Sustainable seafood only at N.D.G. shop
Shop also stocks local products, hosts pop-up dinners occasionally
As interest grows in how and where our food is grown or raised or caught, retailers and restaurants are being called upon with increasing frequency to provide consumers with details about its origins. People want to know if the beef is organic, if the chicken was free-range, or the fish sustainably caught.
Against that backdrop, a Montreal fishmonger and former restaurant cook and chef has opened a NotreDame-deGrâce shop that sells sustainable seafood exclusively. All the fish and seafood sold in Eileen, Dave Kost’s shop, from the salmon and the black cod to the striped bass and the walleye, carries an Ocean Wise symbol. Ocean Wise is a Vancouver Aquarium conservation program, established to denote fish and seafood caught with the most sustainable methods possible; established in 2005, it soon went Canada-wide and today has more than 650 partners. Ocean Wise defines sustainable as a species caught or farmed in a way that ensures the long-term health and stability of the species and the greater marine ecosystem.
Several scientific studies warn of a global fisheries collapse as early as the middle of the century if current fishing methods aren’t drastically improved and made sustainable, according to the organization’s website.
“I want people eating at restaurants asking if the seafood is sustainable; I want to get people to put consumer pressure on,” Kost said. “When you’re talking about the issues, you want to not only be demoralizing: You want to also offer solutions.”
Other Montreal fish shops carry their share of sustainable seafood. At La Mer, for instance, roughly half the products are sustainable, said François Dehedin, who is in charge of retail operations. To him, it’s key to buy local as much as possible and he believes that an important part of his job is to answer questions from customers. “I am the messenger between the fishermen and the consumer,” he said.
Although it is believed that Eileen is the first Quebec poissonnier to sell exclusively sustainable fish and seafood, partners can join Ocean Wise if they have only a single sustainable seafood item on the menu or in stock. And because there is more than one certification organization, it can be confusing for the consumer. As well, since membership in these organizations entails some cost to partners, that cost is ultimately passed along to the consumer.
Eileen, named for a friend of Kost, began last summer as a stall at the Marché des Éclusiers in the Old Port, where Kost was also helping to run a few other stalls until his departure in mid-July. In early September he opened his 600-square-foot retail space on the north side of Somerled Ave., just west of Cavendish Blvd.
Among products he carries are shrimp raised sustainably in Vietnam in mangrove forests, where the trees function as nurseries for small marine animals. There is wild sockeye salmon from British Columbia and, occasionally, lobster from the Bay of Fundy caught in whale-friendly traps.
Some prices are comparable to those in other fish shops; others are higher. Line-caught salmon from Prince Edward Island, for instance, is $38 a kilogram. Wild line-caught black cod at $81 per kg, “is my best-selling item,” Kost said. Blue cod is more affordable at $23 per kg. There is Arctic char from Nunavik and the selection of smoked fish includes wild sockeye salmon, lemon pepper mackerel and addictive wild spring salmon glazed in maple syrup.
In addition to seafood, Eileen stocks a selection of local products including those from Gaspésie Sauvage and Preservation Society. The space has a small kitchen area from where Kost prepares chowders and marinades and, from time to time, there are pop-up dinners. Nantha Kumar, a friend of Kost’s, a chef and former restaurateur who does pop-ups around town, occasionally drops by to cook.
He was at Eileen for Christmas and New Year’s Eve, preparing dishes using Kost’s seafood — and plans to cook at Eileen again this Saturday evening. Dishes will include tom yum soup with scallops, green papaya and mango salad topped with wild shrimp, and fish poached in one of Kumar’s curry sauces. and served with vegetables including long beans and okra and coconut rice.
I want people eating at restaurants asking if the seafood is sustainable; I want to get people to put consumer pressure on.