Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The Blue Ocean Institute, a national conservation group, honored Washington chef Barton Seaver along with explorer Sylvia Earle and filmmaker Alastair Fothergill last week for their commitment to preserving the world's seas.

"Barton is part of a new 'rock star' generation of hip young chefs who don't just see food as an eating experience but as a philosophy of relationships that ends, in a sense, in a kind of communion with the land, sea and seasonal life cycles that come to climax on the plate and palate," said Carl Safina, the institute's president, at the institute's fundraising gala in New York.

In his acceptance speech, Seaver, 28, executive chef of Hook in Georgetown, said chefs need to capitalize on their role as "keepers of the food culture. . . . Chefs have the ability to diversify the demand we place on the world's oceans."

Blue Ocean, which produces printed and online guides to sustainable seafood, is taking such information to consumer's cellphones. Shortly before honoring Seaver, Safina announced the inception of a sustainable-seafood text-messaging service, FishPhone. Consumers can text 30644 with the message FISH followed by the name of the species they're considering ordering, and FishPhone will respond with an environmental and health assessment, along with substitution ideas for vulnerable species.

-- Juliet Eilperin