01x02 - Tuna

[bunniefuu]

[Redzepi] At the gateway

of the Mediterranean Sea

lies a trap three

millennia in the making.

Above water, it appears only as a

long band of bright orange buoys.

But below, something much

more significant is happening.

A labyrinth of rope and knots,

designed to break the

springtime migration

of one of nature's most

brilliant predators

the Atlantic bluefin tuna.

There are few ingredients that involve

a more diverse and complex network

of craftsmen, artisans, chefs, brokers

and diners than the bluefin tuna.

But the most surprising twist of this

story has come in the last 50 years.

[in Japanese] Lot number

three! Lot number three!

[in English] What was

once so undesirable

[in Spanish] Get out of there.

is now what makes it so valuable

for people around the world.

Few animals better display the dizzying

breadth of the global food economy

and the power of the human

appetite to transform the world.

And the start of that journey

is a confrontation between

fisherman and the sea.

The almadraba.

[waves crashing]

[Benítez, in Spanish] You can

spend your whole life at sea,

but you must never

lose respect for it.

The best bullfighter can

be caught by the bull.

The same happens here.

[workers chattering in Spanish]

[breathes deeply] I've lived

in Barbate all of my life.

My mother and my father

are from Barbate.

[machine beeps]

When I was 16 years old,

I started diving,

I started fishing.

Everyone chooses their own path.

Good morning.

[all chattering]

[horn blows]

[Redzepi, in English] Along

the coast of southern Spain,

one of the world's

oldest fishing traditions

continues in the

same way it was born.

At daybreak, in boats loaded

with seasoned fishermen,

the air heavy with doubt about

what the day's catch will bring.

They call this the almadraba,

a bluefin hunt that stretches

from spring into early summer.

[Benítez, in Spanish] The

almadraba is a way of life.

When February comes, you can

start to smell the almadraba.

And when May arrives, you know it's

time for tuna, tuna and more tuna.

[Redzepi, in English] Thirty years ago,

the global bluefin stock was so low

the almadraba

nearly disappeared.

Today, bluefin is one of the

most valuable fish in the ocean,

just as it was when the Phoenicians

established the elaborate fishing system.

Three thousand years later, the

trap remains largely unchanged.

[fishermen chattering, laughing]

[Benítez, in Spanish] The person

who invented this was an artist.

He was a true genius.

"He thought, "How can I catch these animals

using a fixed-net system in the water

where they enter and

don't know how to leave?"

[Redzepi, in English] The power of

the almadraba is its simplicity.

There's minimal by catch

with the netting system.

Everything that's smaller, from anchovies

to squid to baby bluefin, slips through,

leaving only the mature tuna.

[Benítez, in Spanish] When you jump into

the water, you forget about everything.

You're just there with

the tuna and that's it.

The animal, when it sees the fishnet

and the darkness of that fishnet,

it gets scared.

[Redzepi, in English]

The divers herd the shoal

using bubbles from

their air tanks.

Any wrong move and the tuna could

bolt back the way they came.

With a simple string, a diver

counts off today's harvest.

A hundred fish per knot.

800 in total.

Then the trap door is

carefully tied shut.

[machine whirring]

Net on board! Net on board!

[Redzepi, in English] With

every pull of the net,

the fish come closer

to the surface.

[speaking Spanish]

[Redzepi, in English] The captain

of the fleet makes his call.

It's time to hunt.

There's a good reason this system

is still known by its Arabic name.

Almadraba, "a place

for fighting."

[Benítez, in Spanish] I have a blow

here, on my face, in the jaw area.

It was a tuna. A big tuna

that weighed 500 kilos.

You can never lose respect.

Never.

[Redzepi, in English] There is one major

change to the ancient fishing technique.

The lupara, a long

steel firearm.

Introduced in recent years to

bring order to the almadraba.

With one 12 mm hollow-point

b*llet, the end comes quickly.

No slow suffocating in a net.

No thrashing on a hook.

Just a direct, instant death.

[Benítez, in Spanish] When you

sh**t the tuna, it remains intact.

In this way, the tuna doesn't

suffer. It doesn't drown.

It keeps its blue

color, its yellow color.

It remains beautiful.

[speaking Spanish]

[Redzepi, in English] Death

affords this fish a monetary value,

ownership, even

legal protection.

A yellow tag

becomes its passport

from the deck of this boat to

the other side of the planet.

This tuna, pulled from the

waters of southern Spain,

is no longer a wild animal.

Now it's a global commodity.

Highly valuable and

imminently perishable.

From here on, each step

of its complex journey

is carefully designed,

down to the finest detail.

The business of bluefin

began with the Phoenicians

when they transported salted

tuna across the Mediterranean Sea

to be eaten in Greek taverns.

The Romans came next and

added another layer of value.

They pressed sun-dried tuna into one of

the world's first fish sauces, garum,

which kept this region of southern

Spain flush for centuries.

But the time from catch to

kitchen has shrunk dramatically.

Today, it's all about freshness,

maintaining the cold chain, unbroken.

The internal temperature

of a tuna in transit

must never rise above

four degrees Celsius.

[worker, in Spanish] I don't understand

much about how the almadraba works.

What I do understand

is fish on land.

When we unload a fish, it's very

important that the tuna always stays cold.

We work within a

short time frame.

A fish that arrives at 6:00 a.m.

needs to be on its way to

various markets by 10:00 a.m.

Each market demands

different quality.

There are some buyers who are

more demanding than others.

I administer tests

to check for quality.

You can assess the fat,

the color, everything.

If the quality is not good,

the color will show up foul.

[Redzepi, in English] Bluefin represents

just 1% of tuna fished from the ocean.

Skipjack, yellowfin, albacore.

These are the species that dominate

the shelves and coolers in markets

across the world.

But bluefin has something special that

gives it more value: fat, and lots of it.

The combination of tender, delicate

flesh and savory intramuscular fat

is what the world has come

to crave and value so highly.

It's what keeps companies like

Petaca Chico busy filling orders,

transporting tuna to buyers

in Spain, Europe and beyond.

[Trujillo, in Spanish] Now the

demand is increasing worldwide.

It's the main reason why the price

of fish will continue to rise.

[Redzepi, in English] But behind every

refined technique used in this process,

there's a constant presence.

A potent force that

keeps their nets moving.

A presence so significant

that between 1970 and 1990

the average price of bluefin tuna paid to

Atlantic fishermen had risen by 10,000%.

Who helped turn tuna from

a trash fish into treasure?

Japan.

It began in the 1960s.

At the time, tuna hardly

featured in Japanese cuisine.

The fatty meat was fed to pets,

but it wasn't a prized fish.

And then times changed. People

changed. Tastes changed.

Beef became popular

in postwar Japan,

priming the national palate

for darker, richer meat.

Bluefin was no longer by

catch, it was the catch.

But in the oceans around Japan, there

was only a limited number of them.

Demand and prices rose,

but the number of tuna that

could be bought and sold did not.

Until someone

changed the equation.

Akira Okazaki, a middle manager

working in the freight

department of Japanese Air Lines.

In the 1970s, his task

was to find freight

that could be loaded into empty

planes flying the return leg home.

[TV reporter] By

jet, in 15 hours,

your goods are in Tokyo or

across the pole in Paris.

[Redzepi] High value goods

that needed to be moved quickly

and could be guaranteed to sell.

Okazaki-san found bluefin tuna.

[TV reporter] Three

years of constant testing

were necessary to evolve a

cooling panel system container

that was not only light enough, but

would keep tuna in a fresh condition

at a perfect 32 degrees Fahrenheit

for a period of 40 hours.

[Redzepi] In 1972, the first tuna

was flown from Canada to Japan.

These weren't frozen

fish, they were fresh.

A matter of days from ocean

to auction room floor.

The systems built

to transport tuna,

the cooling technology, the logistics,

the regulations and paperwork,

were soon used to transport

other high value food items.

And thus, the modern

worldwide food web was born.

Asparagus from Ecuador,

strawberries from Morocco

abalone from Oman.

Time, value and demand.

Sprinkle enough of

all three ingredients

and the space between

origin and eater shrinks,

as long as you're willing

to pay the right price.

[auctioneer, in

Japanese] Lot number one!

[vocalizing]

[vocalizing continues]

- 1,425!

- [bell rings]

[Redzepi, in English] With

such a complex delivery system,

it's no surprise that

tuna are big business.

The best bluefin sell for a

hundred thousand dollars or more.

And it's the job of the

auctioneer to make sure

that the price is

as high as possible.

[auctioneer vocalizing]

Hundreds of bluefin, dozens

of countries of origin,

and a legion of licensed

brokers ready to fill orders

for thousands of buyers

across six continents.

If there was ever a display of the

might of the global food economy,

it's on the auction room floors of

these fish markets all across Japan.

- [bell rings]

- [in Japanese] 2,900 yen!

[Redzepi, in English] And if

two buyers land on the same bid,

the old playground favorite,

Rock paper scissors, brings the

deal to a civilized conclusion.

[all laughing]

[Redzepi] There's no greater

collection of sea creatures

anywhere on Earth than across

Japan's many fish markets,

like this one in Osaka.

This vast space unfolds like an

encyclopedia of the seven seas.

Flatfish and crustaceans.

Bottom feeders and bivalves.

Tiny shrimp and giant squid.

A salt-scented testament to our

dominance of the open oceans.

These markets are a nexus of movement

from the poles to the equator.

If it can be caught, if it can be eaten,

there's a fair chance it will end up here

or at any of the hundreds of

international fish markets

across the world's

urban centers.

But for all of the breathtaking

might of the modern fish market,

it begs a pressing question.

Can the oceans withstand

the human appetite?

[person, in Japanese] I

dream about tuna every day.

365 days a year, tuna

is all I think about.

Even on my days off, I wonder what

the tuna will be like tomorrow.

[Redzepi, in English] For some, bluefin

is both a business and an obsession.

Yukitaka Yamaguchi is not

just a tuna wholesaler,

he's a tuna whisperer.

A man possessed by every detail

of this magnificent fish.

[Yamaguchi, in Japanese] The

sensation when I cut into a tuna

really gives me a

moment of calmness.

It is a moment when I

feel free and clear.

I honestly can't imagine

my life without tuna.

[Redzepi, in English]

The glint of the skin.

The smell of the fat.

The density of the flesh.

Each is a clue in Yamaguchi-san's

pursuit for the optimal fish.

This devotion to the details

has earned him his nickname,

the "Tuna King" of Tokyo.

[speaks Japanese]

[Yamaguchi] There is no bible.

I use my many years of

experience to understand tuna.

After all, you can't really

understand tuna until you open it up.

Center belly of a net-fished tuna.

This one is seriously fantastic.

- Let's clean it. That's fantastic.

- [colleague speaks Japanese]

Number 17's upper belly.

[Redzepi, in English] Yamaguchi-san

and other skilled fishmongers in Japan

don't just sell the loins

and bellies of bluefin.

[fishmonger, in Japanese] This

is huge. Three of them is okay?

[Redzepi, in English] Prized cuts are

fashioned from the marbled cheeks,

the meaty column,

the sinewy tail.

They said a lean

piece is okay, right?

- Yes, they did.

- [Yamaguchi] This one works.

[Redzepi, in English] Behind

this finely-tuned craft

is a vital Japanese

concept, mottainai.

"Nothing goes to waste."

[in Japanese] Fujinaga, what do you

think of this dark spot? No good?

[Redzepi, in English] It's a noble

philosophy for any and all food,

but especially for a creature

as extraordinary as the bluefin.

[Yamaguchi, in Japanese] This

cut will sell really well.

[Redzepi, in English]

His business exports tuna

bought on the Tokyo auction floor

to customers across the world.

TO DUBAI

Each day he might

process up to 30 tuna

destined for one of the 1,000

restaurants Yamaguchi-san supplies.

[Yamaguchi] Good morning!

[in Japanese] As a specialist, I

have to know everything about tuna.

[buyer] So, are you going

to fillet some tuna?

[Yamaguchi] I am.

This is absolutely essential. I must be

able to answer any question about it.

The ones from Wakayama you gave me

looked a bit hard when I opened the box,

but they actually

weren't at all.

- Because those are trolling tuna.

- I knew it.

- The trolling tuna was really good.

- Yeah, they are soft.

[Yamaguchi] I learn from my own

conversations with customers

and from eating their sushi

which type of tuna goes best

with the rice they serve.

[Redzepi, in English] One

man in particular values

Yamaguchi-san's level

of craft and experience.

Takashi Saito, a modern

master of edomae sushi.

[Saito, in Japanese] Even if

you're skilled at making sushi,

you cannot consider

yourself a sushi chef

unless you purchase the

ingredients yourself.

