- 5 minutes ago
Our Ocean Table - Season 1 Episode 3
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:07This is our food table.
00:09Seafood is the foundation of so many of our favorite dishes.
00:14And we love eating.
00:17Oh my god!
00:18Fortress.
00:20I'm Sonya. I'm a filmmaker and ocean nerd.
00:24I live on Vancouver Island and my favorite place is underwater.
00:29I'm Hannah. I'm a journalist and producer in Toronto.
00:33And I was a reporter on MuchMusic in the 2000s.
00:36Have you ever had anything fly from the ocean like this before?
00:40Oh, they're from material.
00:43Koreans around the world are tied to the ocean through food.
00:48But overfishing and climate change threaten our oceans.
00:51What does it mean for our culture if our favorite foods disappear?
00:56Together, we're traveling across Western Canada to meet the harvesters and chefs behind some of the most iconic Korean dishes.
01:04Dive in as we learn more about the science, sustainability, and culture behind our favorite foods.
01:10Welcome to our ocean table.
01:19When I think of Korean food, I think seafood.
01:23Bubbling soups and stews with shrimp and seaweed and oysters.
01:27Many Koreans use oysters in savory pancakes and soups and also eat them raw.
01:33I've eaten a lot of oysters in Korea.
01:36They're as Korean as...
01:38Fried chicken?
01:39Cheers!
01:40Cheers!
01:41Okay.
01:42I guess when I think about Korean food, I also think chicken.
01:45But if fried chicken is Korean food the same way oysters are Korean food, what is Korean?
01:53Koreans love fried chicken.
01:55But is it Korean food?
01:57What is considered Korean food?
02:00What is authentic?
02:01What is traditional?
02:02And not only for food, but also am I Korean?
02:06Am I Canadian?
02:07I don't feel Korean enough, but I'm also like, eh.
02:11So I was born in Korea.
02:12My family immigrated to Canada when I was six.
02:14The only way I knew how to survive was really downplay my Korean-ness.
02:21All I wanted to do was fit in.
02:24I was born in Canada, in Toronto.
02:28I was able to integrate into Canadian society in a way that my mom really wanted for me to do.
02:34I think there's a classic story about Asian kids not wanting to take their food to school
02:40because people would say their lunch is stinky.
02:43My mother did not want me to take some food to school that would be deemed stinky.
02:48My mom also stopped putting garlic in our kimchi.
02:52She did not want us to go to school with garlic breath.
02:55I think that adapting your foods is about survival.
03:00Moving to Canada means adapting Korean food to Western palates.
03:03But also adapting Western food to Korean palates.
03:09Korean fried chicken is my favorite example of this.
03:12And oysters are an example too.
03:14When my mom immigrated from Korea, she would use local oysters to make our dishes taste more like home.
03:21Oysters are a shellfish that start their lives as tiny swimming creatures.
03:26Then they settle on the ocean floor where they filter water for food and live for the rest of their
03:32lives.
03:33Aquaculture in BC gets a bad reputation from open net salmon farming that has impacted our wild salmon stocks.
03:41But can oyster farms change the narrative of aquaculture on the West Coast?
03:45Have you ever been on an oyster farm?
03:48I don't know what that means, an oyster farm. I just know that I like to eat them.
03:52I'm excited to find out. Let's go to the island.
03:56I am an Ontario gal, but I spent a lot of time on the West Coast because it's where my
04:00husband's family is.
04:02I'm actually very familiar with Fanny Bay oysters as oysters that I eat, but that was all I knew about
04:08them.
04:14If you want to lead the way.
04:16All right.
04:18This is just a little access path to one of our farms.
04:21I like your commute.
04:23It's very West Coast.
04:26So what you're looking at is a freshly laid bed of oyster seed.
04:33So what we think is a beach is actually a farm field.
04:38We treat it like a farm field. Absolutely.
04:42What kind of oysters are these?
04:44That's a Pacific oyster, Chrysostria gigus.
04:47How long did it take for it to get to this size?
04:50That's about a one year old oyster at this point.
04:54How old does it have to be by the time you harvest it?
04:57That's going to be another nine months from now.
