For the third year in a row, Whole Foods Market proudly sponsored the Great American Seafood Cook-Off (GASCO) and we had a fantastic time doing it. We set up an information table on our unprecedented aquaculture standards, Whole Trade products, and Whole Deal booklets full of coupons and recipes along with a mini-store where the chefs shopped for extra ingredients. Of course, we provided special treats and samples for the attendees, chefs, judges and emcees.

Chef John Folse, who is often recognized as Louisiana’s Culinary Ambassador to the world, co-emceed GASCO with Sig Hansen from “Deadliest Catch”! Many fans were thrilled to meet him in person and hear his comments throughout the competition, which you may be able to watch on your public television station in the near future. The whole event stresses sustainable fisheries and local products – both are very near and dear to our hearts.

Held in New Orleans, this national event kicked off with Casa Samba’s Brazilian drums, dancers and stilt-walkers. The competing chefs were handpicked by their governor or selected by winning statewide competitions. The judges, recognized as the top echelon of culinary arts, came from all over the country as well.

Representing Alabama, Alaska, California, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas and West Virginia, the GASCO Chefs shipped and cooked indigenous seafood from their respective states with a keen eye on sustainable offerings. Chefs John Varanese from Kentucky and Ed Fischer from West Virginia tapped into their creative cauldrons and cooked with seafood that many folks are not aware of or know how to cook. For instance, Varanese’s culinary masterpiece was Kentucky Paddlefish Stuffed with Kentucky Shrimp, while Fischer’s Appalachian Golden Trout combined Italian-seasoned Panko bread crumbs, butter, young ramps, black morel mushrooms, buttermilk, Vidalia onions, peppers and wine.

At the end of the competition, the winners were announced in rather dramatic fashion! Alaska’s Patrick Hoogerhyde of WildFin Seagrill placed third with Wild Alaskan King Salmon. His ingredients incorporated Alaskan alder smoked sea salt dusted Susitna Valley hash, fresh greens, smoked Alaskan porter, alder moostard vinaigrette, foraged low bush cranberry infused birch syrup molasses and more. Delicious!

Placing second, New Jersey’s Peter Fischbach from the Gourmet Dining Services at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark delivered Pan Seared Viking Village Day-Boat Sea Scallops. The scallops were paired with creamy chili-herb grits, warm “pickled” root vegetables, smokey apple wood bacon, micro greens and corn volute. Incroyable!

More surprising was Commander’s Palace Executive Chef Tory McPhail’s use of sheepshead prepared with Louisiana corn, lump crabmeat and Louisiana shrimp accented with organic herbs grown on the restaurant’s rooftop. The winning Creole Seafood Mixed Grill creation stunned the judges and audience as sheepshead is rarely found on a restaurant menu. McPhail emphasized the economical value and abundant supply of sheepshead. Hail Tory McPhail, the 2009 King of American Seafood!

We are so glad to be able to sponsor GASCO as it truly celebrates the diversity of food and cooking styles across the country while recognizing the importance of sustainable fishing and practices and incorporating local ingredients. Plus, we love food and GASCO is quite the culinary celebration!

Keep your eyes out for GASCO as it aired on more than 50 percent of the public television stations nationwide last year! More information, chef profiles and recipes are available at www.greatamericanseafoodcookoff.com.

But with so many seafood concerns these days – from overfishing to poorly-managed fish farms – how do you know that the salmon you are eating is good for you, good for the planet and will still taste good?

Well, here at Whole Foods Market we’ve made it our business to sell the highest quality foods we can find at the most competitive prices possible. We evaluate quality in terms of nutrition, freshness, appearance and taste, and this is true for our wild Alaska salmon as well!

Here’s a snapshot on how the wild Alaska salmon we carry in our stores fits into our overall Whole Foods Market quality standards:

Check out Not Just Another Fish Story for even more about the wild Alaska salmon we carry, how we source it and delicious ideas for preparing it this summer. Enjoy!

