- 9 hours ago
Our Ocean Table Season 1 Episode 1
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00:07this is our food table seafood is the foundation of so many of our favorite dishes and we love
00:15eating I'm Sonia I'm a filmmaker and ocean nerd I live on Vancouver Island and my favorite place
00:26is underwater I'm Hannah I'm a journalist and producer in Toronto and I was a reporter on
00:34much music in the 2000s have you ever had anything fly from the ocean like this before
00:43Koreans around the world are tied to the ocean through food but overfishing and climate change
00:50threaten our oceans what does it mean for our culture if our favorite foods disappear
00:55together we're traveling across Western Canada to meet the harvesters and chefs
01:00behind some of the most iconic Korean dishes dive in as we learn more about the science
01:06sustainability and culture behind our favorite foods welcome to our ocean table
01:21this is sundubu jjigae which means soft tofu soup it's a spicy broth that has big chunks of soft silky
01:28tofu and one way we love to eat it is full of seafood go to any Korean restaurant in North
01:35America and you
01:36can easily find sundubu jjigae on many menus Koreans have been eating it for hundreds of years since the
01:42Joseon dynasty it captures key flavors of Korean food in one pot salty spicy and piping hot
01:57it looks really good looks really spicy that is good this is my cozy comfort food yeah when it's raining
02:07go for this when it's cold go for this when it's hot absolutely you go for an even hotter stew
02:14absolutely
02:15very Korean thing to do I'm pretty sure this is what you ordered the first time we met do you
02:21remember we had lunch in Toronto being asked by Sonia to be a part of this project and to come
02:29along for
02:29the ride it means everything to me because it's about our stories you know and sharing them from our
02:36perspective Koreans have a lot at stake when it comes to ocean conservation and it's unfair that we're
02:43portrayed that all we're doing is pillaging the ocean when I was living in Halifax I didn't have a
02:50lot of choices when it came to going out for Korean food whenever I was craving Korean food this is
02:56what
02:57I would make this whole journey started when I was making sundubu jjigae I was learning about
03:04people's relationship with the ocean and I was like damn must be nice to have an ocean culture while I'm
03:11throwing in seafood squid shrimp mussels clams still contemplating where does my connection for the
03:18ocean come from and then I realize oh this is where it comes from it's from Korean food the ocean
03:26is in
03:26this bowl the ocean is in this bowl growing up I just loved white people's food like that's all I
03:36wanted I watched a lot of TV I wanted to eat lasagna because I read the Garfield comic strips I
03:41wanted to
03:42eat cabbage rolls I do not know why but now all I want is the Korean food over the years
03:48I've been
03:48feeling disconnected from being Korean I want to learn more about my culture and the ways in which ocean is
03:57a part of my culture yeah I am really looking forward to learning more about sundubu not only
04:03how it gets made what goes into it but I want to eventually learn how to make it myself too
04:09my
04:11favorite part of sundubu is the coveted pieces of shrimp but shrimp have some of the worst environmental
04:22impacts from destructive farming to unethical labor practices to trawl fishing that bulldozes ocean
04:30habitats I was vegetarian for many years and sundubu without shrimp just felt wrong I grew up eating it
04:38loaded with seafood and no shrimp was like chicken noodle soup without the chicken so how can we eat it
04:46sustainably it is spot prawn season here right now and spot prawns are a sustainable shrimp industry on
04:53the west coast and I'm super excited to learn more about how they're caught how it's sustainable and meet
05:01the harvesters and the fishers who are doing this
05:37hi how's it going good we're excited to go fishing the spot prawn fishery it's a really short season
05:46and it opens in May and closes sometime in June depending on when the fishing fleet has fished the
05:52prawns down to a sustainable level 70% of our annual income comes from the prawn fishery and the bulk
05:59of
05:59that catch is like in the first two weeks of the season if you have a mistake or you have
06:03a breakdown
06:04in the first two weeks it's like your whole year can be shot it's funny I don't I don't gamble
06:08in real
06:09life or like having my wife always jokes she's like you don't need to gamble because your whole life is
06:12a
06:13camel have you ever touched prawns before um no I've touched prawns with my chapsticks
06:26I've never seen one in the water what how would I ever do that I don't know
06:37spot prawns are a type of shrimp found off the west coast from California all the way up to Alaska
06:43these prawns are bigger than some of the other species and they are popular for their sweet juicy meat
06:52spot prawns have a four-year life cycle and they're hermaphroditic in their first two years
