Love Seafood?  Love Prawns?  Join me!

  Fresh off the Boat…

[Vancouver, BC] The Chefs’ Table Society of British Columbia celebrates 11 years of the Spot Prawn Festival at the False Creek Fishermen’s Wharf on Saturday May 13 from 11am-3pm. This event is generously supported by long-standing sponsor the Pacific Prawn Fishermen’s Association.

With the return of this free, family-friendly festival is also the return of the ticketed Spot Prawn Boil. The boil sells out every year and tickets are going fast. Get yours here.

Each Spot Prawn Boil ticket grants a wristband for a specific time slot, for access to a plate of three succulent BC spot prawns plus a selection of side dishes made with locally-sourced ingredients from Windset Farms, Grain, and freshly baked Terra Breads. Wristbands also include access to the drink tent for free samples from R&B Brewing , Evolve Cellars and Mogiana Coffee.

Just announced: these BC chefs will take the demo stage at the festival.

11:00 am – Dino Renaerts,  Bon Vivant Group

11:30 am – Taryn Wa, Savoury Chef Catering

12:00 pm – Andrew Shepherd, Vancouver Island Salt Co.

12:30 pm – Quang Dang, West Restaurant

01:00 pm – Matt Horn, Cowichan Pasta

01:30 pm – Isabel Chung,  Fairmont Whistler

02:00 pm – Ross Derrick, The Table at Codfathers and Jon Crofts, Codfathers Market

02:30 pm – Shelome Bouvette, Chicha Restaurant

About the Chefs’ Table Society

Chefs’ Table Society of British Columbia is a non-profit society comprised of BC’s leading chefs and culinary professionals. It is a chef-administered, province-wide collaborative dedicated to creating a foundation for the exchange of information between culinary professionals. The Society supports innovative and sustainable programs that will inspire, educate and nurture BC chefs, producers and the local food industry. The Chefs’ Table Society secures apprenticeships for and bestows bursaries to emerging local chefs and also finances culinary education programs in BC schools. For more information or to become a member visit chefstablesociety.com.

ALL ABOUT Spot Prawns (taken from the website):

Wild BC spot prawns are a delicacy known around the world for their sweet, delicate flavour and firm texture. They are most recognizable for their reddish brown colour, which turns bright pink when cooked, defining white spots on their tail and white horizontal bars on the carapace.

BC spot prawns are the largest of the seven commercial species of shrimp found on the west coast of Canada. They vary greatly in size, with some larger females exceeding 23 cm in total length. Prawns are hermaphrodites: for the first two years of their lives they are males, and then they change to females. Typically, spot prawns live a total of four years.

In BC, approximately 2,450 metric tonnes are harvested annually, with about 65% of the harvest coming from the waters between Vancouver Island and the mainland.

BC spot prawns are available live during the harvest season, which usually starts in May and lasts anywhere from six to eight weeks. Prawn fishermen spread baited traps along the rocky ocean floor at depths ranging from 40 to 100 metres. This method has minimal impact on ocean habitat and very low levels of by catch of other species.

BC spot prawns are very popular in Japan and the rest of Asia, with over 90% of BC’s commercial catch consumed there. Most of the prawns are frozen at sea by fishermen, and then packed and exported across the Pacific. The remaining few, however, are available to be enjoyed fresh in local BC restaurants and kitchens during the fishing season! Frozen spot prawns are also available in Canada year round.

Spot prawn stocks are carefully and sustainably managed to ensure that they remain available to enjoy for many years to come, including:

1. Limiting the number of vessels that can commercially harvest spot prawns
2. Limiting the number of traps that can be used
3. Returning females with eggs live to the ocean

Interesting; No?

For more information please visit: https://spotprawnfestival.com/