On July 15, 2023 from 12 pm to 4 pm the BC Crab Fishermen’s Association and Mitch’s Catch brought to False Creek Fishermen’s Wharf in Vancouver the 1st (of what we hope will be many future annual celebrations) Crab Fest events. This is yet another innovative seafood project backed by the influential Chefs’ Table Society of BC who just finished another Spot Prawn Festival written up on June 12 here. This Crab Boil of fresh BC Dungeness crabs featured fishers & talented chefs Robert Clark, Dez Lo, Vish Mayekar, Julian Bond, Quang Dang and others including volunteers from Vancouver Community College. There was such a good vibe there on a beautiful hot sunny afternoon including fresh local corn on the cob, live music, games (do you know Jenga or Cornhole?), Granville Island Brewing beer and sours, Fabrique St-George wines, and Sapsucker sparkling water (naturally sweetened with organic maple tree sap). The mission statement is “to raise awareness and make local Dungeness crab more accessible, so you can savour another remarkable taste coming from the coastal waters of British Columbia.” Presently there are 220 licensed vessels and over 800 harvesters placing an emphasis on sustainability with a limited crab season harvesting only males with a minimum size of 165 mm. Also appreciate the support and vocational learning opportunity being given to younger fishers through BC Young Fishermen’s Network. Your scribe strongly advocates that Dungeness crab is an outstanding product being the world’s sweetest and most succulently delicious of all varieties. Some of us advocate that it shows even more complexity served chilled rather than hot so for the expected bigger and even better Crab Fest next year please consider offering this second option. Would require more work with an earlier pre-cooking and refrigerating but certainly worth considering. All in all a most successful limited ticket attendance first run project and congrats are in order! Well done.
What innovative seafood initiatives do you see happening in your local region?
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