SEAFOOD 



From coast to coast, more Americans are 

 filling their plates with the fisherman's catch 



By Kathy Hart 



Photo by Kathy Hart 



Rick Madden of 

 Wellspring Grocery 

 promotes his product 



Like Cajun food, VCRs and BMWs, seafood 

 is "in." 



And it should be. Everyone from the Ameri- 

 can Heart Association to the local grocery store 

 is promoting the ocean's bounty. 



The public is bombarded with information 

 about seafood — how good it tastes, how nutri- 

 tional it is, how much variety it offers and how 

 easy it is to prepare and cook. 



The results? 



Salmon steaks, orange roughy fillets and 

 grouper nuggets increasingly fill the plates of 

 young urban professionals. Per capita con- 

 sumption in the United States increased from 

 13.6 pounds in 1984 to 14.5 pounds in 1986. 



Seafood retailers say this is just the begin- 

 ning. Rural, central and mid-western U.S. 

 markets are yet to be fully developed. 



But fish and shellfish may need the promo- 

 tional boost. 



Not long ago, most Americans shunned 



seafood, particularly for cooking at home. 

 They remembered their mothers frying floun- 

 der or perch to a crisp, then burning incense to 

 mask the odor. 



It was enough to leave a bad taste in any- 

 body's mouth, especially when the fish was less 

 than fresh. 



But the seafood business is changing. 



From the fisherman to the retailer, fish and 

 shellfish receive better treatment. More care 

 and better handling have improved the condi- 

 tion in which the fisherman's catch arrives at 

 retailers and restaurants. Air freighting allows 

 today's catch of West Coast salmon to be 

 served on East Coast tables tomorrow. 



Once the product is improved, the key is 

 getting the consumer to taste the difference. 



The public will sample the catch if it comes 

 from a restaurant kitchen. Surveys show that 

 about 75 percent of the seafood eaten in Amer- 

 ica today is consumed in restaurants. 



From the independent operation to the large 

 chain, restaurants are including more seafood 

 on the menu. And they are turning away from 

 fried fish, french fries and coleslaw, says Carol 

 Stigelman, seafood development specialist 

 with the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries. 



Diners are tempted by barbecued shrimp, 

 blackened redf ish, grilled swordf ish steaks and 

 steamed king crab fresh from Alaska. 



Many supermarkets bank on the consumer's 

 growing hunger for fish and shellfish. Surveys 

 show that 17 percent of the nation's retail food 

 stores have installed seafood service counters. 



Clearly, seafood has moved out of the meat 

 counter. Supermarkets that are serious about 

 seafood sell it at attractive full-service 

 counters. 



Larry Poos, seafood speciahst with Harris 

 Teeter, says his company is experimenting 

 with an updated look for its seafood counters. 

 In a test store, retailers are fashioning the coun- 

 ter into an undersea world, placing the com- 

 modity on shaved ice around an ice sculpture. 



The payoff: a doubling of seafood sales. 



