Groxie

I don’t really subscribe to a label in terms of what I eat. While I do eat a mainly vegetarian diet, I occasionally enjoy some seafood as well. When I am thinking about eating meat, I ask myself whether or not I would be able to kill the animal myself. I am convinced that this one little question (could I kill this myself?) goes a long way in connecting me to what my food is and where it comes from.

I love that in Omnivore’s Dilemma Pollan takes the same stance after exploring the food industry, and I hope that he inspires others to do the same. In any case, I can’t kill chickens, pigs, cows, or any other number of animals. I’ll admit that I’m not terribly merciful towards scallops, but I do keep an open mind. For example, after learning about the high intelligence of Octopi, John and I decided that we would never even think about eating them again.

My decision to eat seafood becomes even more complicated when I try to take into account the true impact of what I eat. How the fish is harvested (or raised), how healthy the population is, and how healthy it is for me to eat the fish are all important aspects of the decision. It can be difficult to synthesize all of this information. Recently I came across this beauty of a chart by the Blue Ocean Institute. It is a handy wallet size, and it makes my decisions at the seafood counter so much easier. It’s just one very small part of my shopping list, but it is precisely where I need the most guidance.

Some of the restricted fish on the list were hard to give up, but I was more than willing to give up canned tuna. After reading about mother orcas unwittingly poisoning their own calves with their milk, I’ve become much more vigilant about avoiding fish that accumulate heavy metals.

Even if you don’t eat seafood, I would encourage you to direct friends or family who do to this guide. It’s free and easy to refer to, and it might just stop us from poisoning ourselves!