Standing for Sustainable Seafood
As part of a new feature to share stories of the missions, passions, and goals of inspirational chefs, Chef Wise Canada teamed up with Ocean Wise to invite Chef Chalmers to share her views on sustainable seafood.
“The Culinary world has led me on a wonderful journey of learning, one that demands to be shared loud and often. I dedicated myself to this lifelong journey of acquiring knowledge by observing how other chefs are impacting our industry, sharing ideas with like-minded industry leaders, and coaching our next generation of cooks to understand their impact on sustainable ideas. Broadening your understanding of the food world requires you to partner with leaders in the industry and transparent food suppliers who fully understand how our choices impact the future of our planet.
As chefs, we are stewards of sustainability to the eating public, and therefore I believe it is our obligation to continue to grow and share best practices in choosing which fish and seafood to consume on a regular basis. In this global community, we have access to current information and training to make better choices and we need to commit to implementing these ideas of reducing fish depletion, recognizing seafood fraud, and awareness of the traceability of fish.
I teach our students a course on Farm to Fork principles at Humber College which includes ideas like cooking sustainably is not about making a “grand gesture”, it is about all of the small choices of improvement you make every day. Educating chefs and making a long-term commitment to sustainability is something we need to do and will ultimately help our people, planet, and performance of our industry. The next step in preserving our fish and seafood has to be at the forefront of our minds, we can’t lose sight of its importance.”
- Shonah Chalmers CCC, BSc, WCCE, Culinary Program Coordinator
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