Crispy Baked Salmon Sticks

Right after my high school graduation, I went to Greece.

It was organized through one of those high school clubs everyone joins when you’re in school but pretty much does nothing in except waste after school hours.

I wasn’t even in this particular club but when I found out they were doing a trip to Greece, I somehow managed to not only get myself a spot on the trip but also convince my parents it would be a kick ass graduation present and they should totally pay for me to go.

They did (I was persuasive in spinning the “cultural” angle of it and they were (are) pretty cool parents).

10 days of traveling through the mountains and small villages of Greece eating all the moussaka and greek salads you can imagine.

Then 3 days on a cruise ship island hopping from one white stucco/blue door house paradise to the next and you want to know the one memory that sticks out like a sore thumb in my head?

Driving past the fish farms on our way to Athens.

All I remember was massive netting systems and fish flopping over each other in such a small space they were literally hopping out of the water so I could see it from the window of our bus.

THAT is when I became the girl who asks if the salmon on the restaurant menu is farm raised or wild.

And while family, friends and wait-staff either roll their eyes or silently think to themselves “what a stuck up bitch”, I just don’t care.

That vision of a fish farm in Greece haunts me enough to refuse to buy farm raised fish of any sort.

Ironically, my parents, who weren’t necessarily unsupportive of my stance on wild caught fish, but didn’t really “buy it,” went to Alaska last month for vacation, learned all about sustainable fishing practices and came home with 10lbs. of wild Alaskan king salmon.

I laughed and told them I’m glad all it took was a few thousand dollar vacation across the country to finally come around to see my point of view on this stuff.

Luckily, they’re used to my wise-ass ways and still gave me a couple of filets to take home.

I eat wild salmon weekly.

Sometimes it’s just throw it in the oven at 400°F with some olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper, and other times, I’m a little more ambitious.

This is one of those times.

These aren’t your average frozen food aisle white fish sticks from a box.

If you’re looking for a homemade version of those try my air fried fish sticks!

This is fish sticks gone gourmet coated with panko, parmesan and dill and dipped in a creamy dijon dill sauce. They’d be great with the tangy remoulade from this beer battered fish recipe too.

I mean, it flew all the way across the country for me, I kinda felt like I owed it something more than the normal lemon + bake fish fate.

Earlier this month right as my parents had gotten back from Alaska, Jessie contacted me about being part of The Sustainable Seafood Blog Project.

What perfect timing, right?

Besides farm fishing practices being plain disgusting (unless you enjoy eating a fish that has swam around in crap it’s entire life), they’re pretty unsustainable too as the infographic explains.

I’m not the kind of person who is going to get up on my soapbox and preach about organic lettuce this and organic celery that.

But fish, meat and poultry? I feel pretty strongly about educating yourself on that.

I’m not going to judge people on their decisions to eat the way they do, there are just so many factors that come into play with a person’s food choices, but I can’t stand ignorance.

Know where your food comes from, know the kind of life it led before appearing on your plate and know the environmental impact it had.

Then, make the decision that’s best for you.

And then try this air fried cod with a few pieces of wild caught cod fish after you make these salmon sticks.