Desperately Seeking Salem

Few causes touch my heart more than overfishing. No, seriously. No, really, I care a lot about overfishing, in the way that some people used to care about the rain forest — even wearing a mid-90s garish red frog jungle t-shirt to prove what holds their hearts.

I heart fish. And I love to eat them. That’s why I was I was more than moved a few years ago when a Maryland group came up with an uncommon marketing campaign that fed into my inner-eco-girl while hitting me where it counts — in the gut.

It said: “Save the Maryland blue crab — so you can eat them.”

If it weren’t already taken, I’d say Oregon’s salmon producers should be appropriating the same kind of slogans for their dwindling stocks. Either way, I like to think that I do my part by not buying fish that has been frozen for weeks and flown in from places unknown just to be thrown at me unceremoniously by that girl at the Safeway on Center Street (somebody should act happier to have a  job, and yes, I’m still bitter).

Check out these Dungeness crabs getting ready to duel a la a Sergio Leone Spahetti Western at Fitt’s Fish Market in Salem. I can almost hear the Ennio Morricone score filtering through the water.

There are many reasons to go to Fitt’s, but #1 is to see a duel of these beautiful swimmers.  They are nasty and natural and good for at least a five-minute diversion during an afternoon shopping trip.

The other, real reason is to get some really fresh fish — admittedly, at prices that will seem higher than that of your general grocery store.

I picked up a dozen scallops, which we pan-fried to perfection last Saturday and served with a lemon orzo salad, and a humungo strip of red snapper, which I baked in a hoisan glaze last night for dinner. My fishmonger even cut the bone out for me and offered to pack it in ice for the long trip home (seven minutes, no thanks, I thought).

You don’t go to Fitt’s becuase you’re cooking Van DeCamp dinners for your family of ten. You go because they have the finest and most artfully displayed fresh meats section around, and you can trust the guy who’s selling it to you. You might just venture down there because you are a doomsday girl and your apocalyptic imagination is making you become increasingly skeptical of the traditional food chain and they also sell beef. And you might just  go to catch a glimpse of old Mr. Fitt on the wall, surrounded by hanging chickens.

For me, though, the modest price difference seems small when you factor in the major karma points you get for buying local and the peace of mind that accompanies knowing where your food comes from and buying it from someone who cares about his customers.

I must have been reading my friend Nick’s blog too much recently.  Last year, Nick raised and then butchered a pig — capturing the entire process in multimedia  for his journalism master’s project. He has since become something of a pork expert, a major Midwest voice in the movement to have a greater connection to the food that we eat.

No one expects anyone else to raise and slaughter their own pigs. But I do believe there is a great amount of grace in knowing how animals are processed, and I choose to make consumer decisions on the values of sustainability.

Until now, I haven’t bought too much meat in Salem. I grew up with a mother who knew exactly where to buy meat — generally at our indoor farmer’s market — and I have thus become very skeptical of overly red meat in the grocery store.

But I’ve been in Salem long enough by now to have found a few places I can buy the beef. Or pork. Or chicken.

So I’ve been on a meat kick this week that will culminate in a dish of hammered-thin, batter-dipped, pan-fried pork. We picked some up at the Salem’s Saturday Market from this guy at Sweet Briar Farms.

This meat kick has also included picking up a chicken to roast and some bacon at Gillespie’s, an old-timey butcher located in Norman’s Farmer’s Market on Silverton Road.

Call it some much-needed protein for a new zest for life. Or catching up, for months of too much tofu.

Any tips? Where do you buy your meat and why? And more importantly, where can I get some great fresh fish around here?