Restaurants take new steps to explain how fish is caught

By Katy Mclaughlin
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Oct. 17 — For years, “fresh or frozen” was the main question at a seafood joint. Today, however, restaurants are going to great lengths to tell you — right on the menu — how the fish on your dinner plate died. In Philadelphia, the White Dog Cafe’s entrees include Troll-Caught Alaskan King Salmon. The menu at Pazzo in Portland, Ore., lists Harpooned Pumpkin Swordfish.

IT’S THE LATEST marketing strategy by an industry that must constantly devise new ways to keep fickle diners coming back for more. In an effort to make seafood sound fresh and delicious, as well as politically correct, restaurants are introducing the seafood equivalent of the free-range chicken.
“The Perfect Storm” effect is also at work. The 2000 blockbuster movie depicted fishermen spending weeks at sea — their catches languishing in the hold for the entire voyage. Almost immediately, several chefs say, diners started asking questions about when exactly the seafood on their plates was caught.
So restaurateurs are filling menus with language such as “troll-caught,” “trapped,” “day boat,” “hook-and-line” and “diver.” Even “harpooned” — a term that once carried the ugly taint of whale and seal slaughter — is in vogue. Thus, the monkfish at New York’s Jane is “day boat,” Sel de la Terre in Boston serves “trap squid,” and all the fish at Portland’s Pazzo is “line-caught.”
Jack Amon, the owner of the Marx Bros. Cafe in Anchorage, Alaska, says the terminology is frequently misunderstood by customers. “I used to put troll-caught on the menu, but people thought it was caught by trolls. They’d ask, ‘why not goblin-caught?’” he recalls. Trolling actually refers to dragging fishing lines behind a boat.
This year is one of the worst in decades for high-end restaurants, and eateries are trying to play up their strengths. Chief among them is fish. Consumption of seafood in the U.S. is up 32% in the past 20 years, and two-thirds of it is cooked and eaten in restaurants. Many people are nervous about cooking seafood at home, not to mention that it makes the house smell like fish.
“You make money by discovering a new fish and introducing it in a way that makes it sound wonderful,” says Clark Wolf, a New York restaurant consultant. And what sounds more exclusive than seafood that’s been individually “hand harvested”?
But some fishing experts scoff at the idea that the new terminology communicates anything other than encouragement to spend money. “All of these terms are just adjectives trying to make the quality level sound great. Personally, I think it’s stupid,” says Joseph Gurrera, the owner of Citarella, a well-known Manhattan fish store and restaurant. The real variable that influences the quality of fish, he says: “The weather.” (If the weather is bad, boats can’t stay out as long, limiting the amount of fresh fish.)
The catch phrases can be something of a fish story. While “line caught,” for example, may conjure up images of fishermen standing on deck with a rod in hand, it can in fact mean that your swordfish was snared on a commercial line that runs 40 miles long and has thousands of hooks.
At many restaurants, of course, you’re getting exactly what you pay for. But not everywhere. Take diver scallops, which is supposed to mean that the shellfish were hand-harvested by scuba divers. “People envision divers going down and caressing the scallops in this magical way,” says Jack Rent of seafood distributor Peerless Fish in New York.
However, chefs and fish dealers alike say that “diver” has also evolved into a euphemism for plain old scallops caught the usual way (by trawl boats) but which haven’t been dipped in a preservative, sodium tripolyphosphate, used to plump the scallops for display. In fact, the actual number of diver scallops on the market is minuscule. Less than one-tenth of one percent of all Atlantic sea scallops were harvested by divers in the past two years.
Many chefs say the drive to tell people how a fish was caught indicates not a grab for profits but genuine alarm over the world’s depleted seafood stocks. According to Greenpeace, more than two-thirds of the world’s fisheries are suffering from overfishing, one consequence of commercial-fishing techniques that drag enormous nets, killing thousands of unintended fish.
Telling diners about fishing methods like trapping and harpooning — which cause less collateral damage — raises awareness. “It’s about educating people about where their food comes from,” says Peter Hoffman, owner of Savoy in New York and the head of Chef’s Collaborative, an influential trade group that publishes a 16-page guide to “ecologically responsible fish procurement” for restaurants.
Ultimately, the only way to really know — if you must know — how your fish died is to trust your chef, who, in turn, needs to trust his supplier. Michael Schenk, a prominent Manhattan chef, says his method is to get to know his fish provider really well. “I need to be 100% sure that he’s playing me right,” Mr. Schenk says.