Growing up in Hawaii, I had access to some of the most delicious, freshest fish imaginable. Unfortunately, salmon was not one of them! I only had access to previously frozen or canned salmon. So, at the time, salmon had too strong of a flavor – kind of fishy and mushy.

It wasn’t until I was a little older and moved to the mainland that I discovered the pure deliciousness of high quality fresh wild salmon. Since it is so versatile and easy to cook, I find I now eat salmon more often than any other fish, with wild Sockeye being one of my weekday go-to favorites.

There are three varieties of wild Alaska salmon that come into season during the summer.

• King, also called Chinook, is prized as the richest and fattiest, and some say it’s the most tasty wild Alaska salmon
• Sockeye is the smallest most delicate of the wild Alaska salmons and is known for its unique flavor and bright red, extra firm texture.
• Coho is available later in the summer and has a milder taste, perfect for those who prefer a less intense salmon flavor.

I suggest trying them all this summer while they are available at their freshest and discover which one is your favorite.

What is also great about salmon is that it satisfies both my busy schedule and my foodie taste buds. Quick and easy to cook – whether its grilled, baked, broiled, poached or sautéed – it means I can enjoy it on a hectic weeknight. And it is just so versatile – I dress it up for a special dinners, serve it cold for lunch and experiment using it with different cuisines and flavors. I am constantly discovering new and delicious salmon dishes to try.

Salmon definitely hold its own on the grill, making it perfect for summer entertaining. A fun way to change up your grilling repertoire is with Salmon Kabobs.

Or what about pairing it with citrus and a cool, summer salad? The Citrus-Marinated Grilled Salmon with Tabbouleh Salad could be considered warm-weather foodie perfection.

On Not Just Another Fish Story, we share even more great ways to serve salmon in season and explain how our sourcing and quality standards make our wild Alaska salmon special.

Find over 50 other satisfying salmon dishes on our recipe pages.

What is your favorite way to enjoy salmon during the summer?

Pacific Northwest native Mark Curran, our Facility Team Leader for Select Fish in Seattle, has been in the seafood business for 25 years, getting his start at the Pike Place Market in 1984.

Greetings from the great Pacific Northwest, home of magnificent wild salmon, which is now in season! In the midst of getting our best wild salmon values front and center in our seafood cases, I thought it would be a good time to bring you up to date about our unique involvement in getting wild salmon to your dinner plate.

In 2003, Whole Foods Market made a commitment to sourcing the best wild salmon by purchasing a seafood processing company in Seattle, Washington called Select Fish. For years, this small seafood company has excelled in selling the highest quality salmon found throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Yet, we felt it was important to further our direct connection to the fishing industry in Alaska. The main challenge is the state’s huge size – over twice the size of Texas. How can we cover 34,000 miles of Alaskan coastline seeking out the best salmon the state has to offer? This would take a small army, right? Actually, no! Instead, we created an Alaska Port Buyer position based out of Anchorage and brought in Whole Foods Market Team Member and Ketchikan, Alaska native Keith Harris, who has 25 years of Alaskan seafood buying experience. Check out Keith’s video blog to find out more about what he does and why it makes our wild Alaska salmon special.

Keith lives in Alaska all summer long, which provides him with an excellent purchasing perspective of the multiple salmon fisheries throughout the state. Keith will often fly out to fishing areas like Sitka, Yakutat, Cordova and western Alaska – home of Bristol Bay, the largest sockeye fishery in the world. Being on-site at these fisheries gives Keith the ability to confirm that our quality standards are being met and to directly communicate with Alaskan fishermen about what our customers expect.

No other grocer has someone like Keith overseeing standards for quality in the state of Alaska. I think it’s pretty cool. Let me know what you think. Find out more about wild Alaska salmon at Not Just Another Fish Story and visit your local Whole Foods Market store for tasty demos, salmon specials and all the other ways they are celebrating the summer wild salmon season. How do you plan on celebrating?

