I’d appreciate an address for Hooked.

tx.K

I applaud Dan and Kristen for their courage to take a risk and sink what had to have been an enormous chunk of their finances, lives, and souls into a venture that probably won’t have a payback for many years. I think they are doing it for all the right reasons: providing access to sustainable fish and seafood, clean fish and seafood, educating consumers about fish and seafood and how to make the most of their purchase. I say this as a mountain top, landlocked resident 800 miles south of HOOKED. I doubt I’ll have the opportunity to set foot in their store but I would even if my regular purchase could only be minimal. Their goals deserve support and the more “minimal purchase” individuals there are the more word spreads, bringing in more purchasers, creating more demand, eventually changing the status quo. It’s a slow process.

No matter what the structure of the store that surrounds the sale, whether corporate, mom & pop supermarket, or specialized fishmonger, that quality of product will never be cheap. To suggest that two individuals, no matter how dedicated, could penetrate corporate walls and blockades and corporate seafood wholesalers and transform supermarket fish counters overnight is fatuous at best. It’s still uncommon to find organic meats and poultry in standard supermarkets and when you do, if it is truly an organic free-range product (you can never be absolutely certain given the loopholes and tap dances), it is still several dollars per pound more than conventionally raised product, leaving consumer dollar decisions in the same dilemma. I see no difference between the meat department and the seafood department in the grocery store. Even more unfortunate for the consumer is the employee behind the counter. There is very little actual meat or fish cutting done in-store anymore. The general run-of-the-mill employee probably knows less about cuts and types of meat and fish than the concerned, educated buyer. But he’s really good with plastic wrap and styrofoam trays.

Here in Floyd we are extremely limited when it comes to the availability of seafood, fresh or frozen. We have 2 grocery stores: one corporate, one semi-mom & pop. The “fresh” seafood never passes the most basic tests for fresh and is almost always labeled “Vietnam”, “Taiwan”, or “China”. The frozen stuff, while minimally better in texture and flavor upon thawing often carries the same LOC labels. If you’ve ever investigated the methods used and quality of the waters, both farmed and wild, where these fish are pulled from you have to have serious doubts about eating it.

However, several years ago, two women with a refrigerated box truck took it upon themselves to drive weekly to the VA-NC-MD coastal areas to pick up the freshest, highest quality, most responsibly fished seafood they could find and bring it back to the area. On their way back from the coast they stop at fish farms they have inspected and trust to bring back farmed salmon and trout. They took a huge financial risk upon themselves betting that against the odds there was a desire for their product and they could grow their business through dedication, education and commitment. Their business has grown over the years and now they not only serve Floyd, but the whole New River Valley area and a number of restaurants. They have a couple more employees but are still working out of that original box truck. Yes, their prices run more than the grocery stores but in many cases, and seasonally, are competitive with them. I trust them for the fish I purchase because I know they care wholeheartedly about the origins and quality of what they’re selling and how they handle it. People throng the lots at their scheduled stops waiting to make their purchases and whether you can afford to make a big purchase or are only there for a fillet or two you are treated the same respect, with information about your purchase and suggestions on how to handle and cook it. Just because they don’t have brick and mortar about them doesn’t make them any less of a store than HOOKED, and if we, the consumers and they, the purveyors, are elitist then so be it. They have made a difference in their own small way and continue to do so. In our village the Indigo Seafood truck is definitely where people of all income levels go for their seafood and fish purchases. There’s no whinging on about the grocery stores offerings, their feet take their dollars elsewhere. If the grocery stores won’t change their ways (and it appears they won’t for whatever reasons) then they just lose that revenue.

Half a century and more ago individual butcher shops, fish mongers, produce shops, and dairies were the norm. Big Food/Big Ag set about changing that. Now there are generations that have never experienced an actual butcher shop. Changing corporate food control, quality, and supply can only be done by grass roots education and demand and is a slow process. The reappearance of businesses like HOOKED and Indigo Seafood, small dairies and butcher shops, and other small purveyors, few and far between as they are, is not elitist phenomena but a return and a response to growing demand for better quality, more responsible food sources and businesses with faces that will accept that responsibility and stand behind it.

**steps off soap box** Thanks Joel.