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Deciphering the New Seafood Menu


LINE CAUGHT
Example: Crispy Line Caught Wild Striped Bass, Michael’s, New York, $28
Good For The Planet? By not using nets, advocates claim fishermen avoid scooping — and killing — other sea life.
Good For Dinner? Chefs contend fish caught this way don’t get bruised like they do if they’re dragged by fishing nets.
The Catch: You can forget that image of the steadfast angler reeling in a swordfish from the boat deck. Commercial fishing lines can stretch up to 40 miles long and have thousands of hooks.


DIVER
Example: Steamed Maine Diver Sea Scallop with Olive Leek Emulsion, Charlie Trotter’s, Chicago, part of $175 prix-fixe
Good For The Planet? Scuba divers grab scallops by hand; it avoids dragging the ocean floor (the main harvesting method) which kills other sea life.
Good For Dinner? Diver scallops have a reputation for being fresher.
The Catch: The actual number of diver-harvested scallops is miniscule, which means you’re probably only getting them at the classiest restaurants. In fact, the term usually just means the scallop on your plate is fresh, as opposed to being treated with the preservatives.


DAY BOAT
Example: Day Boat Monkfish with R�sti Potatoes, Caramelized Cauliflower and Lobster Bordelaise at Jane, New York, $18.75
Good For The Planet? Indicates that the fish was caught on boats that return to shore within a day.
Good For Dinner? The promise of day boat fish is that it’s super-fresh; it’s supposed to hit dinner plates within 48 hours of being caught. By contrast, factory boats can stay out for months.
The Catch: Ask questions if a fish is labeled “day boat” but it’s from a faraway place like South America — it may have been frozen in transit.


TROLL CAUGHT
Example: Oven Roasted Troll Caught Alaskan King Salmon Filet, White Dog Cafe, Philadelphia, $22.50
Good For The Planet? Has some of the same benefits as line caught. (Trolling is the same as line-catching, except the boat is moving.)
Good For Dinner? Like line catching, fish aren’t bruised in nets.
The Catch: This method can still take place on big ships, which may also troll over coral reefs or other environmentally sensitive spots.


TRAPPED
Example: Sauteed Trap Squid with Garlic, Tomatoes, Basic and Andouille Sausage, Sel de la Terre, Boston, $9, appetizer
Good For The Planet? The term indicates that bottom-dwelling sea life such as shrimp, squid, and prawns weren’t caught in nets that dragged the ocean floor.
Good For Dinner? Chefs say that the trapping process doesn’t “bruise” the animal.
The Catch: Sea turtles can get snagged and killed if the traps don’t include a “turtle excluder device.”


HARPOONED
Example: Harpooned Pumpkin Swordfish at Pazzo in Portland, Ore., $24
Good For The Planet? Fishermen kill only the intended fish.
Good For Dinner? Harpoon boats generally return to shore within 24 hours, meaning the fish is fresher.
The Catch: Despite harpooning’s bad image (think whales and seals) it’s considered a “sustainable” method for swordfish and tuna because there’s little collateral damage.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/822306.asp?0dm=N17OB

Great effort from the resturants, but I hope that the less exklusive joints dont get to honest to their customers. Then we can expect as follows.

Menu for today

Fresh road killed deer.
Together with boiled potatoes and fresh salad.

The harvest was made today at a local road just outside town and we are offering the parts that didn't get spoiled at the crash.

[ 10-18-2002, 13:21: Message edited by: cchunter ]

I've tried everything: "troll" caught, "trapped", line caught, etc. It doesn't really impress me. About the only way I'll take my monkfish anymore is hand-grenade stunned, scooped off the surface, and blunt-object bludgeoned.

Let me just tell you that this pairs extremely well with a Collins glass of Boone's Farm chardonnay. The best!

Amosgreg, you just gave me an idea.

I have a new comeback for the anti-hunters when they start in on me.

"How did your dinner die."

If that don't stop 'em a swift punch in the throat will.

Wendell,

I'm going to add that question (How did your dinner die?) to my arsenal also. Along with "You eat the meat, but deny the kill."