The film begins with beautiful footage of marine life and quickly (and graphically) moves toward its key message: The oceans are overfished and fish populations are in trouble. Some of the most well-known and well-respected marine scientists are interviewed in the film to confirm these bleak trends.

I appreciate the filmmaker’s intention to tell this important story about the oceans. Our oceans are under incredible pressure and overfishing is a HUGE problem. In their latest global status report, the FAO states that slightly over half (52%) of fish populations are fished at their maximum sustainable limits, and there’s no room for further expansion. An additional 28% of fish populations are overexploited, depleted, or recovering from depletion. Why this happens requires a longer discussion, but the short of it is that overfishing happens when fishing quotas (i.e. limits on how many fish can be caught) are exceeded, or because no regulations or ineffective regulations exist to control fishing. Sometimes regulations are on the books but aren’t enforced. And corruption in the market is a reality that undermines even the well-intentioned.

Even so, I wish that a more complete story was told in the film. The film is professionally produced and visually gets across the gravity of the overfishing situation. But from my work with fisheries around the globe, I know firsthand that it’s not all doom and gloom out there. Success stories exist and demonstrate that we can effectively manage our marine resources. Sharing these stories is important because it gives credit to the fishermen-and the fishery scientists and managers-who are working hard to conserve the resources upon which they depend.

A classic example of strong fisheries management is a fish hailing from my neck of the woods – the Atlantic striped bass (a.k.a. rockfish or striper). Valuable to both commercial and recreational fisheries, striped bass plummeted in the late 1970s/early 1980s due to overfishing. In response, a number of U.S. states closed the fishery in the mid-to-late 80s to give the population a chance to recover. And it worked! Stripers returned and continue to thrive. According to the latest scientific assessment, striped bass is not overfished nor is overfishing occurring. Another comeback story is the North Atlantic swordfish. The population of this swift predator plummeted to low levels in the 1990s but is now almost fully rebuilt. North Atlantic Swordfish came back because fishery managers-especially in the U.S.-reduced allowable catch levels and closed certain areas to fishing to reduce catches of juvenile swordfish. Fortunately, there are too many examples of successful fisheries management to fit into this blog. But overall my point is that fisheries do need to be well-managed, and when they are, we need to tell their stories.

I also would have liked the film to cover aquaculture (fish farming) in a bit more depth. Only a few short minutes are dedicated to this topic; yet, almost half (47%) of the world’s fish supply is farmed. More importantly, what is said about aquaculture in the film is all negative. There certainly are problems with aquaculture, but there are also a number of great examples of environmentally responsible aquaculture operations. I’ve profiled some special farmers here previously.  After spending two years researching aquaculture and meeting some of the world’s most innovative fish farmers, I know it’s not all bad. Telling the stories of the good work being done informs the public that there are good seafood choices out there. It also creates a sense of pride among producers and encourages them to advance their efforts even further. And when retailers and other buyers select their products over the less sustainable ones, it creates an incentive for others to change.

Have you seen the film? What did you think?

Here’s mine: Hats off to NMFS for addressing these critical issues! Together with my colleague, Margaret Wittenberg – Global Vice President of Quality Standards and Public Relations, we’ve submitted comments to NMFS letting them know that Whole Foods Market cares about sourcing seafood sustainably and minimizing the impacts of fishing on the marine ecosystem. To source seafood right, though, we need strong regulations that address illegal fishing because as a grocery store, we can’t police the oceans.

We’re urging our fishery managers to do everything possible to provide the tools necessary to help us avoid sourcing from fisheries that catch fish illegally or take protected species. For example, denying port privileges to nations fishing illegally and prohibiting the import of fish products in violation of these rules would be a huge step forward; it would put the onus of responsibility on nations to fish responsibly, rather than on a grocery store like Whole Foods Market to figure out who is fishing legally and who isn’t. Finally, there may be fisheries that operate legally within a country that is found to be engaging in illegal fishing in other sectors. Consequently, we agree with NMFS’ approach to have alternative certification procedures that allow products to be certified on a shipment-by-shipment or shipper-by-shipper basis.

