The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), responsible for the world’s leading sustainable seafood ecolabel, has launched its Ocean Cookbook 2022. The cookbook is a global collaboration between 17 award-winning chefs and 18 sustainable fishers from around the world, united in the belief that sustainable fishing is a must if we are to protect our oceans.
Using seafood from 18 MSC certified fisheries, the digital cookbook highlights how easy it is to rustle up healthy, sustainable seafood dishes at home. The cookbook is the centerpiece of the MSC’s communications and marketing campaign for the new year, traditionally a time for healthy and more environmentally conscious eating.
Included in the choice of recipes are a simple and delicious Scottish haddock recipe by Cornish restauranter and UK MSC Ambassador Mitch Tonks; a warm puttanesca-style salad using highly sustainable squid from the Northeast Atlantic coast of the USA by MSC Chef Ambassador Gregory Gourdet; and roasted flaked Pacific halibut in a salad topped with crunchy seeds from Canadian MSC Ambassador, Chef Charlotte Langley. On the other side of the world in China, Executive Chef David Liu used Manila clams in a traditional stew from the Yalu View Estuary Manila Clam fishery – one of the latest to be certified to the MSC Standard.
The cookbook includes stunning photography from internationally renowned food photographer, David Loftus. Having worked with Jamie Oliver throughout his career and named Professional Photographer Magazine’s 65th ‘most influential photographer of all time’, David Loftus is a great believer in sustainable fishing.
Joining David in the foreword of the cookbook is MSC global Ambassador Bart van Olphen, together they said of the cookbook and their involvement in the project, “This goes way beyond food. It’s about the future of our Ocean. We need to step up to the plate right now… or we’re in deep water. It meant so much to work with the offerings of these dedicated fishers and amazing chefs because they are showing how buying sustainably caught seafood helps to create truly sustainable seas.”
Richard Stobart, Head of Marketing at the MSC, said, “New Year is a time of renewal in almost all cultures and markets; a chance to make better choices for us, and our planet. With consumers showing increasing concern for the environment and expressing a strong desire to make change to the way they live, our new year campaign encourages seafood lovers to adopt a simple habit of choosing the MSC label. We’re extremely grateful to the chefs and fishers who donated their time, recipes and energy to helping to create this beautiful cookbook.”
The Ocean Cookbook 2022 is the second edition of the MSC’s new year sustainable seafood cookbook. This year the cookbook showcases recipes from chefs based in Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Germany, Denmark, Finland, France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, South Africa, Spain, the UK and the USA. Seafood species found in the book include MSC certified Cape hake from South Africa and Namibia, and Icelandic ling – delicious alternatives to more frequently chosen white fish. Also featured are three different species of tuna – including a yellowfin tuna featured in an Indonesian Lontong curry. To emphasize the journey from ocean to plate, each chef and fisher involved in producing the seafood ingredient for each recipe has spoken on why they have made the choice to Cook and Fish for a Big Blue Future.
