IS CULTIVATING KELP THE WAY TO SAVE OUR OCEANS AND SLOW DOWN CLIMATE CHANGE? BREN SMITH IS BETTING THE FARM ON IT
BREN SMITH IS STRIKINGLY HUMBLE for a man I’ve often heard referred to as the savior of our food system. Wearing a rubber jumpsuit and sipping weak coffee from a Styrofoam cup, he moves around his dinged-up boat instinctually. Smith is a former industrial fisherman turned kelp farmer and educator, and we’re headed out today to visit the farm of one of his mentees. As we glide between a handful of bobbing buoys off the shore of Groton, Connecticut, there’s no sign yet of the great marvel of ocean sustainability I’ve come to visit. The entire farm is below us, hidden beneath the waves.
“Our food system is changing radically due to climate change,” Smith says. “It’ll get pushed out to sea within the next 30 years,” he adds without a trace of hyperbole. Casually joking about the perils of ocean degradation is a common topic with Smith, who, after dropping out of high school at 14, joined a commercial-fishing operation that trawled the ocean floor and, he realized, destroyed marine ecosystems and killed tens of thousands of pounds of bycatch. Searching for something less destructive to do, he made his way to New England, where, after a brief stint as an oyster farmer, he has spent the past 15 years developing a farming system that revitalizes the waters using both seaweed and bivalves. He holds two distinguished climate fellowships, and was recently granted the Buckminster Fuller Prize for ecological design—a $100,000 award that usually goes to architects or designers. But his farming solution is, at first glance, laughably simple in its ingenuity.
Denne historien er fra Spring 2018-utgaven av Saveur.
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Denne historien er fra Spring 2018-utgaven av Saveur.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Raising a Better Bird
Blue Apron founder Matt Wadiak has moved onto greener pastures, where happy chickens roam free.
One Good Bottle
Tamara Irish is a natural winemaker. Way natural.
My Not-So-Secret Garden
Good (vegetable-laden) fences make good neighbors in one tiny town.
Pralines: How They Cook 'Em in New Orleans
Pralines: How They Cook ’Em in New Orleans
My Father's French Onion Soup
Postwar Paris had a lifelong influence on James Edisto Mitchell—both as an artist and a cook BY Shane Mitchell
Our All-Time Best Recipes
If anyone should know if a recipe’s a keeper, it’s the person tasked with making sense of the original instructions—from the far reaches of Sri Lanka, say, or a famous chef who measures nothing. This might explain why many test kitchen staffers named favorites that their predecessors had tested and recommended. (Though a couple put forth recipes they developed themselves.) And while Saveur never shies away from the oddball authentic ingredient, the fare on the following pages is the stuff we cook at home, over and over again. Consider it global comfort food.
Genever Is the Original Juniper Spirit
Don’t call it a comeback. Or gin
Tending The Bines
Overshadowed by high-end viticulture, the art of growing hops for beer might not always get the recognition it deserves.
Field Of Dreams
The son of an innovative pea farmer is carrying on his father’s legacy.
Jamaican Jerk Marinade - Fire And Spice
Jamaican jerk is more than a marinade—it’s a smoky, flame-grilled cooking style that uses the best ingredients of its home island.