Last issue of the New City Reader Istanbul edition is out! Titled “Fish” the 10th issue is guest edited by Mehmet Gürs with contributions by Olcay Bingöl, Roedrick Sloan and Tangör Tan.

Click for Mehmet Gürs’ editorial text

Your mom always tells you to eat your fish. Fish is loaded with omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins. Fish will make you smarter. Fish is lean. Fish is clean. Fish is good… This is probably true, or at least was, or still is depending on what fish and where. Hell I don’t know anymore?!

Now, we all know that fish should be good, at least in its purest form. The dilemma is, can we find it? And when we do, should we catch it? There’s so much information out there that we all get messed up. Should we go for the factory farmed beef, the big tittiechix or the high mercury swordfish?? Let’s say we picked the lovely fish for a moment… can we eat without being afraid (high in mercury or PCBs) or feeling guilty (well there’s nothing left) or selfish (there won’t be anything left for our kids). Hell I don’t know anymore?!

We also know that there’s no tuna left in the seas, right? So, as a chef that has stopped serving tuna and other endangered species in all of his restaurants, what do you do tell your seven year old son when you get one on your hook while sailing in the middle of the Indian Ocean? This is your dinner, an excellent one as a matter of fact, for the next couple of days… And you know that you eating it will not do anything to the remaining stocks but you still feel guilty! Hell I don’t know anymore?!

How about the farmed one? Tuna I mean. Most of it in cans… ‘The Other White Meat’ as it’s called. Is it really good for you and the oceans? How much perfectly edible fish is used to get a wild caught tuna fattied up? What about the hormones pumped into them to get them to reproduce in captivity? What about the mess that’s left behind? Is it really worth it? This one I know!!

Click on EDF’s Seafood Selector ‘Eco-friendly & healthy’ and all you get are FIVE species. That’s it, FIVE!! We know that there will not be anything left in the oceans in the near future. True fact! So, is it worth fighting for even if you know you will loose the fight? You bet!