So , I 've known a lot of fish in my life .
I 've loved only two .
That first one , it was more like a passionate affair .
It was a beautiful fish , flavorful , textured , meaty , a best-seller on the menu .
What a fish .
Even better , it was farm-raised to the supposed highest standards of sustainability .
So you could feel good about selling it .
I was in a relationship with this beauty for several months .
One day , the head of the company called and asked if I 'd speak at an event about the farm 's sustainability .
" Absolutely , " I said .
Here was a company trying to solve what 's become this unimaginable problem for our chefs .
How do we keep fish on our menus ?
For the past 50 years , we 've been fishing the seas like we clear-cut forests .
It 's hard to overstate the destruction .
90 percent of large fish , the ones we love , the tunas , the halibuts , the salmons , swordfish , they 've collapsed .
There 's almost nothing left .
So , for better or for worse , aquaculture , fish farming , is going to be a part of our future .
A lot of arguments against it .
Fish farms pollute , most of them do anyway , and they 're inefficient , take tuna .
A major drawback .
It 's got a feed conversion ratio of 15 to one .
That means it takes fifteen pounds of wild fish to get you one pound of farm tuna .
Not very sustainable .
Doesn 't taste very good either .
So here , finally , was a company trying to do it right .
I wanted to support them .
The day before the event I called the head of PR for the company .
Let 's call him Don .
" Don , " I said , " just to get the facts straight , you guys are famous for farming so far out to sea , you don 't pollute . "
" That 's right , " he said .
" We 're so far out , the waste from our fish gets distributed , not concentrated . "
And then he added , " We 're basically a world unto ourselves .
That feed conversion ratio ? 2.5 to one , " he said .
" Best in the business . "
2.5 to one , great .
" 2.5 to one what ?
What are you feeding ? "
" Sustainable proteins , " he said .
" Great , " I said .
Got off the phone .
And that night , I was lying in bed , and I thought : What the hell is a sustainable protein ?
So the next day , just before the event , I called Don .
I said , " Don , what are some examples of sustainable proteins ? "
He said he didn 't know .
He would ask around .
Well , I got on the phone with a few people in the company .
No one could give me a straight answer .
Until finally , I got on the phone with the head biologist .
Let 's call him Don too .
" Don , " I said , " what are some examples of sustainable proteins ? "
Well , he mentioned some algaes and some fish meals , and then he said chicken pellets .
I said , " Chicken pellets ? "
He said , " Yeah , feathers , skin , bone meal , scraps , dried and processed into feed . "
I said , " What percentage of your feed is chicken ? " thinking , you know , two percent .
" Well , it 's about 30 percent , " he said .
I said , " Don , what 's sustainable about feeding chicken to fish ? "
There was a long pause on the line , and he said , " there 's just too much chicken in the world . "
I fell out of love with this fish .
No , not because I 'm some self-righteous , goody-two shoes foodie .
I actually am .
No , I actually fell out of love with this fish because , I swear to God , after that conversation , the fish tasted like chicken .
This second fish , it 's a different kind of love story .
It 's the romantic kind , the kind where the more you get to know your fish , you love the fish .
I first ate it at a restaurant in southern Spain .
A journalist friend had been talking about this fish for a long time .
She kind of set us up .
It came to the table a bright , almost shimmering , white color .
The chef had overcooked it .
Like twice over .
Amazingly , it was still delicious .
Who can make a fish taste good after it 's been overcooked ?
I can 't , but this guy can .
Let 's call him Miguel .
Actually his name is Miguel .
And no , he didn 't cook the fish , and he 's not a chef .
At least in the way that you and I understand it .
He 's a biologist at Veta La Palma .
It 's a fish farm in the southwestern corner of Spain .
It 's at the tip of the Guadalquivir river .
Until the 1980s , the farm was in the hands of the Argentinians .
They raised beef cattle on what was essentially wetlands .
They did it by draining the land .
They built this intricate series of canals , and they pushed water off the land and out into the river .