You have to have knowledge of what you

think is good for cooking or making sushi.

[Saito] Boss, I'm taking

off, but see you on Monday.

- Got it. Thank you very much.

- [Saito] Thank you.

Thank you again.

[Yamaguchi speaks Japanese]

[engine revving]

[Saito] It was around the time

I graduated from high school.

The master from the fish

shop where I worked part-time

took me to a sushi restaurant.

It left a strong

impression on me.

It seemed like such a refined world,

and I thought it was really cool.

But I actually fell in love

with sushi while making it.

At the time, it was

more like hanging on

than making sushi.

There were many people, maybe ten,

and a few who quit after just one day.

After six months, that

number was cut in half.

And after one year, I

was the only one left.

The only time I held a knife was

when I was cooking for my seniors.

But little by little, it

started to make me feel happy.

So, I decided to live

my life this way.

Sushi is dependent

on ingredients.

We prepare the sushi to

bring out the flavors.

That's what we do.

The rest is your

technique and intuition.

It is truly unique.

Sushi is just a topping,

rice and soy sauce.

It's incredibly simple.

It is not a matter of

trying to do it perfectly,

but of having the body and

mind in the same state.

Sushi is all about balance.

[Redzepi, in English] Saito-san is

what the Japanese call a shokunin.

An artisan deeply and uniquely

dedicated to his craft.

A knife-maker.

A ceramics master.

A sushi chef.

Each spends a lifetime

trying to learn

and refine the tiny details

of their chosen path.

It takes a shokunin to honor the

impossible voyage of the bluefin tuna.

To turn its mixture

of fat and flesh

into a bite you'll think

about for days or longer.

Raw fish, slightly warm, vinegared

rice and the muscle memory

of a lifetime spent training

to serve this one bite.

That's why people wait for years to book

a seat at Saito-san's Hinoki countertop.

Because sushi at this level

is one of the food world's

greatest acts of transformation.

[Saito, in Japanese] I serve the tuna in

the order of lean, medium and fatty tuna.

[chuckles]

[Saito] We want to show our customers

that even if the texture is the same,

the taste is so different.

For example, the lean part, akami,

is from the back of the fish.

And the medium fatty part,

chutoro, is from the midsection.

The fattiest cut, otoro,

is from the belly.

So the red part has the

least amount of fat,

but the lack of fat gives

it more flavor and acidity.

The chutoro and otoro

have fat and the chutoro

has the best balance between

the lean and the fatty pieces.

[Redzepi, in English]

And he feels,

every day at the market, he can

see the difference with the fish?

Less and less fish.

[translator] Do you notice the

difference in the market environment

every time you go to

Toyosu Fish Market?

Compared to ten years ago when

Tsukiji Fish Market was still around,

there's a huge difference

in the market atmosphere.

The number of tuna is no longer

the same as it was ten years ago.

I no longer can see monster like

fish that make me say, "Wow!"

Now, the food supply is

disappearing rapidly,

so the food chain is

also disappearing, right?

The number of fish is

decreasing rapidly.

Today, the price isn't only high

because the food is delicious,

it's because there is not

enough fish to go around.

That's why it's so difficult.

It's a real dilemma.

[Redzepi, in English] I'm grateful to

be able to sit here once in my lifetime.

Both for the deliciousness

and for the chance

to witness such mastery.

Here at Sushi Saito, the

quality of the bluefin

and the lifetime of practice and expertise

means the fish comes at a premium.

Elsewhere, the bluefin economy puts

a different valuation on the fish.

[in Japanese] Welcome!

Are you on your own?

- I'm meeting somebody.

- Meeting someone? Okay.

Come this way. Please sit here.

FRESH BLUEFIN CHUTORO

[Redzepi, in English] Conveyor

belt sushi was developed in Japan

in 1958 to feed rapidly growing

appetites with fewer employees.

The concept was simple:

faster, cheaper, more.

Anything on a plastic plate,

including otoro nigiri, a

best seller, costs 200 yen.

About a buck 50.

In a country that consumes about

half a million tons of tuna a year,

a high percentage is

delivered by conveyor belt.

More than any other

style of eating,

affordable sushi has introduced

bluefin to a wider audience

and tested the

future of this fish.

Food has always been a measurement

of the distance between us.

2,000 years ago, Chinese caravans

spent years on the Silk Road

to haul European staples like

wheat and wine to the Far East.

