Other fish to fry

Amid all the concerns about fish ‘running out’, Rick Stein has placed them at the heart of his cooking. Hannah Bullock talks to a chef with a mission.

The sooner this country starts loving its fish, “the more it will feel passionate about helping preserve it”. That’s Rick Stein’s credo, and – in true celebrity chef style – he’s out to change the nation’s eating habits accordingly. Stein spotted the crisis coming when he was making a television series in the nineties.

The number of lobsters, crabs and crayfish being caught were nothing like as many as he and his dad used to find out on the boat. Now sustainable fish is the star of the show at his Seafood Restaurant in Padstow, which serves up unthreatened – and pretty unglamorous – species as posh nosh. Where else would you find ‘gurnard in tempura batter with dipping sauces’?

Unusual fish has become a unique selling point for him. “Three or four years ago I thought, ‘Oh god, we’re not going to be able to sell cod, we’re not going to be able to sell bass.’ But I’ve taken what you consider a negative and turned it into a positive.”

Practice, not preaching

A regular on the menu is local line-caught mackerel, which has the seal of approval from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). Fisheries only get the ‘blue tick’ if they keep a healthy population of the stock and if their methods don’t harm the surrounding ecosystem. Trawling for bass is out, for example – it tears up the bottom of the seabed.

Stein is a staunch supporter of the certification system, but admits that “it is tricky” to stick to this alone. “It’s my livelihood. I can’t have a restaurant with only MSC herring, mackerel and cockles.” So while bluefin tuna and North Sea cod is off the menu, you’ll find cod from Iceland and handline-caught bass alongside the MSC Alaska salmon and pollock.

“I’ve taken what you consider a negative and turned it into a positive.”

Interestingly, Stein has chosen to bring his customers round to eating the right fish by appealing to their taste buds rather than their conscience, and hasn’t gone big on ethics on the menus. “Maybe we don’t say enough about where the fish comes from,” he ponders. “In some places, every bloody piece of meat says which farm it comes from. But, you know, there’s got to a bit of theatre about it.”

Not that good living and eating ‘sustainably’ need sit uneasily together, he insists. The foodies who flock to his restaurant would expect nothing less than top quality specimens, which aren’t the sort hoovered up by industrial-sized boats anyway.

Although one customer did challenge Stein on where his bass came from, he doesn’t think the issue looms large for most people – partly because it remains out of sight. “People easily identify the cruelty visited on chickens and pigs. It’s harder for them to realise the plight of the fishing industry. They just don’t see it.”

Taking it to the streets

So if even Stein’s well-heeled clientele isn’t clamouring for sustainable fish, what chance is there of the message reaching the man on the street? Stein does have a fish and chip shop too, he reminds us, where they sell the nation’s favourite takeaway – with a twist. In most chippies ethics aren’t exactly writ large.

The man behind the counter at London’s Fish Central makes no bones about it. “Customers seldom ask where it comes from... Our fish is from trawlers, none is line caught. All fishermen can catch is the tiny scroungers!”

He’s not convinced that fish are on their way out, either. “Bullshit. I’ve been hearing that for years now... There’s plenty of fish in the sea.” Which means weaning the nation off cod isn’t really on the agenda, especially when other species don’t compete on price.

“We do sometimes get John Dory. That’s a tasty British fish, but tedious to prepare. Two-thirds of it is bones – so you lose money.” Cod is still the most popular thing at Stein’s chippy in Padstow, too, despite his attempts to broaden our taste.

But they have got customers to “try something different” by doing a bit of handholding, and letting them swap it for something else if they really don’t like it. The verdict? So far, nobody has given it back. And they really do have people coming back asking for a ‘gurnard and chips’.

21 July 2005

Hannah Bullock