Chefs for Oceans
Chefs for Oceans
In 2014, Ned Bell cycled 8,700 kilometres from Victoria to St. John’s, hosting two dozen events to start a national conversation about sustainable seafood. The 72-day ride was the public centrepiece of Chefs for Oceans, a larger advocacy platform that began before he set out and continues today.
The Campaign
Months of planning brought chefs, fishers, conservation organizations, sponsors, government leaders and food communities together around the cross-country ride. Along the route, Ned hosted pop-up culinary events in every province, promoting responsible seafood choices and building support for March 18 as National Sustainable Seafood Day.
After the ride, Chefs for Oceans continued through public speaking, education, industry partnerships and advocacy. It helped earn Ned the Vancouver Magazine Green Award for Sustainability and the SeaWeb Seafood Champion Award for Advocacy.
The Legacy
Chefs for Oceans expanded Ned’s role from celebrated hotel chef to national advocate. The relationships he built across Canada continue to support his work as a chef ambassador, speaker, educator and sustainability advisor.
That work has since taken him from Ocean Wise and Buy BC to the United Nations and Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Blue Ribbon Task Force.
Chefs for Oceans remains proof of Ned’s ability to turn an ambitious idea into a national campaign, bring an industry together and make a complex sustainability issue accessible to a broad audience.
