PREVENTION: Where did you get the idea to serve up invasive species?LAI: It really started with the fact that my mom and dad are both nature lovers and my siblings and I spent a lot of time playing in the woods, rivers, and streams of Long Island Sound. What I do for a living today—you know, splashing around the ocean, running around the woods—is no different than what I was doing as a kid. My mom’s a nutritionist and she’s the one who taught me how to forage. My father is a doctor who has spent a lot of time doing free surgeries in countries like Kenya. So for me, it wasn’t enough to make delicious food. I had to make some sort of positive impact on the world, which is what I’m trying to do with this whole sustainable seafood thing. When did you discover what invasive species were? About 10 years ago, a little after we started thinking about sustainable seafood for our restaurant, Miya’s, a friend and I discovered a crab we’d never seen before. We didn’t know it was invasive at first, but once we did, I started to think that this might be a really cool way of approaching sustainability—going after abundant but underutilized species that are problematic for the ecosystem. What makes them so bad? Basically they’re flora or fauna that adversely affect habitats and have some sort of economical or environmental impact on that specific region, often affecting the biodiversity of that region. These species are pushing out other species that are native. And these species are always introduced by man. Besides shore crab, what are some other invasive species you serve up? We’ve used all sorts of stuff. Right now we’ve got plants like mugwort and dandelions from our own 10-acre farm in New Haven that’s dedicated to wild plants. These two plants were actually introduced by the Pilgrims. You see them growing all over the place and gardeners hate them. But these are plants that have been used for thousands of years by indigenous societies and they’re much more nutritious, exponentially more nutritious than any sort of cultivated vegetable that you can buy at the farmer’s market. Why? Just because we haven’t messed with them? Exactly. Look at the whole body as an ecosystem. When you put bad food into your gut, there’s strong science that shows it changes the composition of bacteria there from good to bad, making you more susceptible to all sorts of health issues. One of the major foods altering our bacteria for the worse is red meat—not to mention, it’s one of the most ecologically destructive foods on the planet (Skeptical? Check out these 10 reasons to stop eating red meat.). With invasive species, however, it’s a different relationship than the one we have with livestock. By eating it, you’re actually doing something good for the planet by restoring biodiversity. And because it’s wild, you’re eating some of the healthiest food out there, the kind of food that feeds your gut’s good bacteria and helps you fight disease. You’re actually a diver and fisherman too, right? I am. We have 75 acres of ocean and two boats, and every couple of days I go diving to round up various seafood including sea plants. About a quarter of my staff are scuba certified, too, and I have a chef who’s dedicated to foraging. Are people weirded out by the unconventional foods on your menu? These foods basically go against the culture of eating, so yeah, some people are a little weirded out. But we do what we do because we want to add to the conversation and question whether we should continue to live and eat the way we do. Invasive species are directly linked to the most important challenges that humanity faces today—climate change, biodiversity, food security, and nutrition. Some sushi is notoriously unsustainable—what are some ingredients that didn’t make the cut at your restaurant? At Miya’s, you’re not going to find nine out of 10 types of seafood that you’d expect to get in a traditional Japanese sushi restaurant. That’s because we don’t use the farmed stuff. But in my mind, I think the sushi we make is much more traditional than any sushi that exists today—we’re using ingredients that are wild, the way we’ve been meant to eat since the beginning of time, and how we used to eat when the cuisine of sushi first came to be. But today, if you go to a seafood restaurant, it tends to be an internationalist experience. You don’t know where that food’s coming from and it’s most likely not coming from a domestic source. You can be in Seattle, known for it’s wild pink salmon, and you’ll still find farmed salmon on the menu. Besides fishing and cooking, how else do you spend your time? I regularly teach low-income pre-diabetics in New Haven how to eat better—63 classes in 20 weeks. I’ve also got a TV show coming up about chasing invasive species. You’ll see me diving, lassoing giant jellyfish the size of Volkswagens in the Sea of Japan, hunting for poisonous vipers in Guam, and scaling tall buildings for pigeon eggs. It’s going to be a hit. Because it’s not just fluff, you know? It’s entertaining, but it’s about the important stuff, too. For more on Bun Lai and his culinary and deep sea adventures, visit miyassushi.com and follow him on Twitter @MiyasSushi. MORE: Here’s How You Can Start Eating Clean Today
