Profiles

Tom Aikens

Tom Aikens is a London based chef and owner of the critically acclaimed Tom Aikens. His new fish and chip restaurant, Tom’s Place, offers sustainable seafood. Tom grew up in Norfolk, U.K.; his family have helped shape his passion for enjoying quality food and, more recently, for marine conservation. Tom is raising the game among U.K. restaurateurs, both by achieving immaculate standards in his Michelin-starred flagship restaurant and by sourcing sustainable seafood for Tom's Place.

What is your favorite seafood?
My favourite seafood is the most simply cooked and prepared, so something like a fresh grilled sole with a traditional nut brown butter, capers, lemon, shallots and a little parsley. Or a tartar of line caught sea bass, with an amazing olive oil, fresh lemon juice and herbs.

What’s the most popular seafood item you offer on your menu?
It has to be the either the pollock in batter or fish pie, the batter we make in the fish and chip shop and is made using sparkling mineral water and beer (plus another secret ingredient). The fish pie combines pollock, squid, mussels, salmon and crab, mixed with a white wine and parsley white sauce and topped with mashed potato and baked. Classic, simple grilled fish like fresh mackerel and sardines are popular too.

How did you get interested in the issue of sustainable seafood?
Seafood is one of the most important things to me, particularly for Tom’s Place, the new fish and chip shop. When using fish, not taking any notice of sustainability would just be criminal. I have always been very interested in the quality of fish and where it came from but previously had not really touched the bigger picture of sustainability and the effects of the fishing industry on the environment and marine life. My late father in-law, Nicholas Nuttall, was an avid supporter of the sea and the varied life it contains. Nicholas founded a conservation organization in the Bahamas called Bahamas Reef Environment Education Foundation, and he set me on this route learning about the impacts of fisheries and issues in marine conservation. I feel very strongly that being in the restaurant and hospitality industry is a great way to get a correct and direct message to people about the use of sustainably caught fish.

How would you describe your philosophy on ocean conservation?
The responsibility for safe guarding fish and its future lies with all of us, every single person on the planet. We all have to safe guard the planet and the seas, everybody in the supply chain from net to plate has to be responsible. If all of us are collectively responsible instead of the finger being pointed at the fisherman then it may be a little easier for all concerned.

Little things matter and will help contribute to the bigger picture, just like how turning the standby switch off on the TV can help reduce climate change. Consumers can also be responsible for what they choose to buy, the public have the purchasing power. For example choosing MSC labeled fish guarantees it has come from a well managed fish stock. Supermarkets of course have a huge responsibility and they are all getting better.

How has your philosophy changed what fish you serve?
The more I learn about fisheries the more my I consider my choice of fish. At Tom’s Place fish and chip shop, we serve fish from inshore fishermen and hand liners from Newlyn, Cornwall, where I have been on several occasions to directly source the fish. Also we will be serving some fish from MSC certified fisheries.

It is very important to get the correct message across to the customer and that they have trust and faith in the product that they are eating and where it has come from. The customer is very important in a sense of communicating and spreading the words of something they believe in. If we can raise the awareness of what I am trying to do, along with the work of Seafood Choices Alliance and other NGOs, hopefully it is possible to get the message across.

Have your customers noticed the focus on sustainability?
Yes most definitely, they are all very positive about it and really take an interest in the work I am doing. They all love having a connection from me to the fishermen as well.

Do you feel it limits what you can offer?
No not at all. I have found some great new suppliers and working with the Seafood Choices Alliance and the MSC has built on my own connections with fishermen and helped me to get sustainably sourced fish. The limit to the fish that you can use has not changed its just the sourcing of the fish that has, which takes a lot more work but its worth the extra effort.

It is also a great thing to be using different fish as well, which are more sustainable, like megrim sole, gurnard, pollock and coley. Again, it is getting the information and education that there is other species of fish that we can eat other than the usual suspects of cod, haddock, plaice or [farmed] salmon. I would say that some of the suppliers have been helpful, though conversely there were also those that have not been so forthcoming as well.

What trends have you noticed in seafood in the past 10 years?
I have been a chef in London for the past 17 years and have seen a huge change in food, restaurants, and food knowledge. Fish and fishing have changed dramatically even in the time that I have been working as a chef. I remember a time that the king of the waters - because of its quality and rarity - was [wild] salmon. It was the fish that nobody could get hold of it, it was a seasonal product and mostly out of reach in terms of price. But now salmon is a fish that is commercially available to everyone, it's farmed and is now not seen as a quality fish (unless you are talking of wild British salmon that is in season for 6 weeks of the year).

Fish prices have shot through the roof since I have been a chef in London. Fish prices will always be rising and that will never change, and the reasons if I am honest is because there are generally less fish in the sea and that oil prices to run the boats have gone up too. We also have all become a far more health driven society, particularly in London where it's all the rage to have sushi. We eat far more fish than ever before because of the positive health implications and this is going to also affect the price.

I have noticed myself how much more customers are inquisitive and are asking the right questions, and are even demanding a better knowledge on traceability of products. But the knowledge of certain issues like habitat damage, pirate fishing, impact on marine life, and discards are all too blurry. With the flow of customers through restaurants and supermarkets there is a huge chance for data to be collected, or information given, and we should be tapping into this. In Tom’s Place fish and chip shop I will use methods from hand-out cards with information on the fishing industry, to finding out what the customer may or may not know about the fish they are eating or how it gets from the sea to them.

Why do you support Seafood Choices Alliance?
I am not a scientist or environmentalist, cooking and sourcing amazing produce is what I am fascinated about. On opening a fish and chip shop I realise I may come into some criticism, and I am not saying what I do is perfect – sustainability is an ongoing learning experience but my knowledge is slowly growing and working with the Seafood Choices Alliance and others in the seafood industry can help in this process.

We all know there use to be tonnes and tonnes of fish in the sea and we are all, directly and indirectly to blame, the population explosion has not exactly helped, plus we are eating more fish than ever before. I hope we continue to enjoy the fantastic bounty the sea has to offer, as we have done for the last thousand years, but at a level that is consistently positive and buoyant.

Organizations like the Seafood Choices Alliance can be very helpful and valuable in teaching myself, staff – and hence customers – the right message and education.

(Photo credit: Andrew Twort)

Updated July 14, 2008

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