March 27, 2012 – For most of American history, early spring meant a feast of shad. That tradition has faded, but young chefs are trying to slip the ritual back onto plates.
In its native rivers, the noble American shad fell on hard times starting in the late 1800s, with overfishing, pollution and dams reducing its numbers to the point where the tradition of shad as the must-have dish for spring had largely faded from memory.
But young chefs are now angling to restore the shad to its former glory. "Since the beginning of people inhabiting this area, there was always shad the first thing in spring, the first guarantee of fresh fish," says Jed Fox, a chef at Ris restaurant in Washington, D.C. Some of those fish would have spawned in Rock Creek, just a few blocks from the restaurant.
Read the complete story from NPR.