Hake Yeah: Groundfish Promotion and Building Markets in Cambridge & NYC

Delectable hake prepared for the Harvard Business School in Cambridge, MA.

Groundfish, those flaky white fish like cod, haddock, and flounder, were the founding fishery that jumpstarted the effort to build the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association 19 years ago. As such, a large part of our ongoing work is focused on building stability and opportunity into this fishery.

If you were to look at the price per pound that fishermen were paid last year for groundfish species vs what they were paid in 2005, it is almost exactly the same. The cost of living and running a business has changed significantly over that same time, leaving Maine fishermen behind. In response, MCFA works to create better prices and markets for this crucial part of our local food system.

This past year, MCFA received a Domestic Trade Grant from the Maine Department of Economic & Community Development to promote domestic market creation for groundfish from Maine. The first stage of this project was working with a contractor to bring new buyers to the Portland Fish Exchange and build out profiles on the different species to better sell the product to distributors. This effort has brought one new buyer to the exchange so far, with more interested in coming on, and is bringing increased opportunities to the marketplace. 

As an additional part of the project, MCFA worked with Barton Seaver, chef and sustainable seafood advocate (and our board member!) to promote hake for National Seafood Month. Barton has been working with Restaurant Associates (RA), a sector of Compass Food Services, to help build out their “Seafood that Matters” initiative and inform their seafood buying priorities. 

Over the course of October, over 2,400 pounds of hake were purchased by RA from Maine boats and served in cafeterias and restaurants throughout the east coast. To make hake even more exciting, Barton and I also took a road trip to visit Harvard Business School in Cambridge and Google NYC as they served up our fish to students and employees. 

Truly! Bus to Boston, train to New York, and plane back home. (Hm, am I John Candy or Steve Martin?)

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles with Ben and Barton! 

The trip started with a bus to South Station and a visit with the RA team at Harvard Business School. They prepared a baked hake over squash with an apple slaw to serve to students at the school. Barton served up the dish while I provided color commentary to folks who wanted to know about the fish, the fishermen, and the Gulf of Maine. The dish got rave reviews. (No one reviewed me so I'm saying I was excellent.)

After lunch, Barton and I gave a talk to RA staff about why eating seafood (and serving it) is important for our shared health, the ecosystem, and the local economy. 

We then headed to Row 34 for a quick seafood bite with Chef Jeremy Sewall and raced back to South Station for the train to NYC. (Fun fact: Jeremy Sewall buys all of his lobsters directly from his cousin Mark who is a lobsterman in York, Maine. He sends a truck up twice a week for fresh lobsters. Thanks, Chef!)

Barton shows off how hakin' fresh our hake is.

The next morning, we ventured to the Google offices where, in addition to the infamous great snacks for the Googlers, they had hake on the menu in the cafeteria. As Google strives to have a variety of food available (all for free) for their team, seafood represents a fun opportunity for RA to put new flavors and experiences together for Google employees.

At this site, Barton and I weren’t serving up the dish. Instead, the team opened up their test kitchen and invited folks to come learn a bit about hake and how to cook it. Barton cooked up hake in a few different simple but delicious ways, while the two of us chatted about seafood, Maine, and why it matters. 

We then hopped a plane and landed back in Maine before my kids’ bedtime. 

Did this matter?

Yes! It was a packed two days of travel filled with seafood, stories, and community building. Ultimately it made a real difference for our local fishermen. October, despite being National Seafood Month, is typically not a great month for prices for hake in Maine. This purchasing opportunity helped stabilize and even increase prices for hake for Maine fishermen and opened doors to new relationships to keep this kind of program going. 

It was an absolute pleasure to meet the RA teams at Harvard Business School and at Google. We couldn’t have asked for better hosts who also killed it in creating some tasty hake dishes to show off one of my favorite fish. 

HUGE thank you to Barton Seaver and Katy Rivera, who made this opportunity a reality and also planned all the logistics of the trip. 

P.S. Check out Barton’s new cookbook which he wrote with Food Network star and food equity advocate Andrew Zimmern, all about seafood and sustainability.

Blue Food Cookbook