Good Morning SuperForest!
A few months back we profiled sustainable fisheries expert Casson Trenor and his new guidebook, “Sustainable Sushi.”
I was lucky enough to get a brief interview with Mr. Trenor about his book, his new sustainable sushi restaurant in San Francisco, and his hopes for a more delicious future:
“Dear Mr. Trenor,
Thank you in advance for taking the time to answer our questions. I love your book and I hope very much that it takes you to interesting places.
CT: I appreciate your interest. Thanks for giving me this opportunity.
I have a list of questions for you. They are probably not the standard questions, but I don’t believe our readers are standard readers, so if you have any questions or require further clarification, please ask.
That said:
Where are you from?
CT: A little town in Washington State called Mukilteo. It’s to the north of Seattle, on the beach. It’s where you go if you want to take the ferry over to Whidbey Island.
SF: What was your upbringing like, and did it lead you into the fish/resource stewardship life?
CT: There was a little beach about a 10-minute walk from my house. I used to go there a lot when I was little. I’d dig for clams and geoduck, and just play around. As I got older, that beach started to die. Pollution and misuse turned that idyllic little childhood paradise into a chem-stained blight on the shore. I’d never eat anything from that beach these days.
I guess watching that place wither, seeing the life drain out of it, opened my eyes to what was happening to our ocean at large. I mean, that was my little personal connection to it, you know? And it was fading away.
SF: What is your day to day like? As in, from when you awake to when you sleep, what are your usual steps (if any)?CT: Well, the great majority of my day is spent working for a non-profit ocean conservation organization called FishWise (www.fishwise.org). I’m their Business Development Director. They’re a great group that works directly with the seafood industry — retailers, distributors, producers, etc — to transition the US seafood market to a more sustainable regime. It’s a real honor for me to be involved so closely with them.
Aside from that, I spend quite a bit of time at Tataki Sushi and Sake Bar (www.tatakisushibar.com). Tataki is the world’s first sustainable sushi restaurant, and it’s here in San Francisco. In lat 2007, I had the incredible fortune to meet two exceptionally talented and big-hearted chefs, Kin Lui and Raymond Ho. Together, the three of us designed and opened Tataki to prove the point that you can have delicious sushi and still respect the sanctity of the oceans. I’m so happy to be able to say that the restaurant is booming and business continues to grow. In fact, our one-year anniversary is coming up in February.Somehow, between those two obligations, I’m supposed to find time to promote this book, sleep, and have some sort of social life. I haven’t quite figured that last part out yet.
SF: What is your relationship like with the sea? When did it begin, and when do you first remember feeling a sympathy towards the ocean and its many inhabitants?
As I mentioned before, I think it started with that little beach in Mukilteo. But it’s always been a part of me, wherever I’ve been. I’ve led a blessed life in many ways, one of which is that I’ve had the opportunity to travel to lots of far-flung spots scattered about this globe. Places like Mozambique, Antarctica, Micronesia. I went to these places for various reasons, but always paid attention to the ocean and its condition. In Mozambique, pirate fishing is terrorizing the local biodiversity. In Micronesia, a lack of infrastructure is causing horrendous run-off problems that festoon the coastlines with trash. In Antarctica, the Japanese are still relentlessly slaughtering whales. There’s so much work to be done.
SF: What do you believe is the single most efficient step one can personally take to work towards the survival of our ocean’s fish stocks?
CT: Embrace the idea that one person can make a difference. That’s the key. Once a person feels that their actions actually matter, it becomes so much easier to take a stand. If we want to save the oceans, we need to believe in our capacity to change the world.
Oh, and don’t eat farmed salmon.
SF: The current situation mankind faces in its relationship with the sea is fairly dire… How hopeful are you of our ability to rally as a species and instill a more resource based values system in the hopes of preventing collapse? And what situation would you like to see put in place to ensure a more sustainable balance in man’s relating to the sea? How soon could this come to pass, assuming you had unlimited resources to get the word out?
Also, What is your diet like? Are you an omnivore? How do you personally feel about eating fish?
CT: I eat fish. I have gone through vegetarian and vegan periods in my life and I have a great respect for people that hold themselves to a light-footprint diet such as this. That being said, I do not necessarily believe that we need to stop eating fish to save the oceans. In fact, I think the desire of people to eat fish can actually be a tool towards ocean conservation. We just need to be much more vigilant and precautionary in how we fish, and in what and how much we take from the ocean.
SF: What steps do you currently take to maximize your personal efficiency? Do you compost? Garden? Bike?
CT: I do compost, absolutely. So does the restaurant. San Francisco makes it easy to do so, which is great.
I garden, too… kind of. My house has got a garden out back, and my roommates and I are in the process of converting it from a weed-choked swath of urban savanna into a vegetable patch. I’m excited about that. Unfortunately, I have a terrible black thumb. I don’t know why, I just have a horrible record with keeping plants alive. I guess we’ll see how this goes… wish me luck!
SF: If Obama could grant you one wish, what would it be?
CT: Don’t bow to politics and pressure. Be the leader we all know you can be. And come into Tataki for dinner sometime. :-)
SF: And finally, what keeps you hopeful? When adversity rears up, how do you remain true to yourself and your goals? Does anyone person or group inspire you?CT: There’s a lot of bad news out there, but really, there’s so much good news too. So many people that are striving to change the world in a positive direction, each in their own way, following their own passions. I guess what keeps me hopeful is the human race itself.
I think that the late Mr. Utah Phillips, a man I am so proud to have called a friend, said it best: “Too many people are doing too many good things for me to afford the luxury of being pessimistic.”
SF: Thank you very much for your time and energy. I hope your book sells like a book on hotcakes.
Yours truly,
Jackson @ SuperForest
Yes indeed! Thank you very much Mr. Trenor. And good luck with those houseplants.
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