If you’d like to submit comments yourself, the deadline is May 14, 2009 and details can be found on Federal Register Docket No. 070514119-81404-02 (pdf).

You can read the full letter (pdf) that Whole Foods Market submitted to NMFS.

What do you think? Let us know and, more importantly, let the NMFS know!

Hi everyone! Since I put 20 years in with Whole Foods Market, mainly in seafood, before joining Carolina Classics Catfish Farm about three years ago, they asked me to tell the story about the farm’s evolution and support in creating the Whole Foods Market farm-raised (or Aquaculture) seafood standards. I also get to do some myth busting about catfish – one of my favorite things to do!

Whole Foods Market started doing business with Carolina Classics Catfish back in 1986 – there were only four ponds and freshly harvested fish would be delivered right to our store in Durham, NC. Super fresh and it tasted great!

Myth #1: Catfish tastes “muddy.”
The truth: If it does, it’s not good catfish.
Because of the way we raise and harvest our fish, you’ll never get that muddy flavor, which is caused by algae blooms in the water.

Back then the Whole Foods’ mission was the same as now – to sell the highest quality natural products possible and, through our business, change the way the world eats! At the time, our expertise in seafood was somewhat less than our enthusiasm for our mission. As the business grew, we learned more and more about environmental issues, the use of antibiotics and other chemicals in aquaculture, feed ingredients, water usage, etc., and we set out to work with fish farmers to change the way fish were raised.

Not all the fish farmers out there were of the same mindset; some thought we were crazy and that what we were asking for couldn’t be done. But the folks at Carolina Classics Catfish Farm were open to the ideas and had the same values as we did. Over the years we’ve worked together to create standards for farm-raised seafood.

First we wanted to have our fish raised without the use of antibiotics, ever. Because they were buying their fingerlings (the juvenile fish) to stock the ponds, they could not assure us of this. So, they built their own hatchery, giving them control over the brood stock and the fingerlings.

Myth #2: Catfish is a bottom feeder.
The truth: Farm-raised catfish eat off the top of the water.
In the wild, catfish are opportunistic feeders and they will eat anywhere in the water column. To maximize the feed costs of farm-raised catfish, we make feed that floats so we can make sure every bit is eaten and doesn’t go to waste.

Next we wanted our fish fed a diet with no mammalian by-products like beef blood meal or chicken feather meal, preferring their feed to be more like what they would eat in the wild. Carolina Classics tried but couldn’t find a source of catfish feed without these by-products. So, in 1999, they bought and rebuilt an old chicken feed plant and starting making their own feed.

The last big thing is we wanted was to have our fish raised without the use of chemicals at the hatchery, in the ponds or in the processing plant. So the folks at Carolina Classics made that happen by using peroxide instead of formalin as an antifungal rinse of the freshly harvested eggs and using lawn mowers and weed whackers instead of herbicides to control pond bank weed growth.

Myth #3: Catfish is only good fried.
The truth: Excellent fried but delicious baked, blackened or sautéed as well.

Like I said, Carolina Classics had our same values from the start and they never put into practice some of the more unnatural methods used by almost all other catfish producers:

• Water chill tanks (also referred to as “fecal” baths in the chicken industry): This adds water weight to the product. Carolina Classics packs on ice to chill their fish.
• Needling machines: Other producers’ fillets are pumped up with sodium tripoly phosphate and water to add weight to the fillets. The added water weight allows them to sell their fish at a cheaper price.
• Some producers retrieve proteins like bone meal from the fish frames and pump them back into the fillets – this does not have to be labeled on the product.

I liked what Carolina Classics was doing so much that I went to work for them – but I still get to work with my former Whole Foods Market teammates, so life is good.

Thanks for letting me ramble a bit. I hope you’ll give our catfish a try. Check out these recipe ideas and let me know how you like to eat your catfish.

