Tuna Canning

Today marks the second annual International Terra Madre Day-- a day for celebrating eating locally and honoring our local food communities -- very appropriate timing for the annual tuna canning event organized by our friend Jeremy, a commercial fisher. He is actively involved in the Slow Food movement and was a delegate to the October Terra Madre conference in Turin, Italy.

The canning is a fairly large-scale operation. This year the net canned amount was 940 pounds/427 Kg. All the work is done by volunteers directed by Jeremy, who procures the fish, cleans it and cuts it into steaks, rents the kitchen, and also provides the 14 large pressure cookers and stoves. This year the two-day event took place in the Rome Grange, a few miles west of Bellingham on the Mt. Baker Highway.

C and I went to the Sunday session. As usual, I volunteered for the filleting job. I like the challenge posed by the anatomical differences and shapes of the cross sections between the head and tail of the fish. The work becomes more enjoyable as your fingers get used to handling semi-frozen fish.

We had a great time. It was like a party, with lots of interesting conversations and laughter. I was sorry when it ended earlier than I expected -- I didn't get a photo of the tuna steaks before they were all filleted.

You can see a few more photos here.