April 24, 2014 — Dining in New England doesn’t get more local than eating fish served by the fisherman. And that’s going to be possible tonight at Marciano Commons, Warren Towers, and West Campus from 5 to 8 p.m. as part of Dining Services Meet Your Local Fishermen Night. Many of the people who caught the seafood in the Catch of the Day meal will be on hand to talk about their livelihood. The event is one product of a new partnership between the University and local seafood supplier Red’s Best, which buys only from fishermen operating small day boats from Maine to Rhode Island.
“It’s all about sustainability and supporting local fishermen,” says campus executive chef Christopher Bee.
Sabrina Pashtan, Dining Services sustainability coordinator, toured Red’s Best a couple of years ago, and reached out to CEO Jared “Red” Auerbach to explore a partnership. Their first idea was a weekly Catch of the Day meal, which yields fresh fish for the University and a competitive price for local fishermen. Another selling point was each fish’s traceable QR code, which contains information such as where the fish were caught, who caught them, and the captain’s home port. Dining Services will display the QR code of the fish at each Catch of the Day dining hall station across campus on Thursdays.
“We always tried to do local, but it was often hard to trace,” says Bee, adding that Red’s Best makes it easy to do.
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