A Fresh Approach

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Fresh From The Sea has made it their mandate to provide fish that is not only fresh but also cleaned, premium cut and filleted. Freshmonger, as Gina May Mair calls herself (she was formerly in the business of finance), explained to Thursday Food at the recently held Kingston Kitchen that Fresh From The Sea is a club founded to "make the connection between the fishermen and the consumers."

Truly passionate about providing a premium product and fully cognisant that people are serious about what they eat — Fresh From the Sea source their fish from fishermen across the island who practise sustainable methods of fishing. "We are not going to support the use of dynamite or any other form of fishing activity that could potentially damage our coral reefs,"stated May Mair, adding that the Fisheries Department of Jamaica, in association with Food For the Poor, has been instrumental in educating and training fishermen on proper fishing techniques. "Educating our fishermen is very important for the local fishing industry; as it is only through education on the correct fishing methods that the industry can be sustained."

Currently Fresh From The Sea distributes yellowfin tuna (used in a number of Japanese restaurants to make sushi), wahoo, mahi-mahi (dolphin fish), grouper and mackerel.

The wahoo is, according to May Mair, "a member of the mackerel family, white, doesn't carry as much oil and is a consumer favourite... Further benefits are that it reproduces quickly and is quite versatile. It can be prepared in a number of ways. I have customers who say they even cut it into nuggets".

The fish is not yet in supermarkets, but May Mair stressed that at the moment the club has a standard to maintain and is more focused on providing premium product at all times. To announce their 'catch of the day', Fresh From The Sea utilises e-mail and SMS blasts as well as Twitter. For orders, customers can send an e-mail with their request and contact information to FRESHfromthe Sea.JA@gmail.com.