In developing the newly enhanced Seafood Quality Standards for farmed seafood at Whole Foods Market, I had the amazing opportunity to visit farms in remote locations around the world to learn about the wide range of aquaculture practices used to raise farmed seafood. I’m often asked, “What’s the most amazing place that you’ve visited?” While every country and the people that I’ve met have been incredibly different and interesting, I often answer, “Iceland.”

Located just below the Arctic Circle, between Europe and Greenland, Iceland is an island nation with a landmass slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Kentucky. But with a population of just over 320,000—and most of these people living in the capital city of Reykjavík—Iceland is remarkably, well, un-crowded. Over half of the landmass of the island is tundra, lakes, and glaciers, but even in the more inhabited coastal areas that we visited, the vastness of the landscape is striking. Geologically active, Iceland’s volcanic eruptions have left behind stretches of old lava fields. In addition, because there are very few trees, the feeling of the place is that it’s not so much a landscape, but a moonscape surrounded by a seascape. With the vastness of the ocean itself outlining the land and shimmering fjords and waterfalls dazzling inland, the presence of water is everywhere.

It’s within this unique environment that our Icelandic supplier partners, Samherji, raise Arctic Char. Native to Iceland and the polar regions of North America and Europe, Arctic char are closely related to both salmon and trout. Samherji’s fish farmers raise char in land-based tank systems, which offer a host of benefits. For one, the chance of fish escaping from a land-based tank system situated on land is greatly reduced. With aquaculture in general, escapes of farmed fish can be worrisome as they carry a suite of potential risks including spreading diseases or parasites to wild fish populations, competing for food or habitat with wild fish, or weakening of the genetic integrity of the wild fish if the farmed and wild fish interbreed. In addition, land-based tank systems allow farmers more control over water quality at the farm, which helps optimize conditions for the char. Furthermore, with land-based systems, farmers can reduce the environmental impacts of the farm because they can control the effluent—the water and wastes that leave the farm. In contrast to farms located in open water, in these land-based tank systems, farmers can filter the waste water to prevent nutrients from entering the marine environment and causing harmful algae blooms or other problems. Samherji’s farmers use filters and settling ponds to separate particles and treat effluent.

The Whole Foods Market Quality Standards for farmed finfish and shrimp are comprehensive, requiring that farmers meet an extensive list of requirements to protect the environment. By locating their Arctic char farms on land and in tanks, Samherji is able to more easily address a number of our standards, including and not limited to escape prevention. Oh, and I forgot to tell you—their arctic char tastes great! Definitely a testament to all the care, not only for the environment, but for their fish, as well.

It’s fun to try something new and even better when it’s a flavorful fish filled with healthy omega-3 essential fatty acids but low in methylmercury.  I have not tried Arctic char yet but plan to get some on my next shopping trip. Here’s how good it sounds:

Arctic char is light, moist and firm in texture. With its subtle flavor and versatility, it serves as an excellent salmon or trout substitute in seafood dishes for beginner palates, kid-friendly meals, or for at-home chefs who simply prefer a less intensely flavored fish. Delicious sautéed, baked, broiled or grilled, Arctic char lends itself to a variety of seasonings — from herbed butter to spicy to fresh-squeezed citrus.

Tastes good and simple to prepare. Check. But that’s not all. Our Arctic char is sustainably raised and meets our rigorous Quality Standards for Aquaculture.

Whole Foods Market’s Arctic char is raised in land-based tanks of ice cold, crystal-clear water that is filtered through centuries-old lava rock by the Samherji cooperative of fish farmers in Iceland. This co-op raises healthy, earth-friendly Arctic char without the use of antibiotics, added growth hormones, or land-animal byproducts in feed. This means that our shoppers are enjoying not only the best tasting fish, but also some of the purest Arctic char on the market.

Carrie Brownstein, our Seafood Quality Standards Coordinator, traveled to Iceland to check out the Arctic char farms and reports the “land-based tanks offer excellent water quality control and extra protection against farmed fish escaping into the wild. And they also protect the char from predators.” She was also quite taken with the “breathtaking Icelandic landscape.” Tune in tomorrow to read Carrie’s account of the farms and see more of her amazing pictures.

