As part of SSC’s inaugural tasting and brainstorm event, I made a new version of a jellyfish granita that Lucullan Foods and I developed at Rice U in March.

We decided to top the granita with a sweet sashimi – we wanted local geoduck clam, but couldn’t get any, so went with  Kampachi (“boutique yellowtail) which is responsibly farmed in Hawaii. I admit this isn’t the most rigorous menu decision.

The web page of kampachifarm.com, one of the aquaculture producers has some horrifying fishery collapse statistics, like this one:

I appreciate kampachifarm.com‘s commitment to responsible production. Their web site has extensive information. But there are serious oversights and gaps in the base assumptions that we must eat fish, that demand for healthy omega-rich seafood is escalating (population increases, access to global products to name just 2) , and that in order to save the ocean’s wild fisheries, we must farm and do so in ways that do not put more pressure on the ocean ecosystem. And as we move away from wild-caught feedstock (it’s getting scarce and prices have soared) for these farmed fish, we need to feed them a high protein substitute grown on land… like… SOY. Wait… isn’t that also a problem? Sounds like monoculture support or at least, elision of how soy aggravates land-based environmental poverty.

Lastly, when I savor my tiny, tony sliver of kampachi tonight, I want think about the life this fish had in this sea-bound ball: