When first contemplating how to describe OCEANTRIBE to our following of land-bound seafood lovers, the term "hands in the water" is one that keeps coming up and with good reason: the farmers and producers that we've chosen as our suppliers aren't only the people who sell and market the product we distribute - they are also the ones carefully and soulfully pulling the oysters, seaweed, fish, lobster and shellfish out of their water and off the beaches with their own two hands. 

They are checking each shell, each scale, each claw and ensuring the quality and health of each wondrous specimen with their own senses.  They are mothers and fathers, employers, researchers, activists, entrepreneurs and regional ambassadors. They are integral members at the foundations of their own local economies and are models of forward-thinking resource management. They are the ones making enormous sacrifices and taking considerable risks in order to make available to us the foodstuffs that are both the life of a party and the nutritional elements that nourish and sustain our bodies.

As OCEANTRIBE we are not anchored to a model of quantized certification, of quotas and contract negotiations or the dimly-lit interpretations of black and white sustainability scenarios. Rather, we choose to gather together families of food producers who desire to be more deeply tied to those who seek after the fruits of their labour and to pronounce and stand behind their commitment to doing things right; not just in respect their physical habitat and environment but in holding high the health of the human habitat as well. In Slow Food parlance it is the collected values of Good, Clean and Fair food that are held as most necessary for the stability of these food sources. It is this kind of values matrix which creates depth and it is depth which offers people the intimacy in their kitchens and food experiences which they so love.

In short, we are interested in sustaining families. We are not here to save the earth from the impact of a modern industrial humanity, we are here to draw a line around what we consider to be good, clean and fair with a focus on the family and the increasing complexity of how those familial units intersect and depend upon one another for their survival AND their fulfillment. As a fabric of families brought together through a common appreciation, we become a TRIBE. We beat drums, we sing loudly and we engage the world intensely.

The existence of our OCEANTRIBE family itself is a statement of commitment to long term relationships. We exert great effort to create direct, true and sincere connections between ocean loving eaters to the folks with their hands in the water.  

Can I get a Hallelujah?

If you read this far, THE TRIBE HAS AWOKEN in you. Come on over here for a hug and a high five. We're about to bring down the dome of limitations and allow a new group intelligence to bloom, take root and take flight.