Feed Your Head

Alice Waters leads 200-chef brigade to protect wild salmon

Led by celebri-chef Alice Waters, some 200 chefs in 33 states are calling on Congress to protect river habitats and deprioritize hydroelectric dams that cramp Northwest salmon's style. "Wild salmon is one of the unique, authentic heritage foods of the Pacific Northwest," reads a letter that the cooking coalition presented to legislators yesterday. "It represents perhaps our country's last great wild meal." The "Vote With Your Fork" campaign hopes to focus attention -- both public and congressional -- on the controversial dams that have gummed up the Northwest's Klamath and Snake rivers, and on Alaska's Bristol Bay, where a proposed humongous gold and copper mine threatens a plentiful fishery. Because when it comes to salmon, the nation's best chefs turn up their noses at antibiotic-ridden, pellet-eating, oft-parasite-infested farmed fish. Besides, as Waters says, "Eating wild salmon can connect you in a beautiful way to the sea." We couldn't have said it beautifuler.