Join me in developing a passionate pout for trout

Itook great satisfaction in banning one Christmas tradition in our house this year: smoked salmon. And it’s been the simplest, easiest action because out went salmon and in came trout. It’s an easy swap because trout is so delicious, so rich and so creamy. And a chef friend, Tim Zekki, who runs a restaurant in our nearby town of Wiveliscombe, makes the change even more glorious because he does his own cure to a brand called ChalkStream.

It’s time trout became fashionable. And yes its name is less attractive, less poetic sounding than salmon (whether you say it Essex style – “trowte” – or posh style – “trite”) and that it’s used in a derogatory sense, “he’s an old trout”.

It’s one of those perfect topics of conversation for dinner parties alongside the likes of, “Did you really get that white rioja from Aldi for only seven quid?”

Because once people agree that it tastes so surprisingly good you can then tout your eco-credentials and explain why you’ve banned salmon. And you’ve banned it because industrial salmon farming, where the poor fish swim in endless circles in submerged cages, are plagued by parasitic sea lice (which infect wild fish populations), are injected with increasingly large doses of antibiotics, and when you combine the amount of waste created by Scottish salmon farms, it’s the same amount as half of the Scottish human population.

It also takes over two kilograms of wild fish (such as anchovies and mackerel), as feed, to produce a kilogram of salmon, and around 20 per cent of farmed salmon die before they are “harvested” each year. And, in general, the practice of salmon farming damages the natural ecosystems of the sea and freshwater in Scotland.

Trout, on the other hand, such as ChalkStream, is slow-grown in flowing chalk stream water (from two Hampshire rivers, the Test and Itchen) and the producers are developing ways to feed the fish with insect meal.

Now, of course, I dare say we need to avoid a sudden rush to buy trout. If we all lurch to trout, doubtless more farms will have to produce more.

Maybe just add trout to your shopping list bit by bit. As for me, I’ll be charging into 2024 as a total and utter trout bore.