"As seafood consumers, we all have a responsibility to ensure that the fish we eat comes from sustainable sources or were caught in ways that aren’t harmful to the marine environment. This helps conserve our food supply and the livelihoods of millions of people who depend on the ocean’s bounty," shared Bobby Chinn.
The celebrity chef was in the country recently to mark his third year working with WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) in promoting responsible retail and consumption of seafood. June 9th of every year is declared by WWF as Coral Triangle Day. This special day is used to raise awareness of Coral Triangle, the world’s epicenter of marine life and abundance, and how we can best promote seafood sustainability. As part of this year's Coral Triangle Day's festivities, Chef Bobby visited the Philippines and shared to the press his experiences on food, cooking, and traveling, and being a staunch advocate of seafood responsibility. We also got to sample some of his cooking as he prepared two seafood dishes, both showcasing local fish sourced off the waters of Hamilo Coast, Batangas.
Here are six lessons we have learned after spending a day with Bobby Chinn:
1. It's never too late to fulfill your passion.
"I fell in love with food. I didn't think I'd really fall in love with food as much, as I took for granted the fact that I ate very well as a kid. And I had a great Chinese grandmother that could cook very light Shanghainese dishes way ahead of her time, and I had an Egyptian grandmother that cooked incredible Middle Eastern cuisine. And then my parents would take me to restaurants regularly. It was only when I went to boarding school in England that I realized that food can be a formal experience. When I was like 6 I used to watch Julia Child on television, and always thought it's kinda cool that you can start with one thing, and end up with something that's edible and beautiful. But it didn't really hit me until I was 28, 29, that maybe I should be cooking. And then there's a book by an author named Irving Stone called 'Lust for Life' about Vincent Van Gogh. And what I didn't know about Vincent Van Gogh was that he only started painting when he was 30. You know, you knew he cut off his ear, and he probably died of lead poisoning, which made him a little nuts, but that was it. That allowed me to do something at a late age, that you'd never even try. When I started doing it… That was it, I didn't feel like I was going to work when I went to work every day. That's a blessing."
2. Diving can dramatically change the way you look at seafood.
"I've been diving for all these years, and when I dive I always end up hungry. I used to see them as, 'I wanna eat you' and then figure out a way how to cook it when I'm staring at the eyes of a fish. And as I started going through that, I kinda got to look at the world at a completely different way. The problem is that most chefs don't get get the privilege to see these coral reefs that are behind us. They don't see any of that. They don't get to experience what it's like to dive, to go to an incredible ecosystem of this peace and tranquility. They just see it as a product, it's commodified. When I was in Ireland they were showing me this cow: 'That cow just won the best cow award, the most beautiful cow.' I was like, 'It's a cow! The cow doesn't even know it's beautiful.' I would not be able to realize that that was a beautiful cow because that just looks like a cow to me. But if you butcher it for me and you show me a little marbling, I'll be able to tell you that it is. That connection of where that fish comes from is missing. That's what's really scary. People don't really get the fact. They always say, 'You got to respect the ingredient.' What about the environment, where it comes from? Where's that? I have been the ambassador for three years now, it's really hard. But it's my obligation, my duty and my responsibility–as well as it's yours–to basically start people to start thinking a little bit differently. Because we cannot continue doing what we're doing now."
3. Food sustainability is an ecosystem, where customers and restauranteurs should play their part.
"The diner is essential to the whole restaurant, establishment. You don't need restaurants, you need diners. The diner has one of the greatest rules ever written. The diner is always right even when they're wrong, and you're here because of me–I wouldn't have a job without a diner. Everything is internlinked. So I think that if you're able to educate a diner, and then all of a sudden the restaurant, they take the diner more seriously–because sometimes people forget and lose perspective, you know? Like, 'That's the third customer that's asked me that question. What are we going to do about it?' And if you don't adapt to those times then you won't be around. I think you're gonna see a change, I see a change already in many different leading markets. San Francisco was the first, London has embraced it. It's something that's not going to go away. There's a lot of global issues, and it's related to food. So I think diners are gonna get pretty hip pretty quick, all over."
4. Food trends can make a difference in sustainability and waste reduction.
"I look at the plastic straw as a very inconvenient thing–you use it once and then throw it away. Why? I think we should be using local water and not dealing with plastic, and taking waters from another part of an ecosystem. I think restaurants should supply water, maybe charge for it, filter it, make it alkalide or make it something. I think that we shouldn't be using disposable chopsticks. I mean, I do use disposable chopsticks, I use it and it drives me nuts! But no one listens to me, it's part of my inner child screaming, like these are things that we can do. And if we do it, then other people start doing it too–this is progressive. I've seen a huge change in restaurants saying that the ingredient travels no longer than 50 miles."
5. Don't be afraid of failure.
'There's a good place to fail. I kid you not. It's really difficult to walk away from money, right? It's the hardest thing to do! You got to do a really good job, then someone pays you, and you're like–'What! For this?' And it's really difficult to walk away. One of the things you have to do is you have to fail to get to be creative. And most people are scared of failing. And so as the result of that, we end up doing something that we didn't want to do, because we didn't want to take the risk. It's that risk taking that's all we need to do.'
6. Great seafood (or food, for that matter) can be kept simple.
'People don't really get into sardines, but a beautifully grilled sardine with salt is good. Any great product doesn't really need anything than a little salt and pepper.'
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For more information about WWF, visit wwf.org.ph and Like them on Facebook (/WWF.Philippines). Learn more about Bobby Chinn by visiting his official website, www.bobbychinn.com, Like his Facebook page (www.facebook.com/pages/Bobby-Chinn), and follow him on Twitter (@bobbychinn).