06:58they start out as males and then transition into females when they're bigger in their third and fourth
07:12if you want to put that trap just right behind you why is it so heavy I might trade you
07:18I'll trade you
07:19we have marks on our sorting table okay the line is just on the head still and not in the
07:24eye socket
07:24so that one's like the smallest sort of legal prawn you can catch so this is big enough exactly as
07:31long
07:31as the seagulls don't get them which they're not right now it's actually like quite good survival
07:34when you throw back the undersized the prawn association try to time the season so that
07:43we don't have any egg bearing females generally from like October until March or April is when
07:48they're egg bearing that's one of the reasons why it's sustainable right exactly we're sort of
07:52never catching those reproducing prawns what we're always trying to do when we're fishing is to target
08:04the bigger prawns not only because you get better price for them but also because these are the ones
08:08that are going to be dying off once they spawn anyways let the little guys grow but the little
08:13guys grow come back in a couple years exactly get them next year and put a target the bigger ones
08:17so we're
08:20avoiding reproducing prawns and we're eating them when they're gonna die off anyway it's like we're
08:27working with nature
08:35so this is a ruby octopus do you want to hold? I do I've never held one before
08:43in most fishing practices we get what's called bycatch which are fish and other ocean creatures who
08:49get caught accidentally and often die RIP today the bycatch is being thrown overboard alive
08:58weep be free hey where baskets are just floats
09:05these are spot lobsters slang term is ass clappers because they that's how they swim
09:13yeah I heard spot prawns were sustainable but I didn't know why and now I'm like doing it now I
09:19know
09:19why yeah you must be so fond of these guys whoa yeah they're they've been a big part of my
09:24life for a
09:24long time you can do you guys want to eat one raw oh my god oh listen I will try
09:30yeah
09:34okay so just grab it right here grab it here kind of pinch I want to do it yeah yeah
09:38okay let's do it
09:39together there you go heads off twist RIP oh my god there you go thank you prawns thank you
09:50have you ever had anything live from the ocean like this before
09:55hannah no no no no they're from material okay what kind of sauce do we got it's a
10:03chou gochujang which is a vinegary gochujang sauce cheers cheers thanks for coming out thank you
10:14oh you ate it so ladylike and delicately
10:19i feel very grateful to you and to the spot prawns yeah grateful to spot prawns for sure
10:28everything on Fraser's boat was very memorable i really felt so privileged and lucky to be able to
10:37see how this particular food is being harvested
10:42i felt like in this one afternoon experience we get to bring in some more knowledge to our plate
10:49it's just like when you have kids in the kitchen and they're helping we're helping
10:57thank you so much
10:58bye thank you for showing us fishing bye
11:17army knows exactly what side we're doing
11:27i was getting so into bts because it was bringing me so much joy yes but at the same
11:32time i had nobody to talk about it with you were posting about bts stuff and i was like can
11:39i slide
11:39into her ds just about bts and i was like spirit i'm gonna do it and then now we're friends
11:45i would
11:46love to go back in time and see how fast i responded to you i know oh yeah hi how's
11:51it going i was
11:52probably like was not expecting that but now you said the magic words yeah any way in which we can
12:01feel more connected to each other is such a win in this world everything is so disconnected
12:07who would have predicted that responding to me on instagram would lead us here i know
12:13you know tucked away in a strip mall off the highway we're a long way from korea town
12:19here in nanaimo this chef is serving korean cuisine his way and locals are falling in love with his
12:26twist on classic korean dishes oh my god the first time i got to horang i wanted to introduce myself
12:35to
12:35chef john i couldn't get in i couldn't even get a seat at the bar i went twice i couldn't
12:40eat there
12:41coming into your restaurant we see so much success what has been the hardest part nanaim is a small
12:47city korean company is smaller than other cities in canada korean cuisine for the local market was the
12:53challenging part from the beginning you have a long history in working in restaurants why did you start
12:58a korean restaurant i used to be a sushi chef for over 20 years korean food started to get really
13:05popular
13:05all over the world i knew that it could be a higher risk than open up the same japanese restaurant
13:11but
13:12then i really wanted to try sundubu was the one of the first dishes that i thought about for the
13:18menus
13:19whenever i go to other cities if you want to eat korean cuisine then sundubu is always one of the
13:26first
