“It’s time that Thailand learns about responsible food choices to save our health and the health of the entire planet.” says Bill Marinelli, Bangkok’s resident marine biologist and owner of The Oyster Bar, home to some of the most esoteric and delicious selection of oysters in Southeast Asia.
For a long time Bangkok restaurants have completely ignored the worldwide trend of sourcing sustainable seafood. Sure, there have been recent campaigns aimed at reducing the amount of shark fin consumed in the kingdom, but the bigger problem extends to all species in the sea, not just sharks. The problem we’re facing is that we’re overfishing the oceans, running out of fish and on the consumer end, we’re eating fish that is caught illegally and harmfully. And for the most part, the problem has gone unnoticed in Thailand.
Bill oversees the entire process of his dishes from the ocean to the plate. Owning fisheries in Indonesia and oyster farms in America allows him to make sure that everything served at his restaurant is caught legally in a sustainable fashion.
To make the public aware of Bangkok’s problem, Bill will hold a special dinner in conjunction with Raitong Organics Farm where he plans to showcase certain eco-friendly seafood dishes and explore ways to tackle and solve the problems by educating consumers.
The first item on the agenda is, of course, oysters, Bill’s specialty. He’ll be discussing nomenclature and the origin of the popular aphrodisiac, and of course guests will be able to sample the delicious briny mollusks to reenforce what they’ve learned. The conversation will then turn towards what sort of fish to order and what sort of fish to avoid when eating out. Bill aims to educate consumers since he believes the push has to come from the dining community if anything is to be done about the seafood problem.
Photos: The Oyster Bar
As an aside, Bill will treat guests to an experimental food that he believes will be the next big thing: seaweed. Offering an enormous amount of protein an incredibly eco-friendly growth model, seaweed could offer an incredible alternative to traditional proteins, and Bill has some killer dishes up his sleeve to prove it.
Seating at the dinner is very limited, so if you’d like to learn more about sustainable seafood and eat some fantastic seafood while you’re at it, you’d better secure a seat now.
Contact csa@raitongorganicsfarm.com to purchase a ticket to the dinner.
Sustainable Seafood Sunday
Hosted by Raitong Organics and The Oyster Bar
September 8th, 12pm.
csa@raitongorganicsfarm.com for more information.
