Home & Garden

Nourish to Serve Local Fish Dinner with a Side of Science

This Thursday, Feb. 28, the Lexington Center eatery will host the first segment of the sustainable seafood series, 'Eating with the Ecosystem Boston.'

Serving up local fish dinners with a speaker is nothing new for Nourish, the socially conscious eatery in Lexington Center. But for its “Eating with the Ecosystem” dinner this Thursday, science will have a seat at the table.

The dinner, with a menu designed to explore some lesser-known treasures fished from the waters stretching from Buzzards Bay to the Long Island Sound, will feature narration from scientist Nathan Rebuck and fisherman Katie Egan.

The Eating with the Ecosystem dinner series, according to an event description, was started by fisherwoman and environmental activist Sarah Schumann as a way to help people see the connections between a healthy marine environment and a healthy local fishing economy.

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Karen Masterson, the owner of Nourish, said her restaurant committed to offering a mid-priced, accessible menu featuring unusual fish in everyday applications – a fish and chips dish featuring dogfish and cornmeal-coated scup as fish tacos, for example.

“Part of what we’re trying to do is look at what the ocean can offer us,” said Masterson. “If we can find an everyday application that really works for people, by showing how delicious some of these plentiful fish can be, then we can really shift demand and change the fishery.”

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To that end, menu, according to Masterson, will feature:

  • a Manhattan-style shellfish chowder
  • dairy-based chowder with monkfish
  • a mini-scallop and spinach salad
  • pan-fried skate with seasonal veg
  • fish tacos with scup
  • fish and chips

The dinner officially begins at 6 p.m., with service to start at 6:30 p.m. And the speakers Egan and Rebuck will present between courses.

Egan, a second-generation commercial fisherman from Bristol, RI., fishes with traps from her father’s 32-ft boat, catching lobsters, conchs and crabs. She also fishes for shellfish along the shorelines of Narragansett Bay.

Rebuck, a post-doctoral research associate for National Research Council, works with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (part of NMFS-NOAA) in Narragansett, RI. His current studies, and the likely content of his presentation, will focus on examining the rates and determinants of ocean acidification in the Northeastern United States.

Masterson said she's as excited to attend the dinner as she is to host it.

"I think we realy need to broaden our understanding of the issues because they're all connected," she said, "And the more people you get to the table, the more you understand that we're all in this together."

The dinner at Noursh will be from 6 to 9 p.m. this Thursday, Feb. 28. It costs $30 and there will be opportunities to donate to Eating with the Ecosystem. To RSVP or ensure there is space call Nourish at 781-674-2400 or Karen Masterson at 508-641-0878.


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