13:26dishes that i want to order because it feels like you're eating at home
13:32oh my god that's gorgeous wow
13:42we are in vancouver islands and uh it's surrounded by the oceans and uh we got lots of seafood out
13:48there
13:48use of fresh ingredients is main key to creating the delicious dishes right usually we use cuttlefish
13:56or tiger prawns so you use spot prawns when they're in season and then when they're not
14:01in season you just change the yeah we change the seasonal menu here too sometimes i feel a little
14:06sad that i can get the good quality local seafood i think it's a price point too it's a certain
14:13commercial season and also limited quantity they're able to catch a year round and a lot of seafood
14:19export to other countries too so we don't have much choices sometimes no oh it's so spicy it's just
14:27the way i like it i've never had sundubu with galgooks in it yeah really yeah this sundubu is with
14:37the
14:37noodles which is not commonly served with i think a lot of people now so used to eating uh some
14:46of the
14:46foe like vietnamese noodles and also japanese ramen yeah so i have to choose the noodle into the soup
14:52so people more familiar to come and try this dish you know that's so interesting from your chef's
14:59perspective how other asian cuisines have kind of opened the door for familiarity or being open to
15:05a korean dish and then it's like you're taking steps towards like you're teaching people thank you
15:12chef john has such a warmth about him that as a korean i feel like yes i want you to
15:20be
15:22sally's conduit to their first korean meal my regular customers i work friends send me a lot
15:27of love you know korean people have a chong sticky relationship like that's like a chong you're stuck
15:32together stuck together yeah yeah it's all about the memory i mean foods are memory right when you
15:44have with the good people and the good food that's the best memories ever right when you have a memorable
15:51meal somewhere it makes your feeling of closeness with that place even closer it's like what he was
15:58saying about chong i feel chong for nanaimo now through chef john and horang i recently moved to
16:05vancouver island i didn't really know where to find the koreans chef john he's representing
16:13really hip korean culture and food in a city on the island that i wouldn't think that a korean
16:20restaurant would be popular all right i made me really proud i recently saw somebody do sound like
16:26this like what oh i watched the teacock yeah it's my way i've never seen that yeah yeah
16:40spot prawns are delicious and sustainable but not cheap in fact cheaper shrimp comes with a hefty cost to
16:46the environment one way we can eat seafood sundubu forever is to save prawns for special occasions
16:53and celebrations if you can help me dice up the onions can do never let chef john see my knife
17:00skills
17:02our spot prawns thank you fraser
17:07it's a big act of knowing yourself to eat like this in public
17:13growing up growing up i would not have wanted to bring anyone home for dinner to and have this so
17:20making a picnic like this in a public space i think is an act of resistance and when i think
17:26about
17:27the rise of korean food it makes me feel very hopeful it's about acceptance and and connection
17:34food really connects us thank you for making such a wonderful you too man that sesame oil does it at
17:48the end it's perfect sundubu is such a perfect meal for like a rainy cold yes wet day as koreans
17:57we are
17:58inherently so connected to the ocean because it's on our table and you can see it and you can see
18:04it
18:05nobody's hiding what this is it's an incredible feeling to be that connected to your food beyond
18:11just the very end stages of bringing it home and to cook it in your kitchen and that's what i
18:16want to
18:17help people see a little bit more even my own family just being able to connect that back to
18:24we love the ocean but if we don't take care of it we can't have this on our table this
18:30is like a
18:30really beautiful thing it's not just an enjoyable meal you know it's so much more than that i just
18:35i'm so happy right now i love that to eat our favorite foods forever the first step is to learn
18:43where
18:43our food comes from and to explore sustainable options no matter where we live the ocean connects
18:50koreans through our shared favorite dishes around the world even in the prairies in our next episode
18:57we'll be learning about the surprising connection between seaweed and cows
19:11the world's slowest tractor driving
19:18chef john said this is where he comes to crab okay chicken in and then let's shut this feel like
19:26i'm
19:26sending a love letter it is raw chicken in this envelope to the crabs deep below have you done
19:33this before no i think you're supposed to throw it what do your kids do drop it i don't know
19:43okay how
19:47do we're gonna do one toss this is the first and only okay
19:56i'll do that again
20:01nice who's gonna check the traps i'll do it because i want to go inside as quick as possible
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