美国国家公共电台 NPR Would You Eat This Fish? A Shark Called Dogfish Makes A Tasty Taco

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST: 

Over the next few weeks, we're going to meet a series of people who are pursuing the American dream through the most basic part of life, food. Today we're going to meet a fisherman in Massachusetts, a place where people once made a living fishing cod¹. Well, that fish has been disappearing, including in Cape² Cod. But the seas aren't depleted³. Different fish are still plentiful⁴.

NPR's Allison Aubrey is going to tell us about a man who's making a living catching⁵ and selling a fish that a lot of us haven't heard about. Allison, thanks so much for being with us.

ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE⁶: Thanks for having me.

SIMON: Before we meet any people...

AUBREY: Yes.

SIMON: I want you to introduce me to this fish you've brought into the studio.

AUBREY: OK. I have brought in a prop⁷ here. This is a dogfish. Say hello to the dogfish (laughter).

SIMON: (Imitating dog barking).

AUBREY: This is a long, spiky-looking thing.

SIMON: Yeah.

AUBREY: Have you ever seen anything like it?

SIMON: Only in my nightmares.

(LAUGHTER)

SIMON: Let me just say that, offhand⁸, it's not an attractive looking fish, right?

AUBREY: Well, it's actually a shark. And I was actually with a fisherman in Cape Cod, Mass., who is now fishing these.

JAMIE ELDREDGE: I'm Jamie Eldredge. I'm captain of the fishing vessel⁹ Yellow Bird. And we're at the Chatham fish pier¹⁰.

AUBREY: So Jamie is this really hearty¹¹ soul. He's been doing this for decades. He's a real fixture¹² in the community. And this is his story. When the cod fishery started to go south, he realized, hey, I'm going to have to find another livelihood¹³. He thought, I still have a mortgage on this boat. So he says he grew up seeing these dogfish. They're really plentiful.

ELDREDGE: It's what we used to call a trash fish - and throw them back or knock them off. And now we're fishing on them for a living.

AUBREY: Are you happy with fishing dogfish?

ELDREDGE: Very happy. Yeah. I enjoy being out on the water.

AUBREY: Now, the day that I went out with him, he caught 6,000 pounds of these fish in just a few hours.

SIMON: But, Allison, I have never seen anything labeled dogfish for sale in a market.

AUBREY: Right. The reason that Jamie can make a living doing this is because there is an export market. The Brits import dogfish. They turn it into fish and chips. The French buy dogfish. They make bouillabaisse. They call it saumonette. It's just Americans have never heard of it.

SIMON: So if you called it, like, mid-Atlantic thistlefish (ph)...

AUBREY: (Laughter).

SIMON: ...We might give it a try.

AUBREY: Well, you know what? I don't think it's just a naming problem. Americans are not very adventurous¹⁴ when it comes to fish. We typically like to just buy tuna, tilapia and shrimp¹⁵. And most of what we buy - 90 percent of what we eat is imported. And most of what's being caught off our shores is being exported. And a lot of people are scratching their heads, saying, this swap¹⁶ doesn't make any sense at all.

SIMON: Well, I mean, it would help if the fish tasted good.

AUBREY: Would you like to taste it?

SIMON: I think I have to...

AUBREY: (Laughter) OK. All right.

SIMON: ...After that kind of introduction.

AUBREY: Well, I will tell you that this has been...

SIMON: No, no. Just - you know, just seeing it - you have prepared - or we should say NPR's test kitchens have prepared...

AUBREY: That's right. The folks down at Seasons Culinary down in Sound Bites Cafe have actually taken these filets of dog fish. And they've sauteed them in a little lemon-caper-butter sauce. I've got a little fillet for you here.

SIMON: Which will be very nice because I actually told you that I had a taste for capers¹⁷.

AUBREY: (Laughter) You did.

SIMON: Thank you very much.

AUBREY: I'm spoiling you here.

SIMON: Thank you.

AUBREY: I'm just going to drizzle¹⁸ a little bit of this lemon-caper-butter sauce on here for you.

SIMON: You know, this looks good.

AUBREY: Go right ahead.

SIMON: Mmm. You know, I got to say this is good.

AUBREY: You like it.

SIMON: It's fleshy. It's, you know...

AUBREY: It's flaky like other white fish.

SIMON: A little flakier than swordfish, for example, but actually probably a little firmer than sea bass¹⁹. It's good. I like it.

AUBREY: You know, as you give that a taste, think of it this way. When I went to Cape Cod, what I heard from the fishermen, from the advocates in this sort of sustainable fishing community was this. They say, look. We know where this fish is coming from. We know how it's produced.

Our government now sets quotas²⁰ so that fish are not overfished in the U.S. - and that this is the direction that we should be going in for sort of long-term viability²¹. One of the advocates in Cape Cod said, look. If we want these fishing communities to be here 20 years from now, Americans should be buying fish that's caught off our own shores.

