hopping the counter

A bit of my feature article...four mornings with the fish department, a ten week journalism course assignment and lots of stray scales.

Customers made their way along the counter, surveying the market selection of triangular blocks of deep red maguro tuna, pearly fillets of opah and bright salmon steaks.  Requests for live crabs, swordfish and clams could be heard above the grumbling ice machine and the metallic clicks of knives being sharpened. 

Taking a number from the bright red dispenser, one customer continued browsing.  What’s for dinner tonight? Bay scallops? Monterey black cod is on special today and oh, look, a fresh batch of Miagi oysters just came in.

Behind the counter, a crew of twenty-somethings is busy filling orders.  Half pound of the Shetland salmon, please.  It’s the lunch rush, with deliveries to be checked, suppliers to be called, and fish to be cut.  Could I get about a third of a pound of the rock cod?  What’s fresh today?

...

Of all the fish caught worldwide, seventy-five percent is for human consumption.  Billions of people depend on fish as their main source of protein, with Asian countries in the lead. When it comes to seafood in the US, the supermarket is closest some of us ever get to the ocean.  These days the process of getting fish from the water to the dinner table is shaped by the expertise of fishermen, suppliers, and retailers—and the choices of conscious consumers. 

...

The clock stamped with the San Francisco Giants logo read 9am as I made my way to the fish department wearing a grungy sweatshirt with old jeans and extra thick socks tucked into rubber boots.  Stainless steel work surfaces, sinks and black rubber mats gave the long galley a part-ship deck, part-laboratory feel.  In a few hours the area behind the counter would be bustling, the air full of banter—and flying fins and tails.