Net to table at an experiential kitchen
Lin Shuzhen, who runs a kitchen in Gengfang Fishing Harbor in Yilan’s Toucheng Township, has taken to heart the goal of “net to table” by using the catch from her husband’s own fishing boats. “The captain’s wife,” as she is known, is hoping to gradually evade the grip of middlemen.
Five years ago, Lin enrolled in a master’s program in marketing, and now she runs an “experiential kitchen and cooking classroom,” providing an alternative kind of company retreat. When guests come to Gengfang Fishing Harbor, she introduces them to the local ecology, then has them cook seafood that varies with the season. She may teach her guests to make dolphinfish meatballs, or to fry cutlassfish and horse mackerel. She shows them how to blanch freshly caught squid, eschewing sauces so her guests can directly taste the pure sweet meat of the squid.
“Why doesn’t it have a fishy smell?” many ask. “It has a completely different flavor from the squid that you get in restaurants!” Regardless of their cooking skills, the guests, after tasting fresh local seafood, are able to directly buy local catch and make group and gift purchases, thus achieving Lin’s ultimate aim in operating a locally oriented “net to table” kitchen.
Ader Ho, the CEO of iTurn, explains that the fishing communities along Yilan’s coast are much like those elsewhere in Taiwan: lacking in employment opportunities and full of abandoned fish farms. Consequently, they are experiencing outflows of people in their prime working years. In Yilan’s Zhuangwei, for instance, about 70% of the fishponds lie idle.
“At first I was just responsible for making an inventory of local resources. Later, I got deeper and deeper into it,” he recalls. In order to bring the fishponds back to life he brought together the Zhuangwei 18 Islands design and culture team with the homestay industry and aquaculturists to create the Yilan Ban brand. By offering services and experiences, Yilan Ban has helped to bring producers direct sales opportunities and has spurred the revival of fishing villages.
After learning about abalone farming, visitors can buy raised-in-Taiwan small abalone direct from the producer.