SIMON: Could you actually buy this?

AUBREY: Well, you can't walk into a, you know, Safeway or Harris Teeter. But the people who are promoting dogfish and other fish that are fished off our shores are saying, we need to get this next generation of eaters. And you know what they've arrived at? College campuses. So UMass Amherst has started serving dogfish in their cafeteria. The day I went they were making dogfish tacos. They were making an Asian flash fry with this wasabi sauce. I interviewed a bunch of students. And they love it. They love the idea that it's local. They love the idea that it's sustainable.

SIMON: Yeah.

AUBREY: So I think that might be the way that these advocates go when they try to build a market for dogfish.

SIMON: There's a collaboration²² with PBS that we ought to know about, right?

AUBREY: This whole reporting project is part of a collaboration I'm doing with the PBS NewsHour. So we have pictures of Jamie, his fishing vessel. You can meet some of the students at UMass Amherst who are trying this. So check it out.

SIMON: NPR's Allison Aubrey, thanks very much for being with us.

AUBREY: Thanks so much, Scott.

SIMON: And bon appetit, by the way.

AUBREY: Oh, yes. Bon appetit. I'm glad you enjoy it.

1 cod   

n.鳕鱼；v.愚弄；哄骗

参考例句：

• They salt down cod for winter use.他们腌鳕鱼留着冬天吃。
• Cod are found in the North Atlantic and the North Sea.北大西洋和北海有鳕鱼。

2 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

3 depleted   

adj. 枯竭的, 废弃的 动词deplete的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Food supplies were severely depleted. 食物供应已严重不足。
• Both teams were severely depleted by injuries. 两个队都因队员受伤而实力大减。

4 plentiful   

adj.富裕的，丰富的

参考例句：

• Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
• Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。

5 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

6 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

7 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。

8 offhand   

adj.临时，无准备的；随便，马虎的

参考例句：

• I can't answer your request offhand.我不能随便答复你的要求。
• I wouldn't want to say what I thought about it offhand.我不愿意随便说我关于这事的想法。

9 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

10 pier   

n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱

参考例句：

• The pier of the bridge has been so badly damaged that experts worry it is unable to bear weight.这座桥的桥桩破损厉害，专家担心它已不能负重。
• The ship was making towards the pier.船正驶向码头。

11 hearty   

adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的

参考例句：

• After work they made a hearty meal in the worker's canteen.工作完了，他们在工人食堂饱餐了一顿。
• We accorded him a hearty welcome.我们给他热忱的欢迎。

12 fixture   

n.固定设备；预定日期；比赛时间；定期存款

参考例句：

• Lighting fixture must be installed at once.必须立即安装照明设备。
• The cordless kettle may now be a fixture in most kitchens.无绳电热水壶现在可能是多数厨房的固定设备。

13 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。

14 adventurous   

adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的　

参考例句：

• I was filled with envy at their adventurous lifestyle.我很羨慕他们敢于冒险的生活方式。
• He was predestined to lead an adventurous life.他注定要过冒险的生活。

15 shrimp   

n.虾，小虾；矮小的人

参考例句：

• When the shrimp farm is built it will block the stream.一旦养虾场建起来，将会截断这条河流。
• When it comes to seafood,I like shrimp the best.说到海鲜，我最喜欢虾。

16 swap   

n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易

参考例句：

• I will swap you my bicycle for your radio.我想拿我的自行车换你的收音机。
• This comic was a swap that I got from Nick.这本漫画书是我从尼克那里换来的。

17 capers   

n.开玩笑( caper的名词复数 )；刺山柑v.跳跃，雀跃( caper的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• I like to fly about and cut capers. 我喜欢跳跳蹦蹦闹着玩儿。 来自辞典例句
• He always leads in pranks and capers. 他老是带头胡闹和开玩笑。 来自辞典例句

18 drizzle   

v.下毛毛雨；n.毛毛雨，蒙蒙细雨

参考例句：

• The shower tailed off into a drizzle.阵雨越来越小，最后变成了毛毛雨。
• Yesterday the radio forecast drizzle,and today it is indeed raining.昨天预报有小雨，今天果然下起来了。

19 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

20 quotas   

（正式限定的）定量( quota的名词复数 )； 定额； 指标； 摊派

参考例句：

• In fulfilling the production quotas, John made rings round all his fellow workers. 约翰完成生产定额大大超过他的同事们。
• Quotas of the means of production are allocated by the higher administrative bodies to the lower ones. 物资指标按隶属关系分配。

21 viability   

n.存活(能力)

参考例句：

• What is required to achieve or maintain such viability? 要达到或维持这种生存能力需要什么？
• Scientists are experimenting to find ways to ensure the viability of seeds for even longer periods of time. 正如我们所说，科学家正在试验努力寻找让种子的生命力更加延长的方法。

22 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。