Jenny Kay delves into a new sustainable fish cookbook
ANY cook worth their salt should have this book on their shelf. Cape Town author Daisy Jones wanted to eat and cook more fish, and set out to do so ethically. Thus began her journey to find out which fish she could enjoy without feeling her choice would encourage overfishing, resulting in depletion of the ocean.
The logical place to start was with the SASSI (Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative ) list. Consulting this list, Daisy was shocked to see so many of her favourite fish on the orange list. And, besides the common hake, most fish on the green list weren’t really the fish many home cooks would serve up to their families.
The idea of going green appealed to Daisy and so she set about doing a thorough study of 10 fish on SASSI’s green list.
Each fish was rated according to sustainability, taste and accessibility.
She then went on a road trip to meet farmers, fishermen, conservationists and scientists, who assured her that these fish would remain sustainable for at least the next decade.
The chapter on each of the fish explores how and where they are farmed and caught, and the people involved.
There are also recipes using the fish, and these are practical, user-friendly and the kind of dishes you would feed your family.
A useful section at the back of the book lists a whole range of fish and a sustainable substitute for each.
Visit www.wwfsassi.co.za and you can print a card with the fish on the green, orange and red list. You can download a SASSI app on your smartphone which gives an A-Z of every fish and its rating. You can also SMS the name of a fish to 079 499 8795 to get its rating.
With all these tools at your fingertips, there is no excuse for ever eating or buying an endangered fish.