{"id":19934,"date":"2024-12-18T18:23:01","date_gmt":"2024-12-18T23:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/?p=19934"},"modified":"2025-01-21T22:24:09","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T03:24:09","slug":"dinner-and-a-survey-a-night-of-sustainable-seafood-with-eating-with-the-ecosystem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/news\/dinner-and-a-survey-a-night-of-sustainable-seafood-with-eating-with-the-ecosystem\/","title":{"rendered":"Dinner and a Survey: A Night of Sustainable Seafood with Eating with the Ecosystem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last month, Eating with the Ecosystem<\/a> held their 10th Annual Community Seafood Dinner at the Elk\u2019s Lodge in Wakefield. A gathering of fishermen, excited neighbors, and seafood aficionados, the event also serves as a major fundraiser for the nonprofit\u2019s mission of promoting sustainable, place-based fishing practices in New England. The dinner, conceived by Eating with the Ecosystem founding board member and lifelong Pt. Judith fisherman Rodman Skyes, provided a multi-course meal for an eager, sold-out crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the meal was served, diners had an opportunity to participate in an interesting public research survey from the Ikejime Project<\/a>, conducting a blind taste test survey between normally-prepared and ikejime fish. Ikejime is a Japanese method of humanely killing and handling fish. Through this virtually painless method, the product is a much more flavorful fish with a longer shelf life than commercial catches. Through the Ikejime Project, ENRE professor Hiro Uchida<\/a> aims to advance a sustainable seafood market through the creation of a new market for ikejime fish. He explains that, \u201cWe [the project team] believe [a new ikejime market] will benefit locally abundant but less-valued fish species caught predominantly by smaller boats in RI.\u201d The survey results will help the team understand consumer preferences when blindly tasting ikejime fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Slipper limpets (above) are a snail-like filter feeder that are an underutilized delicacy highlighted at the dinner<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To chef David Standridge, ikejime is not a new concept. \u201cWe use ikejime fish a lot at the restaurant. It\u2019s just better,\u201d he says. Standridge is the Executive Chef of The Shipwright\u2019s Daughter<\/a> in Mystic, Connecticut, as well as a board member with Eating with the Ecosystem. Employing the ikejime method enables local small-boats to bring to market a much more valuable and tasty product- all while being more humane and sustainable than commercially caught fish. Standridge explained, \u201cThey [local fishermen] do it and it\u2019s worth their while because it increases the price of that fish and at the end of the day, a key metric for those guys is more money, less fish. It\u2019s also just more sustainable so I think that makes them willing to do it, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Splitting their time between the kitchen and dining room, Westerly resident Stead Fast had a unique experience at the event volunteering to help out with just about everything, noting: \u201cIt was fantastic. They gave me a plethora of experiences from setting up the tables to cleaning fish and talking with local fishermen. I even got to grill a little bit in the kitchen. It was beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Volunteer Stead Fast (left) handing out samples of fish for the Ikejime Project’s survey<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the survey concluded, diners lined up with their plates ready to eat. Throughout every course, the main ingredients were locally caught and 100% donated by local fishermen. With a heavy emphasis on underutilized species such as Butterfish and the invasive Green Crab, the dinner helped highlight how little-known species seasonally found in our waters are just as delicious as \u201cbig name\u201d species normally seen on restaurant menus. After a long night, diners filed out of the Elk\u2019s Lodge exclaiming how delicious each course was\u2013with a special shoutout to board member Rodman\u2019s pot of his \u201cworld famous\u201d chowder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by Edward Cascella, CELS Communication Fellow<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last month, Eating with the Ecosystem held their 10th Annual Community Seafood Dinner at the Elk\u2019s Lodge in Wakefield. A gathering of fishermen, excited neighbors, and seafood aficionados, the event also serves as a major fundraiser for the nonprofit\u2019s mission of promoting sustainable, place-based fishing practices in New England. The dinner, conceived by Eating with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5021,"featured_media":19937,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19934"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20016,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19934\/revisions\/20016"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/cels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}