SEAsonality symposium on Texel

26-5-2023

To create awareness about the ways there are to responsibly consume and serve fish, crustaceans and shellfish, NIOZ and chef Jef Schuur from the Michelin-starred restaurant Bij Jef will receive no less than 100 chefs on Texel for the SEASONALITY symposium.

In this article chef Jef Schuur makes an appeal to colleagues to participate in this SEAsonality symposium on 5 June.

2 minutes read

An appeal to attend the SEAsonality symposium

“We need to turn the tide on the way we source fish in our kitchens, so I’m making an appeal on all my colleagues to join the conversation on June 5^th to promote seafood: we debunk the myth that fish ‘in season’ is more sustainable, and we discuss bycatch in the context of seasonality. One way to prevent the waste of bycatch is to valorize it, but avoiding bycatch completely would be ideal”, says Jef Schuur from restaurant Bij Jef about the symposium.

The SEAsonality Symposium will take place on Texel at the NIOZ on Monday 5 June 2023 from 13:00 to 18:00 and participation is free. It’s a Dutch symposium, but we think colleagues from other countries could organize their own discussion about the use of fish seasonality. 

Subjects in this SEAsonality symposium

At this symposium, which starts at the NIOZ, researchers will talk about the current state of the ocean, how seasonality affects the ocean and why the maturity of seafood at the time of catch is important. The symposium is followed by a master class in Jef’s restaurant, where chefs discuss the relationship between bycatch and seasonality.

The symposium is supervised by none other than senior scientists Kees Camphuysen, Myron Peck and Anieke van Leeuwen from the NIOZ itself. Never before have chefs been in direct contact with scientists on this groundbreaking subject. The chefs will not only learn about seasonality from the NIOZ researchers, but will also experience a masterclass by Jef Schuur on how to deal creatively with bycatch and how seasonality is related to this.

Seasonal

In addition, during the symposium, the participating chefs will learn about the myths about what ‘in season’ means for seafood. In fact, just because a fish is ‘in season’ doesn’t necessarily make it more virtuous or more delicious to eat. This also applies to bycatch, as some fish species are accidentally caught near the target species. Unfortunately, the bycatch is often wasted, and one way to mitigate that is to cook and serve the bycatch. Nevertheless, whether a fish is caught targeted or untargeted, the stock of a species is the most important criterion for determining whether a fish is sustainable.

Colleagues

Colleagues of chef Jef Schuur are 100% behind the initiative. Jonnie Boer from Restaurant De Librije in Zwolle says: “A great initiative to share this important knowledge about reproduction, growth and age” and Edwin Vinke from Restaurant de Kromme Watergang in Hoofdplaat adds: “It’s about time we learned more about the sustainability of everything that lives in the sea.”

Website: NIOZ & restaurant Bij Jef

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