Fish! A Week of Sustainability Education and Cooks Confab Deliciousness

If you like seafood, if you care about the future of seafood, the health of our oceans, and the future of our planet -- and you love great food -- the week of June 1 is going to be important to you. The Cooks Confab has joined together with Passionfish and Slow Food Urban San Diego to present several delicious and enlightening events, culminating with a big Cooks Confab dinner on June 6 at 1500 Ocean at the Hotel del Coronado.

First up is Fish! Facts. This is an appetizer reception hosted by Chef Andrew Spurgin of Waters Fine Catering, Cooks Confab, and Slow Food Urban San Diego. It will feature several Cooks Confab chefs, guest chefs, a short lecture by world renowned marine ecologist Dr. Jeremy Jackson, and a showing of "End of the Line," a documentary that examines the firsthand effects of the global love affair with fish as food that premiered at last year's Sundance Film Festival.

The reception is from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Fibonacci's Campus Pointe Bistro, 10300 Campus Point Dr., SD, 92121. Tickets are only $15 and available online at brownpapertickets.com. All proceeds to go Slow Food Urban San Diego.

On June 6 is Fish! Forum from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Hotel Del. The non-partisan, multi-media organization Passionfish is hosting and engaging and educational forum called Fish! on the urgent issue of seafood and ocean sustainability. I'll be on the panel along with Tommy Gomes of Catalina Offshore Products; Kristin Goodrich, Board Member, Slow Food Urban San Diego; Martin Alberto Hall, Ph.D., Chief Scientist at the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission; Nigella Hillgarth, Ph.D., executive director of the Birch Aquarium; Don Kent, President of Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute; Logan Kock, vice president at  Santa Monica Seafood; Carl Rebstock, Executive Director of Passionfish.org (and our moderator); Robin Siegle, Esq., Director of  the Business Center at the National Conflict Resolution Center; and Andrew Spurgin, Exec. Director/Chef of Waters Fine Catering.

This is a free public event and there will be time for an audience Q&A.

Finally, dinner! Enjoy an evening of responsible, delectable seafood. Appetizers will be served from 6 to 7:30 on the lawn with a panoramic ocean view and the iconic Hotel Del as a backdrop. From 7:30 to 9 pm., enjoy a four-course dinner in the dining room. The event is preceded by our free Fish! Forum, a Socratic dialogue about sustainable fisheries. Go to the Cooks Confab site for more information and a list of the participating chefs and their dishes.

Tickets are $125 per person, which includes appetizer reception, dinner, all beverages, gratuity and tax. A portion of the ticket sales will be donated to Slow Food Urban San Diego. Make your reservations by calling 619-522-8490.

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The Gourmet Club is Telling Fish Tales

What's your passion? For Chef Andrew Spurgin it's fish. In fact, he's a co-founder of the educational organization Passionfish, which addresses seafood sustainability issues.

Chef Spurgin, who is executive director and chef of Waters Fine Catering, will be on The Gourmet Club with equally ardent fish lovers Christian Graves, executive chef at Jsix, and Dan Nattrass, principal fish buyer of Catalina Offshore Products. With these three in studio as guests, we'll spend the hour talking about seafood sustainability, mercury in fish, techniques for preparing fish to keep it both safe and tasty -- well, basically all things fish. Actually, all things food -- because both chefs are champions of handcrafted, organic, regional cuisine, even if it doesn't have fins or gills.

So, tune in for the hour. The Gourmet Club is the tastiest meeting in town. Join Robert Whitley and me this Wednesday morning on signonradio.com from 11 a.m. to noon Pacific. You can also podcast the show and listen at your convenience.


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