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Our next "Better Dialogues" webinar is on Monday, June 3
Co-host Chef Sarah Stegner of Prairie Grass Cafe and I invite you to join our conversation with leading experts at our next Local Food Forum “Better” Dialogues webinar, Can Sustainable Seafood Catch Up?
Millions of consumers and advocates for a better food system are demanding greater availability of sustainably caught fish and other aquatic life. It is common today to find ocean fish, freshwater fish and shellfish bearing sustainability certifications and descriptors such as "wild caught" and "line caught."
Yet despite advances, most fish that people eat is not produced sustainably, and mass fishing practices create risks to ecologic balance and even the survival of species. What can we, as concerned individuals, advocates, chefs and consumers do to accelerate the adoption of sustainable practices?
Our webinar on the topic will be presented on Zoom on Monday, June 3 at 7 p.m. central time.
We will engage in conversation with two leaders who preach and practice sustainability in our world's waterways. Both of the guest experts have been recognized by the James Beard Foundation, which will hold its annual awards ceremony in Chicago on June 10.
CHEF HAJIME SATO's Sozai restaurant in the Detroit suburb of Clawson is a little off the beaten path, but his reputation as a founder of the sustainable sushi category has led the James Beard Foundation to his door. A nominee for the nation's Outstanding Chef in 2023, he is up this year for Best Chef: Great Lakes.
Hajime’s sense of adventure led him to leave Japan for a year as an exchange student in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He later relocated to Seattle, Washington where he opened his award-winning restaurant Mashiko in 1994. In 2009, Hajime became one of the first sushi chefs to commit to using only sustainable seafood. When Hajime decided in 2019 to move to Michigan, where he opened Sozai, several of his former employees took over the Seattle restaurant. He is excited to share his experience and passion for sustainable seafood at Sozai.
NIAZ DORRY has devoted the past 30 years of her life to elevating public consciousness about the need to protect the world's environmentally challenged fisheries. The coordinating director of the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance since 2008, Niaz previous served with the Greenpeace organization's Fisheries and Oceans Campaign. In addition, Niaz is executive director of the National Family Farm Coalition.
Niaz will be recognized for this work when she receives the James Beard Foundation Leadership Award for Policy Advocacy in June. According to the Foundation, Niaz "has played a pivotal role in steering federal legislation towards recognizing and supporting small-scale, traditional, and Indigenous fishing communities." It adds, "Her efforts to raise awareness about the critical role of small-scale, values-based fisheries in mitigating climate change and advancing gender and racial equity have inspired more sustainable practices within the restaurant industry."
Please join us for what is sure to be an engaging and enlightening discussion on this important topic. There will be a Q&A section, so bring your questions!
The co-hosts thank their supporters from Mariano's, Chicago Chefs Cook, Chicago Market —A Community Co-op, Community Food Navigator, Landmark Pest Management and Prairie Grass Cafe.
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