04:59I'll let this one grow.
05:00Have fun.
05:01Grow nice and pretty.
05:03Can we see an oyster ready for market?
05:05Sure. We can take a look at some.
05:07And how many of your oysters are on this beach?
05:11On the three tenures and ships point, it's well over a hundred thousand dust.
05:15I can't do that math.
05:171.2 million.
05:18Wow.
05:191.2 million oysters here.
05:21$5 a dozen.
05:23Still can't do that math.
05:26So you were wondering about market size oysters.
05:28So that patch of seed in six to nine months is going to look something like those.
05:33Whoa.
05:34Wait.
05:35This gets to be this in only nine months.
05:39Wow.
05:40This is considered aquaculture.
05:42Yes.
05:43Aquaculture on this coast gets a bad reputation.
05:45And I feel like not all aquaculture is made the same.
05:49I'd have to agree with you with that.
05:51There are big differences between, say, salmon pens and broadcast oysters on the beach.
05:56There's not a lot of detritus coming out of this.
05:59There's few inputs.
06:00There's no antibiotics.
06:02We do do a fairly intensive monoculture.
06:06Somewhat contained.
06:07And we're using beaches that are underutilized by other species.
06:12Winter storms will move them around.
06:14We'll pick them up, get them back to where we want them.
06:15And other than that, you're collecting the essence of the ocean.
06:19You're really kind of eating the ocean when you're eating an oyster.
06:22The ocean's health truly is about our health.
06:25And our health is about the ocean's health, too.
06:27The oyster is such a perfect microcosmic item, food, animal to let us know that.
06:33So the species of oysters is not actually native to this coast?
06:37That's correct.
06:38One might think that it's a problem to have a, you know, introduced species all along the beach.
06:43Can you tell me if there is an impact?
06:46My understanding of the potential impacts of Pacific oysters in B.C. are minimal.
06:51They were introduced to B.C. waters from Japan in the 1920s and 30s.
06:58And they spawn naturally in B.C. waters now.
07:01The Pacific oyster is the largest percentage of cultured oysters in the world.
07:08Would you say that this location is one of the locations where it's been bred the longest?
07:12Places like Korea and Japan, they've been culturing oysters for centuries now.
07:18Our people.
07:20That's why we think it's so delicious.
07:22And yet we're learning from you. I love it.
07:24I think it's pretty incredible to learn that these oysters originally came from my people.
07:29They're immigrant oysters.
07:30I love that.
07:32Can we taste one right off the beach?
07:34We'll pick an easy one here for you.
07:37Okay.
07:39Oh, I messed up.
07:41Slice it.
07:42Yep.
07:43Ta-da!
07:44You got it!
07:45Would you hire me?
07:46Pretty good.
07:55Briny.
07:58That's delicious.
07:59Thank you, oyster.
08:02How do you feel about us stepping on your oysters?
08:06Once they get to this size, they're fairly robust.
08:09They can take a little bit of foot traffic.
08:11They are surprisingly resilient animals.
08:15There's something comforting to learn that the oysters my mom used to make our meals feel more Korean are the
08:21same species we ate in Korea.
08:24These oysters also had to adapt and survive from the other side of the Pacific.
08:29With the resilient outer shell and an oceany inside, these oysters are a perfect metaphor for the immigrant experience.
08:40The more I look to the ocean, the more I learn what it means to be Korean.
08:49When I first immigrated, you know, like...
08:53Get it! Get it!
08:56It's such a juicy mosquito!
08:59Oh, you got it!
09:00Yay!
09:03Growing up with my Korean family friends, I was always told, like,
09:06Why are you studying marine biology?
09:09It's not a very Korean thing to do.
09:11When did you first learn about the haenyeol?
09:13Haenyeol are ocean-harvesting women, primarily on Jeju Island.
09:17These women are freedivers who can hold their breath for many minutes to harvest for seafood,
09:22like abalone, sea snails, octopus, and other shellfish.
09:26This harvesting tradition is decreasing in Korea, because most of the haenyeol are seniors.
09:32But all of them are badass Korean women.
