SASSI Cooking

Aside from being voted one of South Africa’s top young chefs, Jackie Cameron is also a champion of a different sort. The brilliant head chef of Hartford House in Mooi Rivier in the Kwazulu-Natal Midlands has recently committed to being a champion for sustainable seafood as well.

She will be working closely with the WWF-SASSI to promote sustainable seafood as the most savvy seafood choice amongst consumers.

Cameron’s commitment to sustainability stems from a deep-rooted love of her craft. “As a young chef, my passion is food. One day when I have a family, I would love to share that passion with my children and I can’t imagine not being able to serve them a perfectly seared piece of kingklip. It would be a tragedy if that texture and flavour were lost forever.”

Being from KwaZulu-Natal, Jackie’s favourite WWF-SASSI green-listed species is South African farmed rainbow trout. Aside from being a fantastic substitute for Norwegian Salmon, which unfortunately falls on the orange list, choosing this species of seafood will also serve to support the many local farms in KwaZulu-Natal who produce this species. Fish on the green list are considered the most sustainable and well-managed choice while there is reason for concern if a species is included in the orange list.

“There is a misconception about trout from the Midlands”, says Jackie. “This misconception centres around what this species should taste like. However, there are brilliant farms in the Midlands who are taking trout to a whole new level and, on top of that, doing so in a much more sustainable way.”

View Chef Jackie's Duo of Trout recipe here.