28th Annual International Boston Seafood Show
At the beginning of this week, I was fortunate enough to attend the 28th Annual International Boston Seafood show -- and on St. Paddy’s Day weekend no less! This year, there were over 52 countries represented, Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto as keynote speaker, 6,114 exhibitors and an estimated 17,231 conventioneers attending. Let me tell you, for a guy like me, it was complete sensory overload. I was like a fevered maniac all three days. With more information and booths than it is humanly possible to absorb, I was like a shopaholic during a Walmart Blue Light special, screaming through exhibits, trying to do my best impersonation of a sponge, spurred on by the knowledge that around each corner there would be yet another new thing/fish/product/machine that pertains 100% to my daily obsession. It was an orgasmic and yet futile endeavor to try to take it all in. All of this set in the heart of Historic Boston. And with over 1,000 Irish bars in the surrounding Boston area…obviously, I was a busy boy. And did I mention it was St. Paddy’s Day Weekend?
28th Annual International Boston Seafood Show
The most interesting booths were the ones with the products from Asia. What made them so damn interesting was the sheer number of items that were new to me. That and the aggressiveness of their salesmen (actually women, mostly), leading with samples and politely insisting on the superiority of their product. Folks, this may sound like a stretch but, during those three days, I ate my weight in sushi, no bullshit! At least 20 pounds of Hamachi passed through my gullet; and I’m not just talking about regular old stuff, I’m talking about new, different and special types like Rookfish, Bluenose, Sun Mackrel, some kind of red tilefish and many more.
Japanese fish
There was even a table where Morimoto had his crew laying it down.
Morimoto crew
The Japanese dried products were fascinating, especially these crispy whole crabs with some sort of glaze. They had the mouth feel of potato soufflé, straight up addictive.
Crab poppers
At the same booth, this dude had what looked like a hot griddle press on which he would place a tiny dried shrimp or sprinkle dried baby anchovies, hit the press and out would pop a chip. Seriously. It took me back to those days when I would cruise my neighborhood on my black, banana seat Huffy and, turning the corner, saw the new kid on a brand new BMX Super-Goose…
I want one!
Chip press
On the other end of the aisle, a guy from the Midwest was selling nothing but what most would consider trash fish: Shoepeg, Gaspergoo, Buffalo, Carp and Flat Head Catfish.
Gaspergoo
On day two, they held the national Oyster Shucking Contest where three-time champion, and the current world champ title holder, William “Chopper” Young took the gold home once again. He had an unusual technique and tool: his knife was about 2 ½ inches long and resembled a prison shank and he attacked the oyster from the side. This guy was all business.
Oyster shuck
I was equally as intrigued with the equipment side of the show. There were space-aged coolers, vacuum machines large enough to package a man, “green” packaging solutions, non-stick flooring and totes for shipping live fish.
Live Fish Tote
There were all kinds of amazing instruments for monitoring and evaluating environmental conditions like 10-mile remote thermostats and hemostasts, refractometers that calculate Brix (sugar content) and blood-protein content and my new favorite toy, a salinometer.
Salinometer
You should have seen the looks I got at the three different oyster bars that night when I pulled that sucker out to gauge the salt content of each different oyster we sampled. Geeky I know, but what the hell …I’m a 6’4” Texan obsessed with fish, rollin’ strong in Bean-Town on St. Paddy’s Day weekend. I’m pretty sure I pulled it off.