So, I’m going to try Arctic char this weekend and I’ll let you know how it turns out. Here are some great recipes for Arctic Char if you want some ideas. Give it a try and let us know what you think!

The past few months have been an exciting time for seafood at Whole Foods Market. In July 2008 we released our newly enhanced standards for farmed finfish and shrimp. In launching these standards, we set a high bar not only for how our seafood is raised, but also for environmental performance in aquaculture globally. Our commitment to sustainability reaches beyond our own stores, which is why we’ve posted our standards on our website and contribute to share and discuss our work at conferences and meetings worldwide.

As we have received several questions from customers particularly interested in shrimp and wanting to know what Whole Foods Market is doing specifically to protect mangroves from the impacts of shrimp farming, I’ll focus this posting on the topic of mangroves.

What are mangroves, anyway?

Up to sixty species of trees and shrubs fall under the category of “mangrove.” Found along coastlines in the world’s tropic and sub-tropic regions, these plants are recognizable by their extensive exposed root systems, which intertwine and tangle over muddy surfaces.

Mangroves are adapted to living in environments where tides fluctuate, which requires tolerance of salty water to survive. Tides carry nutrients in and out of mangrove swamps as well as animals such as fish and shrimp, which use the mangroves as nursery and refuge areas. The trunks and leaves of mangrove forests are home to insects, birds, lizards, bats, and tree snakes. Among the long intertwining roots, typical residents are barnacles, snails, and oysters. Life doesn’t stop when you reach the mud; mudflats host a range of critters including crabs. And in the submerged areas from the lowest tide mark toward the sea, water dwellers include various species of fish, crabs and lobsters.

Mangrove swamps are rich in nutrients and in turn support a rich ecosystem of plants and animals. But in addition, people also depend on mangroves, using mangrove timber for charcoal, firewood, and home and boat building. Snails, crabs, fish, and shrimp found within the mangroves may be harvested for dinner and mangrove leaves may become the roof for a house. Furthermore, mangroves protect coastal communities from storm damage by providing a barrier to wind and erosion. This became all too clear during the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake where some studies showed reduced damage in areas where mangroves were intact.

How do shrimp farms impact mangroves and what is Whole Foods Market doing to protect them?

Despite their importance, mangrove forests are at risk today due to a number of factors, which include timber harvesting, coastal development, and aquaculture. While we can’t tackle all these issues ourselves, when it comes to aquaculture, we’re working hard to ensure that the farmed shrimp we source doesn’t contribute to the degradation of mangrove ecosystems. Under our newly enhanced quality standards for farmed shrimp, suppliers are prohibited from converting areas mangroves into new sites or farms, or for expanding current farms. And, all new sites or new farms have to be sited above the high tide line (outside of natural mangrove habitat). In addition, we will only source shrimp from producers that can demonstrate a commitment to “no mangrove or wetland loss.” This means that producers that are farming on land that used to be mangroves and was previously converted to shrimp farms, must restore mangroves. We require that at least a hectare (2.5 acres) of mangrove habitat is restored for each hectare of mangroves converted. To ensure that the standards are being met, we require our supplier partners to successfully pass an independent, third-party audit that reviews every detail of the Aquaculture Standards.

These rules apply to farms that are located in tropic and sub-tropic areas where mangroves grow, but we’re also working with U.S. suppliers that grow shrimp in Texas and Alabama and are dedicated to environmental excellence.  For example, one of our Texas suppliers, Fritz Jaenike from Harlingen Shrimp Farm, grows shrimp in ponds located on former ranch land by the hypersaline Laguna Madre Bay. His farm has been in operation since 1982 and is considered a model by environmental organizations for pioneering methods to comply with stringent water quality regulations.

This November check out Shrimpsgiving at Whole Foods Market where some of our stores will feature Fritz Jaenike’s Texas farmed shrimp.

Until next time…. I look forward to your comments!