National Seafood Month

with campus executive chef Tom Barton

Hi everyone! Did you know October is National Seafood Month? We will be celebrating on Tuesday the 24th at both International Village and Levine Marketplace (Stetson East) with delectable menus and a display of fresh caught seafood. Get ready to see – and touch – the seafood display as well as enjoy some locally caught sustainable seafood!

All of the fish we serve daily is verified sustainable as well as the tuna is FAD free. We are proud to partner with companies like Red's Best, which is a local fish and seafood provider that focuses on working with local family fishermen. Red's Best guarantees they will buy the fishermen’s catch and get them a fair price, which is typically a concern for the fishermen. Another awesome thing about Red's Best is that they have a program that focuses on underutilized species.

I know here on the east coast we tend to love all of our traditional white fishes like cod, but unfortunately they have been over fished and the government has put many restrictions and quotas in both fishermen and traditional fishing areas. Red's Best is leading the way with colleges, universities and restaurants is serving many of the underutilized species such as haddock, Pollock, ocean perch and dog fish. Red's Best also focuses on locally raised shellfish such as oysters and mussels.

From a chefs perspective, one of the cool things about working with Red's Best and their underutilized program is that often we do not know what they have until hours before our order arrives. Mostly because they do not know the catch of the day until the local boats unload at the pier. Our order comes with a QR code that specifies the particular species, name of the boat, captain and the fishing method used to catch the fish which is becoming more and more important.

Red's Best owner and founder Jared Auerbach will be on campus Tuesday at International Village and Levine Marketplace along with a few other staff members from Red's Best to help us celebrate National Seafood Month. Be sure and stop by and say "Hi" and get a taste of some of this awesome product, prepared into delicious dishes by our culinary team!

Tom

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