Fish Counter Robert Clark Nets Order of Canada

Sustainable seafood trailblazer and pioneering chef Robert Clark has been named a Member to the Order of Canada. (C.M.). The honour comes in recognition of his leadership in helping to found and develop Ocean Wise.

Robert Clark and Skeena Wild Sockeye just arrived from Prince Rupert, with C manager Annette Rawlinson in the background, Tim Pawsey photo

If there’s one memory of Robert Clark that sticks in my mind it’s the picture I took when he started at C Restaurant. The chef is holding a sustainable Skeena Wild Sockeye, tangle-net caught by Prince Rupert’s Fred and Linda Hawkshaw. The fish were kept alive in tanks on the boat until they were processed dockside at day’s end. They were packed in ice and flown down overnight to Vancouver by Hawkair. Clark or his staff would pick them up at the South Terminal. Never before had such care been taken in bringing the freshest of salmon to a Vancouver restaurant.

Hard to believe today, but when Harry Kambolis decided that C would feature solely seafood on its menu, a lot of people figured the idea would never fly. At the time C was the only restaurant of its kind in Canada. Later, Clark convinced Kambolis that at least there should be water fowl (duck) on the menu. It was after all, he argued, food from the sea. And so it was added.

In the 1990s Vancouver ‘seafood’ was synonymous with ‘salmon.’  The city’s economy was increasingly more tourism-driven. Those visitors (and the chefs who cooked for them) wanted Sockeye and Coho on the plate. There was little if any appetite for anything else.  What’s more, salmon was perceived to be plentiful and inexhaustible—to the point that fishing boats discarded any fish that weren’t red. That included Pink Salmon (now widely served) and White Spring—which is brilliant quickly barbecued.

When C opened (in 1997) there was little discussion happening around matters of over-fishing and sustainability. Yet Kambolis and Clark took the risks and initiated the dialogue that eventually laid the foundation for Ocean Wise and other programs. They shared their thoughts and aspirations with other top chefs. (For a more detailed account of those early achievements, read my C and Raincity post.)

Clark pursued the notion of sustainability with dogged determination. On his often minimalist plates he cultivated new-found respect for ingredients. He introduced species previously unknown, or at least ignored, such as Pacific Herring, scallop and even sustainable abalone, which had previously been all but wiped out. After leaving C he continued to follow the sustainable mantra when he opened the Fish Counter with Mike McDermid. 

Clark: a truly collaborative effort

Clark says he is “shocked, humbled and honoured” by the award, and comments:

“My mind keeps going back to all the people that have been responsible in helping me, or who have contributed to what I’m getting credited for… to everybody who was so important in moving that concept forward.”

The chef adds that he, Kambolis and the people around them (like the Hawkshaws) “did what we did because we believed in it and loved it.”

“In a way it was a perfect storm,” he suggests, that brought together so many people—from the Vancouver Aquarium to BC fishers (and their high quality seafood)—who pushed for a more sustainable fishery.

“There were so many from different walks of life (including the food media) working towards the same goals. And that’s why the Ocean Wise program was so successful nation wide.”

He says since getting the news he has “mixed emotions.”

“This single event has probably drastically changed the course of my life for the next 25 years. My plan was to retire and quietly fade away. But now with this remarkable honour I have to prove I was worthy of it.”