meat would be an unappetizing grey color.
Alternatively, high-quality sustainable foods are more flavorful. They provide natural flavors that are more complex than their processed alternatives. A diverse diet and active life change the flavor of the fish.
These flavorful foods can taste delicious without needing extra fat, salt, and oil. This creates a more delicious meal. In addition, naturally flavorful food is made even healthier since it tastes good without adding unhealthy ingredients.
There are many ways to cook seafood. From sushi to ceviche, fish is a delicious and healthy option. Cooking with sustainable fish is an even better option. These provide a source of protein, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals. Therefore, sustainably harvested fish are a delicious and nutritious addition to any meal!
The Importance of Sustainability for Our Oceans
Sustainably harvested fish is always the right choice, whether you are getting canned sardines or grilling up some fresh salmon. Our oceans are threatened by an ever-growing number of negative human impacts. Pollution and climate change are just the tip of the iceberg.The oceans cover over 70% of our planet’s surface. Though the oceans may seem like a vast, inexhaustible resource, that is far from reality. Fishing has a huge impact on our oceans.
Our population is growing exponentially and large parts of the world are beginning to enter the middle class. This has led to a significant rise in the demand for animal protein. This is not limited to chicken and beef. The demand for fish is growing rapidly. This growth is causing a real threat to our oceans.
How To Eat Sustainable Fish
Eating sustainably can be a daunting prospect. It is not always easy to know which products are sustainable, which are greenwashed, and which are not sustainable. This problem is particularly true for seafood. These products are often imported, changing hands many times before reaching consumers.
It may be hard to know the true impact of fish behind the counter at a grocery store. Employees can rarely tell you more than whether the fish was farmed and which ocean it is from. This can make it difficult to make sustainable choices.
There are a number of efforts to help improve accountability in the seafood industry. One of the best known is the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch. This program ranks species for their sustainability and provides advisory lists for helping understand sustainability in your seafood purchases.
Purchasing fish from reputable companies with direct relationships with fisheries is another great option. This allows the consumer to know exactly where their fish comes from. Fishing operations can often be poorly regulated. Without knowing the origins of your fish it is hard to confirm that your fish is sustainably harvested.
Tin Can Fish prides itself on the quality and sustainability of its products. All of our fish comes from Portuguese companies that are held to the highest standards. Many of our products are certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).
All of our products provide information about their origins to ensure that consumers know exactly what they are getting. This ensures that our products are both sustainable and delicious. Because they contain only the highest-quality ingredients, our products are delicious, nutritious, and sustainable!
Written by Casey Hofford on November 7, 2019.