Community Seafood Dinner at South Kingstown Elks Lodge this Saturday

WAKEFIELD -- On October 24, the nonprofit Eating with the Ecosystem will host a community dinner at the South Kingstown Elks Lodge to draw attention to an array of delicious, nutritious, abundant – yet often overlooked – seafood caught by Rhode Island’s fishermen.

Seafood will be harvested and cooked by members of the Point Judith commercial fishing community. The menu will include grilled scup, deep-fried butterfish, slipper limpet salad, green crab risotto, and more.

Scup is a highly plentiful fish caught by Rhode Island fishermen in large numbers, but it is plagued by limited local market demand that results in low prices. Many groups within Rhode Island are making it a priority to develop better local marketing channels for scup. Butterfish is small fatty fish that was once a mainstay of Point Judith fisheries, shipped into international markets. Now on the rebound, many say this fish could benefit from stronger local markets.

The slipper limpet is an abundant yet ignored mollusk found alongside quahogs on the bottom of Narragansett Bay. Due to its small size, this delicacy has never received commercial attention, although it has been relished by Portuguese immigrants for whom it was a close substitute to the lapas of home.

Green crabs are an invasive species imported through ballast in the early 1800s. Because they consume large quantities of soft-shell clams, they are often considered a nuisance species. Too small to eat as meat, they produce a lovely flavor when simmered in stock and added to soup or risotto.

All proceeds from the event will benefit the nonprofit Eating with the Ecosystem’s new “Seafood to Food Pantry” project. This project aims to connect Rhode Islanders in need with healthy, affordable local seafood options such as scup, sea robin, whiting, herring, dogfish, and skate -- species that are currently among the most abundant in the local marine ecosystem, yet underrepresented in the local marketplace.

The event will take place from 5:00-8:00 PM. There will be a raffle, cash bar, and speaking by Point Judith fisherman Rodman Sykes.

Tickets cost $15 and are available at the door. Tickets can be reserved by e-mailing sarah@eatingwiththeecosystem or texting/calling (401)297-6723. The South Kingstown Elks Lodge is located at 60 Belmont Ave, South Kingstown, RI 02879.

About Eating with the Ecosystem

Eating with the Ecosystem promotes a place-based approach to sustainable seafood for New England. By fusing the ecological knowledge of marine scientists and commercial fishermen with the culinary creativity of the region’s most innovative chefs, the project advances a dining paradigm that channels a deep understanding of the special places in the ocean that produce the seafood we enjoy.