Wine & Words

Chef Yvonne and I found a nice recipe for a "Tilapia with Mushroom Aioli," and we decided to include it in our April Dinner Specials at The Back Bay Cafe. I wrote in the menu about "US farm-raised Tilapia..." figuring we could easily get some. Wrong. One of our foodservice vendors said they had two kinds of Tilapia - one from China and one not. Where was the "not" from? No idea. We gave our standard lecture about how we, and our customers, are concerned about the sourcing and handling of the food we eat. We do not trust the food safety standards in China or other parts of Asia.

Though the prices are low enough to be putting American fisheries out of business, we're not looking for the cheapest. We're looking for the best. And we also want to "vote" with our pocketbook for local, sustainably raised foodstuff. If we don't support the farmers and fishers and other producers who are working hard to bring us fresh, clean food, we'll be stuck with the cheap imports. I ended up putting a note in the menu that says until we get reliably sourced Tilapia it will not be on the menu. Now we're working with a fishmonger and several local fishermen to identify local catches before we make our menu decisions. We think our customers appreciate it.