Project: Fish Sauce
Single Origin Fish Sauce, Port Phillip Bay
Product of Australia
Date: April 2022
Location: Port Phillip Bay, Victoria
Ingredients: Anchovies, salt (Olsenn’s Sea Salt)
TL;DR In 2022, we fished 800kg of anchovies from Port Phillip Bay with the help of the McAdam family to make fish sauce just before the State Government banned commercial fishing in Port Phillip Bay. The fish sauce is not ready yet. 800kg is equivalent to two seine nets of anchovies.
About the project
Fish sauce runs in the blood of the Vietnamese. Historically, it was sourced very locally. Anchovies from the closest port, salt from the closest town, no additional water or liquids required. Making fish sauce is akin to making wine - it is a craft, it does take time, and the quality of produce reflects on the quality of the end product.
We wanted to make an Australian fish sauce; one that speaks of where we are - an island country with access to quality seafood and produce, and a proud culinary history influenced by its South East Asian neighbours. In 2014, the Victorian State Government made the decision to phase out commercial fishing in Port Phillip Bay in favour of recreational anglers. The decision removed a source of Victorian seafood for Victorian diners. We felt it was important to retain the legacy of Port Phillip Bay and thought it could be achieved through our fish sauce project. It also means that our batch of fish sauce is possibly the only batch of single-origin Port Phillip Bay fish sauce available.
Port Phillip Bay is completely surrounded by localities of Victoria's two largest cities. We were lucky to have Jana Langhorst with us to take photos of the day for posterity.
Locality It started with Thi clocking that the extended family in Vietnam never bought fish sauce. Everyone just made ba khia or dried prawns or fish sauce and would trade it for something else. When she visited the family, they always spoke of which neighbouring town they sourced their anchovies from or their salt. There was such an intimate sense of locality
As a restaurant, we were buying produce so locally; almost all the produce we gained access to was sourced within 100km of the restaurant. Except the condiments we were using. Soy sauce from overseas. Oyster sauce. Fish sauce. Shrimp paste. All these condiments were manufactured and products of other countries. Yet here we are in Australia, surrounded by water, with access to such fantastic seafood, yet we are buying everything we are using from overseas.
The McAdam family Thi met Phil McAdam several years earlier at a Slow Fish event. The Slow Fish organisation, in their words, focuses on sustainable fishing, marine biodiversity and the promotion of responsible seafood consumption. As a second generation fisherman, Phil had spent 45 years fishing around Port Phillip Bay, primarily for sardines both for human consumption and for recreational anglers as bait. It was Phil who Thi turned to for advice when she was looking to source anchovies for her project and it was Phil who offered to take Thi out to source these anchovies.
Commercial Netting Ban The entire project was dictated by a very specific timeline - April 2022. A few years earlier, the Victorian State Government had put in place a mandate to ban all commercial netting in Port Phillip Bay by April 2022. Phil’s business, Vancouver Fisheries, was the only business that opted out of the government buy-out and opted not to switch to long line fishing. This decision was a fortuitous one for Thi as it meant Phil was in the position to help Thi source the anchovies she needed to make fish sauce.
Thi would not have been able to make fish sauce with anchovies sourced so locally had it not been for the generosity of Phil McAdam and Vancouver Fisheries.
The Victorian State Government made sure of that with their decision to ban all commercial netting in favour of recreational anglers.