09:35It was so exciting to learn that there are other Korean women free diving in the ocean.
09:39What they do is so connected to the earth and an ancient way of doing things that is just naturally
09:49sustainable,
09:50because it doesn't come from a capitalist industrial way of feeding ourselves.
09:55They just have this extreme, like, confident ajumma energy.
10:00That's what I want. I want confident ocean ajumma energy.
10:04Oh my gosh, yeah. That's all I want.
10:08We're back in Vancouver to try our local oysters at a Korean restaurant.
10:15At Jinni, Chef Jay is balancing tradition and adaptation with a menu that mixes imported Korean seafood with some that
10:23is Canadian, harvested locally.
10:25First of all, Fanny Bay oyster is famous, but it's very good.
10:30It's very good. It's very good.
10:31So I wanted to add some food ingredients to fusion.
10:35What do you want to do with this?
10:37First of all, we made a local uni.
10:41We made a local uni.
10:42We made a local uni.
10:43We made a lot of butter.
10:45We made a lot of butter.
10:49We made a pan-searing.
10:52We made a lot of butter on Korean dejpaste and sifties.
11:00We made a lot of butter in Korean savior.
11:05We made a lot of butter.
11:07We made a lot of butter and pasta.
11:12This 제가 made a lot of butter in the pan.
11:13Nice.
11:14Thank you very much.
11:15Have a lot of bread.
11:24I want this whole row, we just get another whole row.
11:28It's very interesting to take on traditional Korean flavors.
11:31Like the idea of a Korean pesto on top, it's very cool.
11:47A fusion dish like this is a way for Chef Jay to introduce Korean seafood flavors to Canadian palates, using
11:54Canadian ingredients.
11:57But the real star of this restaurant is a Korean dish I've never tried before.
12:03which is a raw crab marinated for 48 hours in a house-made soy sauce.
12:09This wasn't a part of my own family's food growing up, so the first time I ever saw it was
12:14when Sonia sent it to me on social media.
12:18We've come a long way from when my mom had to make our food publicly acceptable.
12:25Now, restaurants like Jinmi can serve food that is Korean, unapologetically.
12:32So when I lived in Korea, my very vivid memories is just like eating seafood and one of them is
12:37this.
12:38My grandma used to make this at home.
12:40This version and like a spicy sauce version.
12:43I haven't had it since I was six.
13:05You do the Instagram squeeze thing.
13:08Yeah.
13:10I'm nervous.
13:12Okay.
13:12Okay.
13:12Okay.
13:13Yeah.
13:14Okay.
13:14Are you ready?
13:15Yes.
13:16Cheers.
13:32Oh my God.
13:34Wow.
13:35What do you think?
13:36Tastes like the ocean.
13:37It tastes like my childhood.
13:40it's so sweet there's a lot of flavors happening over time in my mouth if it
13:46weren't for you i would never have heard of this dish very good i approve
13:53yeah chef 님은 한국 음식이 뭐라고 생각해요
13:59한식에서 전통적인 음식은 저희 선조들부터 이어봤던 음식들 꾸준히 중간에 사라지지
14:07않고 한국 문화에 많이 젖어들어서 한국 사람들이 버릴 수가 없는
14:19뭔가 이어가려고 노력을 했던 음식들
14:25at chef j's restaurant we could taste the ancestral connection for the first time since
14:31my childhood i could taste my haimonis crab
14:37i was told my ocean career made me not korean
14:41but the ocean runs deeply through our bodies through our ancestral history and food
14:46even though i'm learning that caring about the ocean is actually a very korean thing to do
14:52i still have never been in the water with another korean woman so i actually love being in the water
14:58i love swimming but i have never done any diving when she started to bring up would you like to
15:04dive
15:05i thought is this required what does it mean to dive am i capable
15:10welcome aboard it's like getting into your worst formal palm dress but even worse
15:18oh no oh yeah this smell this smells oh my god it's extremely cozy like oppressively cozy
15:28you look like a henna that's cute yeah you can see what happens when i get in the water
15:34can i tell you my nightmare yeah it's that um a little piece of seaweed wrapped around my ankle
15:40just pretend it's like a little nice hug from my tail not scary nice not scary gotcha but i think
15:46it's
15:46okay you're allowed to be nervous okay let's get in okay yeah yeah oh my god all right i need
