Well Fed Network

Posted by Curt McAdams on Well Fed on the Town.

Next in the line of departments that I’m going through at my favorite local market, Dorothy Lane Market (DLM), in the Dayton, Ohio, area is the seafood department.

What makes one seafood department any different from another? There are a few criteria that I look for:

• Freshness. This one is obvious, but a lot of people seem to take it for granted that a seafood department has fresh seafood.
• Wild caught. I personally prefer wild caught vs. farm raised fish for both taste and healthfulness. I know it’s more expensive to buy wild caught usually, but I don’t buy so much that it gets out of hand. When buying for my wife and me, I only buy enough for one or two servings, so one pound is generally the most I buy at one time.
• Variety. This one kind of goes without saying, but in the midwest, it’s not as easy to get a good variety of seafood. Fortunately, so much is flown in very fresh or flash frozen that it’s easier than ever to get even sushi grade tuna in southwest Ohio.
• Knowledgeable staff. I like to be able to ask questions about the product being sold and get good answers. How many chain supermarket seafood counter people really know what they’re selling?

What is special about DLM’s seafood department? They meet all the above criteria, for one thing. They also smoke their own salmon, and can cook the seafood for you while you wait if you want them to do so.  Special orders are fine with them, too.

Seafood is a funny thing; it’s supposed to be good for us, but, if you read much on it, we have to really watch things like mercury levels and overharvesting.  Wild caught fish help with both of these things; you pay a bit more for it, but the quality and the fact that fishing is done at sustainable levels make the extra money seem worth spending.