10 February 2012

THE LAST FISH

It's rare to sight an All Black on my food pages, but this week I met Conrad Smith, pictured above, at the launch of Forest & Bird's new Best Fish Guide.

He's cutting a 'fish cake' which is a far cry from the fishcakes in the posting below this. We got to enjoy the moist chocolate cake after eating a spicy kingfish curry Conrad had cooked alongside Shaun Clouston, Logan Brown's head chef. We also ate a selection of tasty hors d'oeuvres made from such highly endorsed fish like kahawai, paua, kingfish, trevally and more.

Forest & Bird put careful research into their listings of fish and rate all fish caught in New Zealand waters from Best Choice through to Worst Choice. This list is available on their website www.bestfishguide.org.nz where you can also download the Best Fish Guide mobile app.

The work is extensive but now the real work begins as we must find ways to get fish shops, supermarkets and recreational fishermen to source the fish at the top of the list. This means we all need to learn to seek and cook such fish as anchovies, pilchards, kahawai, trevally, sprats and butter fish. Quite the challenge. Who's up for it? I am!