PrintHow Much Are You Willing to Pay for a Piece of Fish?
As we noted earlier on Serious Eats, a London chef is opening a fish and chips shop selling only sustainably caught seafood. A basket of fish and chips is going to cost about $20. This reminded me of the age-old question facing all of us: Are we willing to pay more for food that is sustainably grown, raised, or caught?
Food in the U.S. is still, relatively speaking, incredibly cheap, mostly because of a combination of government policy and the laws of supply and demand. Our food supply is created too efficiently. So people who can pay more should. And I don't think it's an either-or proposition. We produce enough food in this country to feed every man, woman, and child in it. That we don't is downright shameful.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
8 Comments:
I *am* willing to pay more for sustainable/organic/etc
But when it comes to fish - especially after reading those articles in the NYT last week about the tankers hoovering up all the fish in the Atlantic, and so destroying local fishing economies in West Africa -
I'm trying to stick to more local options.
Maybe just trout.
:(
It's really hard to do the right thing when it comes to fish, because the sourcing is so murky and the species destruction so rampant.
guido at 12:19PM on 01/20/08
"Our food supply is created too efficiently. "
I find these types of comments patently absurd. I can't buy into any concept that states that food should be more expensive and I find that those that make those statements have money to burn. Most don't.
bravian at 1:04PM on 01/20/08
"We produce enough food in this country to feed every man, woman, and child in it. That we don't is downright shameful."
Is anyone starving in America? Obesity seems to be a bigger problem than hunger among the poor.
bcarter at 1:57PM on 01/20/08
Paying $20 for several ounces of fish is easy - just go out for sushi.
As much as I adore my sashimi fix, it does grate on me from time to time the insane markup granted to purveyors of high-quality protein that is simply not cooked.
The standard "cost x3" equation seems to get no traction when dealing with something held in as high esteem in our country as the sushi experience. Sigh.
tenacity at 2:07PM on 01/20/08
Considering that halibut, which looks absolutely beautiful, is $29.95/ pound- I'm not sure that I want 20% of my food budget going to just one source of protein- sustainable and organic. I'm sure I can have large organic salads for a week, and will wait till prices are more reasonable for me to justify a purchase of that "size".
juliette527 at 4:17PM on 01/20/08
I think sustainability is the most noble goal of all eaters. This is particularly important when one thinks of fish because we are rapidly destroying the populations. I seek out and buy fish that have the least enviromental impact.
US policy is not protecting anyone but the farm lobby.
coolname at 6:28PM on 01/20/08
Regarding the pricing of things like sashimi fish or high grade beef I think people really have no idea what it actually costs the restaurant or butcher to buy it in the first place. For example: the current wholesale price for high-grade ranched Hamachi from Japan is $12.95/pound add about 20 percent waste and the price works out to about $1/ounce. For imported frozen 100% real wasabi paste the price is about $22/pound. Aged Japanese shoyu $38 for 900ml or $.04/ml. So here is your 3 or 4 ounces of hamachi, 1/3 ounce of wasabi, and 15 ml of dip costing the sushi bar 4-5 dollars. Cost x3=$15. Sound about right?
coolname at 6:38PM on 01/20/08
I think many people who can afford to pay more for sustainable do so.
And those who can not afford to simply can not afford to so do not do so. (Those last seven words can be sung in a pleasant though morose rhythm if you care to, just to pass the time.)
But it's the great middle-class crunch where the choice will lay. And in that category, people are paying more for child-care, for gas, for housing, for education. And in that category debt tends to be high, particularly for student loans among other things.
Crunch crunch. What will get bitten on and what will remain behind?
Karen Resta at 12:11PM on 01/21/08