Orange County Register

Whole Foods Market stocking rare Arctic fish

January 5th, 2009, 11:05 am · 8 Comments · posted by Nancy Luna, Staff Writer

Many of you might be starting diets this month, which often leads to eating less red meat and more seafood.

With that in mind, I thought I’d let you know that Whole Foods Market is stocking its seafood department with the “hard to-find Arctic Char,” a mild-tasting fish traditionally found on fine-dining menus.

Char photo courtesy of Whole Foods

“This fish has been virtually unavailable in grocery stores until now,” Whole Foods (Nasdaq: WFMI) said in a statement released today.

If you like salmon, you might like the char — often described as cross between a trout and salmon. If you’re not a great cook, remember Whole Foods will cook most anything for you. So you can probably get this fish prepared for you in the store.

The char is available at Whole Foods through the end of the month. The natural foods chain did not list the price per pound on this new fish. I suspect it won’t come cheap.

What do you think?

Whole Foods has stores in Tustin and Laguna Beach.

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Posted in: Fast food news • Nutrition • Laguna Beach • supermarkets • tustin • Whole Foods Market
 

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 8 Comments

• MorningRush says:

  January 5, 2009 at 12:37 pm

  Is anything cheap at Whole Foods???

  Post Reply
• Patrick says:

  January 5, 2009 at 1:44 pm

  Hey Nancy- Arctic Char is also a good choice for environmentally conscious diners. It doesn’t pollute bodies of water the way farmed Salmon does. More info at http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1540

  Post Reply
• JohnB says:

  January 5, 2009 at 2:32 pm

  Whole Paycheck? No thanks.

  Post Reply
• Troy says:

  January 5, 2009 at 2:49 pm

  Although the taste of it sounds interesting, the “environmentally conscious” concept seems very gimmicky to me. They catch these fish up in the Arctic Circle and then ship them via boat, jet plane, and truck 4,000 miles down to the OC. And this is kinder to the environment than eating a fish out of our local coastal waters how exactly?

  Again, the taste sounds like something I’d like, and if I was a Whole Foods shopper I might consider it. But the concept of being kind to the earth by eating fish from 4,000 miles away seems a bit funny to me. Maybe I’m just too simple to get it? Wouldn’t be the first time!

  Post Reply
• bob says:

  January 5, 2009 at 4:25 pm

  I am not surprised that that nutcake John Mackey who runs Whole
  Foods would be overjoyed at having his customers eating rare fish.
  The rarer the fish - the higher the price (and profits). Profits are all’he cares about anyway.

  Post Reply
• Dan says:

  January 6, 2009 at 8:47 am

  Troy and bob:

  Arctic char is farmed, not taken from wild populations - so the title of “rare” refers to its frequency in markets, not its wild status. It’s one of the reasons the Monterey Bay Aquarium lists Arctic char as “Best Choice” for ecologically conscious consumers (http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_factsheet.aspx).

  And when it comes to fish, you’re really missing the point if you’re only looking at the distance your food travels. The most important thing to consider is how sustainable a fishery is - and since Arctic char have a minimal impact on wild fish, they’re a very sustainable source. Eating a local fish from an overfished or unsustainable fishery is far worse for the world than eating a sustainable fish from far away.

  Post Reply
• Divina says:

  January 23, 2009 at 9:38 pm

  Hi Luna,
  First off, what are the prices for this Arctic Fish at Whole Foods in particular? Is it affordable for 3x a week fish nights, or is it a splurge for a nice evening? Thank you for keeping your eyes out for exotic finds.. they’re fun, it’s just nice to know if it’s something our wallets can handle right now, and whether it’s worth the drive to Whole Foods, which is typically pricey.

  Post Reply
• Nancy Luna, Staff Writer says:

  January 23, 2009 at 10:20 pm

  Divina, I asked Whole Foods that same question on price when I first wrote this item, and no one got back to me. A wild guess ? The fish is probably pricey….

  Post Reply