Workshop | Unfamiliar Bites: Cooking with alien species

This workshop will invite a professional chef to experiment with the raw material of non-indigenous edible fish species, demonstrate how to use these fish in cooking, and propose a specially created recipe. These fish are edible and safe to consume but they are not culturally accepted as edible due to their unfamiliarity. When they are caught in fishermen’s nets they are regarded as bycatch since they are not considered to have commercial value. Helping to change this mentality by introducing these fish species to the dining table would greatly benefit the protection of native marine biodiversity, part of which is often over-fished. Furthermore, many of these alien species are considered as invasive, altering ecosystems’ trophic and ecological equilibrium. By consuming such species, we wish to help marine ecosystems deal with some of these new challenges.

The format will be one of a cooking demonstration on how to prepare and cook the species “Pterois miles” (Lionfish) and “Siganus rivulatus/Siganus luridus” in specially prepared recipes that combine them with locally sourced produce.

This educational demonstration will be followed by a small tasting of the recipe by the participants. Part of the process will be the effort to source the material from the central Athens fish market. This will hopefully enhance the image of these fish as commercially valuable for both fishermen and consumers.