Well , they couldn 't make it work , not economically .
And ecologically , it was a disaster .
It killed like 90 percent of the birds , which , for this place , is a lot of birds .
And so in 1982 , a Spanish company with an environmental conscience purchased the land .
What did they do ?
They reversed the flow of water .
They literally flipped the switch .
Instead of pushing water out , they used the channels to pull water back in .
They flooded the canals .
They created a 27,000 acre fish farm -- bass , mullet , shrimp , eel -- and in the process , Miguel , and this company , completely reversed the ecological destruction .
The farm 's incredible .
I mean , you 've never seen anything like this .
You stare out at a horizon that is a million miles away , and all you see are flooded canals and this thick , rich marshland .
I was there not long ago with Miguel .
He 's an amazing guy , three parts Charles Darwin and one part Crocodile Dundee .
Okay ?
There we are slogging through the wetlands , and I 'm panting and sweating , got mud up to my knees , and Miguel 's calmly conducting a biology lecture .
Here , he 's pointing out a rare Black-Shouldered Kite .
Now , he 's mentioning the mineral needs of phytoplankton .
And here , here he sees a grouping pattern that reminds him of the Tanzanian Giraffe .
It turns out , Miguel spent the better part of his career in the Mikumi National Park in Africa .
I asked him how he became such an expert on fish .
He said , " Fish ?
I didn 't know anything about fish .
I 'm an expert in relationships . "
And then he 's off launching into more talk about rare birds and algaes and strange aquatic plants .
And don 't get me wrong , that was really fascinating , you know , the biotic community unplugged , kind of thing .
It 's great , but I was in love .
And my head was swooning over that overcooked piece of delicious fish I had the night before .
So I interrupted him .
I said , " Miguel , what makes your fish taste so good ? "
He pointed at the algae .
" I know , dude , the algae , the phytoplankton , the relationships , it 's amazing .
But what are your fish eating ?
What 's the feed conversion ratio ? "
Well , he goes on to tell me it 's such a rich system , that the fish are eating what they 'd be eating in the wild .
The plant biomass , the phytoplankton , the zooplankton , it 's what feeds the fish .
The system is so healthy , it 's totally self-renewing .
There is no feed .
Ever heard of a farm that doesn 't feed its animals ?
Later that day , I was driving around this property with Miguel , and I asked him , I said , " For a place that seems so natural , " unlike like any farm I 'd ever been at , " how do you measure success ? "
At that moment , it was as if a film director called for a set change .
And we rounded the corner and saw the most amazing sight , thousands and thousands of pink flamingos , a literal pink carpet for as far as you could see .
" That 's success , " he said .
" Look at their bellies , pink .
They 're feasting . "
Feasting ?
I was totally confused .
I said , " Miguel , aren 't they feasting on your fish ? "
" Yes , " he said .
" We lose 20 percent of our fish and fish eggs to birds .
Well , last year , this property had 600,000 birds on it , more than 250 different species .
It 's become , today , the largest and one of the most important private bird sanctuaries in all of Europe . "
I said , " Miguel , isn 't a thriving bird population like the last thing you want on a fish farm ? "
He shook his head , no .
He said , " We farm extensively , not intensively .
This is an ecological network .
The flamingos eat the shrimp .
The shrimp eat the phytoplankton .
So the pinker the belly , the better the system . "
Okay , so let 's review .
A farm that doesn 't feed its animals , and a farm that measures its success on the health of its predators .
A fish farm , but also a bird sanctuary .
Oh , and by the way , those flamingos , they shouldn 't even be there in the first place .
They brood in a town 150 miles away , where the soil conditions are better for building nests .
Every morning , they fly 150 miles into the farm .
And every evening , they fly 150 miles back .
They do that because they 're able to follow the broken white line of highway A92 .
No kidding .
I was imagining a march of the penguins thing , so I looked at Miguel .
