OCTOPUS
One way to avoid the depletion of our favourite fish from the sea is to include less popular marine creatures on the menu; the squishy, spiny and tentacled beasts that seem more scary than succulent. Given the right treatment however, some of the most unappealing animals turn out to be downright delicious.
Chef Frank Pabst, below, of Yaletown's Blue Water Café, is Vancouver's resident expert on the matter.
His menus always use the finest, freshest, most sustainable ingredients available; but early year he devotes a month to prepping and plating underappreciated species of seafood.
His "Unsung Heroes" menu is heavy with abundant and underused animals like jellyfish, sea urchins, periwinkles and barnacles.
Big on the list is octopus. The gangly cephalopods can often be found on the eastern side of Vancouver Island, and thanks to the traps used to catch them, their bycatch quotient is low. They need long cooking to make them tender, but they're versatile and their flavour is mild. Try some today.