15:54to take a breath before i can go thank you mommy's stressing me
16:17it's cold confirming she was so nervous about going in the water i think she was lying
16:25because she got in the water and she was so comfortable
16:31and it made me feel so good that she was such a natural at it being underwater felt so freeing
16:41the kelp was so beautiful
16:45it felt like why have i not explored this realm
16:51it only everybody could do that being underwater like this was the highlight of the entire journey
16:59i felt so free and connected to the ocean and curious about the kelp and creatures around me
17:09and how cool to see sonia gathering urchins and harvesting
17:15maybe sonia wouldn't agree with me but in my eyes she's already a hanyo
17:22the notion of being korean enough it didn't really feel like i didn't fit the box i felt like i
17:29didn't
17:29know what that box was and then a few years ago i got into bts i met hannah and around
17:38that time i
17:39learned about hanyo i've been finally learning what being korean means to me but through that journey
17:45i still wanted to be in the water free diving with other korean women
17:50getting to experience that with hannah was so special
17:55for most of my life i felt like i was abandoning who i was as a korean to connect to
18:00the ocean
18:00but it turns out connecting to the ocean connects me to being korean
18:06so
18:11so
18:19so
18:45This is something else these traditional plates
18:50with the stone bowl, with a nice view, oysters from Fanny Bay, spa prawns in our sundubu.
19:00This is my mom's miyokuk.
19:02You know, with so much Korean food becoming popular on social media, what is authentic?
19:08What is traditional?
19:09I think anything that Korean people make and eat and enjoy is authentic.
19:13Whether it's like a new food trend that's, you know, sweeping the nation of Korea over
19:19the last year, or something that represents countless generations.
19:23As a Korean person or a person of Korean descent, but truly I'm a Canadian person, I like to
19:31just call it food.
19:32If I love it and I make it, then it's authentically Korean food too, you know?
19:36I think that's such a good way to put it because sometimes I don't feel like an authentic
19:41Korean.
19:42But you said, it's a reminder to myself that I can be Korean however I want to be Korean.
19:48I can be Canadian, I can be Korean, I can be whatever, an ocean person.
19:52Yeah.
19:53Yeah.
19:54I mean, like growing up in the 80s in Canada, I was made to feel many times like I wasn't
19:59a true Canadian, but then there are Koreans who make you feel like you're not actually
20:03Korean enough.
20:04I don't really think it's up to other people to tell us, and if you feel Korean, then you
20:09are.
20:09I love that.
20:11To me, it seems like Hannah has it all figured out.
20:14And through this journey, I learned so much from her, and it gives me the confidence to
20:19exist as a Korean person, in whatever way makes sense to me.
20:23I'm so grateful to Hannah for that.
20:27Korea is a peninsula, it's surrounded by the ocean, it's a culture and food and history,
20:33you can see seafood everywhere in Korea.
20:36Oh my god!
20:37That's gorgeous.
20:38Korean people, we are so lucky because we are really close to the ocean, so we can have
20:43the fresh fish, shellfish, and be creative using seaweed.
20:48Rather than changing my ideas on sustainability, everything I've learned on this trip has been
20:54reinforcing of some bigger ideas.
20:58Being in the ocean, seeing its abundance, but how delicate the balance is, I just want
21:04to keep eating as sustainably as possible, and just learning more.
21:10Especially in conservation spaces, harvesters don't necessarily have the best reputation because
21:15they're taking fish out of the ocean, but they are the best ambassadors for what is actually
21:21happening on the ocean.
21:23They don't want these things to go away.
21:25This is their life.
21:32I want to eat my favorite foods forever, and I want you to eat my favorite foods forever.
21:38And in order to do that, we need to do a little bit better for the ocean as a whole.
21:43Let's eat well!
21:44Enjoy!
21:45Good job!
21:47Cheers!
21:54Wanna take a nibble?
21:56I've never eaten more kelp.
22:36I won!
Comments