Without any foreknowledge, it is hard to think about something called “spawn on kelp” as having the potential to inspire such passion.

But, suspend belief and wander into the idyllic Sooke Harbour House, where Chef Edward Tuson creates magical meals for the rich, the famous and food-obsessed.

Listen to the people who harvest the product, who have taken a traditional food for coastal First Nations communities and turn it into a 400-ton a year export business to Japan.

Spawn on kelp may not sound magical, but it is extraordinary. So extraordinary that Slow Food Canada movement has taken notice.

Slow Food may not be as big a “thing” in Canada as Italy, but what it may lack in numbers is compensated by enthusiasm and commitment.


Recognizing that certain artisanal foods of Canada are as endangered as in any other country, Slow Food Canada has embraced the concept of the Slow Food Ark of Taste, and is identifying foods that warrant recognition and rediscovery.

This is where spawn on kelp comes in. A traditional West Coast First Nations food, the method of harvesting herring spawn is not only sustainable (as opposed to herring roe, which results in the death of the herring), but also lucrative.

Herring spawn in bays and inlets along the British Columbia coast, then continue on.(Herring can live up to twelve years, although it is apparently unknown how long they will spawn).

Generations ago, First Nations noticed that herring will spawn in a kelp bed, the eggs affixing to the kelp. The result was a tasty and nutritious food. It was eaten fresh, or dried for use on special occasions later in the year, such as for potlatch.

Over the generations, the fishers developed a simple yet effective way of stringing rows of large fresh pieces of the seaweed macrocystus in waters where the herring spawn, then harvesting the eggs, which have formed a shiny pale gold shimmering crust on both sides of the bright green seaweed.

The science side of the operation tells them when the herring are about to spawn and they can be safely moved into enclosed ponds where the kelp awaits.

Traditional harvesting was taken to commercialization in the 1970s, when the demand from Japan prompted an enterprising group of fishers to transform a traditional food for small coastal communities to a delicacy sold half way around the world.

It is salted immediately upon harvesting, with special attention paid to proper grading – better quality commands much better prices.

The flavour and texture of spawn on kelp is not really within the standard Western repertoire, but for anyone interested in food, it’s a must.

The crunchiness and slightly salty flavour are fresh and lively in the mouth. It would be a delight to have it fresh, eaten the way it was traditionally enjoyed.

Chef Edward Tuson pulled out all the stops in finding different ways of preparing and serving what the Japanese call komochi konbu (a more attractive name than spawn on kelp, isn’t it?).

He is the first to admit that au naturel is perhaps the best way to serve it.

Rinsing in cool running water to reduce the saltiness, Tuson takes six or seven different approaches and the room full of food lovers pay special attention, making notes – Slow Food has an approach to tasting food that is similar to the many scoring systems for wine.

We have a sheet to note the key elements of food appreciation:
• Appearance (my notes say “visually spectacular”)
• Aroma
• Flavour
• Texture
• Overall Tasting Experience:
• Best Descriptive Name for this Product (well, spawn on kelp may be descriptive, but the name doesn’t make me want to eat it…how about herring caviar on kelp?)

Tuson offers us spawn on kelp that has been cold smoked with a maple syrup glaze, a baked dish with Hilary’s St. Clair cheese (an outstanding Vancouver Island producer), a warmed piece with pumpkin seed garlic oil, a piece in a light broth.

The prettiest (aside from the simplicity of the bare product) was a little bite sized sandwich, with the bread being two little one-inch squares of spawn on kelp, with a delicate piece of salmon in between, the whole thing tied together with a thin piece of another kind of seaweed.

For such simple ingredients, the flavours are remarkably different.

There is an occasional bitterness that many at my table notice.

The baked dish is unbearably salty for me and the person to my left – one on my right loves that one, so much so that I happily pass over the rest of mine.

Chef Tuson comments that he is fascinated by the fact that the raw product was soaked for the same amount of time for each of the dishes, yet each end product is very different in terms of salinity.

While I do not shy away from salt in any way, the delicacy of the product is lost when there is too much salt.

We have the opportunity to taste our samplings along with a Cipes Sparkling wine – it’s a great way to toast the introduction of spawn on kelp into the Canadian Ark of Taste.

It’s the fourth product to be brought in, and no doubt Mara Jernigan, the Canadian Ark Coordinator, is planning more. What about pemmican Mara?

Cecil Hill, President of the Spawn on Kelp Operators Association (SOKOA), laughs as he talks about growing up in a large family, all his siblings crunching away on big pieces of spawn on kelp. They ate it as a full meal, sometimes with some mashed potatoes.

Cecil clearly understands what it takes to successfully market this product to Japan, but he also sees an opportunity here in North America.

The education of the Canadian palate is a slow process, but with its membership in the slow Food Ark, spawn on kelp is on its way.

Gael Arthur

---

Many thanks to Gina Johansen, Executive Director of SOKOA for the photos.

USEFUL WEB PAGES:

http://www.bc-gold.com
http:// www.sookeharbourhouse.com
http:// www.slowfood.com
http:// www.summerhill.bc.ca