Everyone knows we should do more for the environment, but sometimes it seems more trouble than it’s worth. Never-ending recycling, electric cars, and now even some of the food we eat is apparently harming the planet!
But with some of the country’s top restaurants and most picky chefs turning their backs on ingredients and recipes from u nsustainable sources, our excuses are running out.
And not only that, the experts are proving that swapping more traditional ingredients for more environmentally friendly ones won’t make any difference to the taste.
Award-winning chef and restaurateur Mark Hix has swapped posh prawns for Birds Eye at one of his top London eateries, the Hix Restaurant & Champagne Bar in department store Selfridges.
The recipe uses prawns that cost as little as £1.70 in supermarkets and is as tasty as ever.
The Birds Eye version is also going a long way to help Mark, and head chef at his Selfridges restaurant Fabrizio Pusceddu achieve their goal – to force major suppliers to source sustainable fish for professional and amateur cooks.
“We’re facing a major problem in the UK. The fish people tend to eat – tuna and cod in particular – will not last forever,” explains Fabrizio, 39.
“These fish will be gone in 20-30 years. What we want, and what we’re pushing for at the restaurant, is for people to try different types of fish to sustain what we’ve got.
“We want to know exactly where our fish comes from and how it is caught. This way we can be sure we’re taking fish from sustainable sources. If we don’t know where it comes from, we won’t use it.”
This is where their choice of Birds Eye prawns comes in.
Fabrizio, originally from Sardinia, Italy explains: “Birds Eye were clear that their prawns are sustainable, while our traditional suppliers couldn’t convince us of this. That’s why we use them. They’re just as tasty and of equally high quality as prawns from independent suppliers.”
As well as pushing for people to buy and eat fish from sustainable sources, the restaurant, which is backing Project Ocean along with Selfridges and the Zoological Society of London, hopes to convince us to eat a big range of fish.
“There are many types of fish,” says Fabrizio. “Instead of cod, why not try gurnard or coley? I guarantee most people couldn’t tell them apart.
“What people need to do is support their local fishmonger, and ask them for specific types of fish. They might not have it the first time you ask, but if you ask again, I guarantee they’ll start to stock it.
“We don’t expect this to happen immediately. We don’t suddenly expect the whole country to be crying out for sustainable fish. Neither do we want people to stop eating cod nor tuna – in some parts of the world supplies are sustainable.
“All we want is for people to get that the fish won't last forever. If we don’t vary the type and make sure we know where it comes from, we could run out in 20 years.”
Article courtesy of mirror.co.uk