on swimming with fish, not eating them

plus a vegan "fish" curry

This piece was written on Dharawal Land. Always was, always will be Aboriginal Land.

I am so lucky (and I know I’ve said this so many times) to be able to swim in such beautiful waters, and to share them with the creatures that inhabit them. On a freezing Saturday last week, I went to Cabbage Tree Bay/ Kai'ymay with Blake and my brother, Rafi, who has just moved to Australia.

It’s different to my local area because of its aquatic reserve status. This means you cannot harm or remove any of the life underwater in any way, whether dead or alive, nor can you feed the fish. The outcome of this is that the reserve is teeming with life - on any given day you can see cuttlefish, seals, turtles, tropical and temperate fish, eagle rays, and of course, sharks!

Shocking quality as it’s grabbed from a video, but this is one of the many Port Jackson sharks we saw!

Rafi and Blake pointing out the locals

I can be a breakfast person, provided breakfast is this big & savoury

When figuring out what to write for this week, I realised that I always seem to ground my weekly activities in the time that I’m in the water. That’s what I love to do - I write, I cook and I swim in / dive in / snorkel in / walk by the ocean. And it’s a huge win when I see life in there too, from seaweed to sharks.

I’ve been like that for my whole life - so why was it so hard to give up eating fish? I was eating fish long after I stopped eating dairy. Yet, fish are the creatures I come into contact with the most, because I’m always in the water. I think cognitive dissonance plays a key role here, the same way it does for people who eat meat. Cute animals, like dogs and cats, are seperate in people’s minds to a cow, a chicken, a sheep, or a pig. Eating dairy doesn’t immediately conjure the killing of calves or their separation from their mothers, neither does eating an egg with male chicks being killed at one day old.

The only thing I held on to was that the cute fish I was swimming with weren’t the same as the salmon, white fish or prawns that I occasionally ate.

But, deep down, I knew that large scale industrial fishing harms all life in the ocean. And also that I wouldn’t want to eat a salmon if I saw one while swimming.

So, after a pretty incredible snorkel one day, I just stopped. And it wasn’t as hard as I thought. When I’m in the ocean, I can appreciate it even more; knowing I strive to make choices to protect the neighbours I appreciate so much.

Also, like I mentioned in previous posts, this is by no means a “go vegan!” post. I am in no position to tell anyone what to eat, just like I wouldn’t like to be told what I should or shouldn’t eat. You do what works for you. You never know what people are struggling with - eating disorders; financial strain, etc. I’m only suggesting alternatives that make life easier when you want to veganise your favourite foods.

This vegan “fish” is just what’s needed after a day in the water!

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ingredients.

• 100g firm tofu

• 1 clove garlic

• 3 sheets nori

• 2 rice paper sheets

• 1 tbsp soy sauce

• 1 tsp white pepper

• 1 spring onion

• 2 tbsp corn flour

• Jar yellow curry (cooked according to instructions/ preferences) rice; coriander to serve

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how to.

1. Blend tofu, garlic, spring onion, 1 sheet nori, white pepper and soy until a paste is formed. Mix in corn flour and let sit for 10 mins at room temperature.

2. Wrap paste with nori into a cylinder shape, as if making a wider sushi. Repeat with wet rice paper on top and close off the ends with the rice paper.

3. Steam cylinders for 10 mins.

4. Cut cylinders into slices of fish and fry in 1 tbsp oil until both sides are browned. Serve with your favourite curry and rice!