I said , " Miguel , do they fly 150 miles to the farm , and then do they fly 150 miles back at night ?
Do they do that for the children ? "
He looked at me like I had just quoted a Whitney Houston song .
He said , " No .
They do it because the food 's better . "
I didn 't mention the skin of my beloved fish , which was delicious , and I don 't like fish skin .
I don 't like it seared .
I don 't like it crispy .
It 's that acrid , tar-like flavor .
I almost never cook with it .
Yet , when I tasted it at that restaurant in southern Spain , it tasted not at all like fish skin .
It tasted sweet and clean like you were taking a bite of the ocean .
I mentioned that to Miguel , and he nodded .
He said , " The skin acts like a sponge .
It 's the last defense before anything enters the body .
It evolved to soak up impurities . "
And then he added , " But our water has no impurities . "
Okay .
A farm that doesn 't feed its fish .
A farm that measures its success by the success of its predators .
And then I realized when he says , a farm that has no impurities , he made a big understatement , because the water that flows through that farm comes in from the Guadalquivir river .
It 's a river that carries with it all the things that rivers tend to carry these days , chemical contaminants , pesticide runoff .
And when it works its way through the system and leaves , the water is cleaner than when it entered .
The system is so healthy , it purifies the water .
So , not just a farm that doesn 't feed its animals , not just a farm that measures its success by the health of its predators , but a farm that 's literally a water purification plant , and not just for those fish , but for you and me as well .
Because when that water leaves , it dumps out into the Atlantic .
A drop in the ocean , I know , but I 'll take it , and so should you , because this love story , however romantic , is also instructive .
You might say it 's a recipe for the future of good food , whether we 're talking about bass or beef cattle .
What we need now is a radically new conception of agriculture , one in which the food actually tastes good .
But for a lot people , that 's a bit too radical .
We 're not realists , us foodies .
We 're lovers .
We love farmers ' markets .
We love small family farms .
We talk about local food .
We eat organic .
And when you suggest these are the things that will insure the future of good food , someone somewhere stands up and says , " Hey guy , I love pink flamingos , but how are you going to feed the world ? "
How are you going to feed the world ?
Can I be honest ?
I don 't love that question .
No , not because we already produce enough calories to more than feed the world .
One billion people will go hungry today .
One billion -- that 's more than ever before -- because of gross inequalities in distribution , not tonnage .
No , I don 't love this question because it 's determined the logic of our food system for the last 50 years .
Feed grain to herbivores , pesticides to monocultures , chemicals to soil , chicken to fish , and all along agribusiness has simply asked , " If we 're feeding more people more cheaply , how terrible could that be ? "
That 's been the motivation , it 's been the justification , it 's been the business plan of American agriculture .
We should call it what it is , a business in liquidation , a business that 's quickly eroding ecological capital that makes that very production possible .
That 's not a business , and it isn 't agriculture .
Our bread basket is threatened today , not because of diminishing supply , but because of diminishing resources . Not by the latest combine and tractor invention , but by fertile land ; not by pumps , but by fresh water ; not by chainsaws , but by forests ; and not by fishing boats and nets , but by fish in the sea .
Want to feed the world ?
Let 's start by asking : How are we going to feed ourselves ?
Or better , How can we create conditions that enable every community to feed itself ?
To do that , don 't look at the agribusiness model for the future .
It 's really old , and it 's tired .
It 's high on capital , chemistry , and machines , and it 's never produced anything really good to eat .
Instead , let 's look to the ecological model .
That 's the one that relies on two billion years of on-the-job experience .
Look to Miguel -- farmers like Miguel . Farms that aren 't worlds unto themselves ; farms that restore instead of deplete ; farms that farm extensively instead of just intensively ; farmers that are not just producers , but experts in relationships . Because they 're the ones that are experts in flavor too .
And if I 'm going to be really honest , they 're a better chef than I 'll ever be .
You know , I 'm okay with that , because if that 's the future of good food , it 's going to be delicious .
Thank you .