In the 15th century, Venetian

spice merchants took months

to bring nutmeg and peppercorns

by boat to the West.

Now, Atlantic bluefin is caught

in the Mediterranean on Monday,

sold at auction in

Tokyo on Tuesday,

and on its way to a

poolside two-top in Bali

before the sun sets

on the third day.

[guest] Thank you.

- [guest 2] It's good.

- [Redzepi] In a matter of decades,

the fish became the ingredient

the world couldn't get enough of.

Mmm.

Sushi was such a brilliant

showcase for bluefin

that the rest of the world

began to reconsider it.

Bistros in Paris.

Cevicherías in Lima.

Food trucks in Las Vegas.

Food cultures around the

world have found a way

to harness the fat

and flavor of bluefin.

But have our tastes

grown too narrow?

There's an ocean full

of fish out there.

Why is it that we always

end up eating the same ones?

Sea bass from South America.

Halibut from the North Atlantic.

Salmon from just

about everywhere.

But is there another way?

[singing]

[in Spanish] Hey,

guys. What's going on?

What's up, guys? How

are you all doing?

I'm on my way to

sing some flamenco.

See you soon.

[people muttering]

[dishes clanking]

[Redzepi, in English] I've

always admired Ángel León.

[fishermen speaking

indistinctly]

He's dedicated his career to elevating

the unsung heroes of the ocean.

At his restaurant, Aponiente,

located just up the

coast from the almadraba,

he's done the near impossible.

Earning three Michelin stars

using largely unknown local fish

instead of global stars

like lobster and caviar.

For Ángel León,

the fact that he's still able to buy

tuna, caught in the waters around Cádiz

is nothing short of a miracle.

In 2009, the population of these

tuna were on the brink of collapse.

All countries involved

in the bluefin trade

were forced to face reality.

They came together to save the

species and their industry,

with Japan offering

a path forward.

The key is the yellow tag,

the bluefin's passport.

Every Eastern Atlantic

bluefin tuna is given one.

A unique identity for each fish,

traceable throughout the world.

It's enough to hold all the

stakeholders accountable.

And enough to help pull the

Eastern Atlantic bluefin

back from the brink.

But it remains a

fragile balance.

[León, in Spanish] If I didn't live

in Cádiz, I wouldn't cook tuna.

Because I think it's a global

fish that has lost its identity.

You can eat it in New York,

you can eat it in Zaragoza,

you can eat it in Madrid,

you can eat it in Castellón.

But the soul is here, in the water,

in the history, in the culture.

It has lost its essence.

I would never order tuna

outside of where I live.

And I think that is the problem.

We live in a world that

is a little extravagant.

Everyone wants to eat the best

that the world has to offer.

And the bluefin is the

most coveted in the sea.

[León] It's done. Guys, let's

get it on the stake, please.

[speaking Spanish]

One, two, three. There. Good.

[León] We don't open our minds to think

that if this animal is fished here,

maybe the logical thing would

be for it to stay in this area.

But in the end, it is money that

makes it worth three times more

somewhere else than here.

[León speaks Spanish]

I think that in the end we need it

to travel so that we can eat it too.

Because otherwise it would not pay for

the infrastructure of the tuna fishery,

the fishing vessels,

the whole space.

It's a paradox, isn't it?

[Redzepi, in English] The food world is

filled with these types of paradoxes.

And bluefin means something

different to everyone.

- [flamenco music playing]

- [people laughing, chattering]

[León, in Spanish] Let's eat.

Eat this, please. [Laughs]

Please.

[Redzepi, in English] For

the people of Barbate,

it's a culture that

stretches back generations.

[music continues]

Keep shining ♪

My sailor's lantern ♪

And so shine the corals That

my siren wears in her hair ♪

There she goes ♪

Spilling salt at Caños de

Meca Where I wait for her ♪

[Redzepi, in English] So

what's the right thing to do?

It can be hard to know which food

to eat or which system to support.

But the powerful part is that our food

choices are one of the most direct ways

that we can shape the kind

of world we want to live in.

[in Spanish] And so shine the corals

That my siren wears in her hair ♪

[Redzepi, in English] For now,

our combined efforts have helped

rebuild the Atlantic bluefin population.

It's a delicate reminder of how easily

our appetites can upend the world

and how important it is to

learn from our mistakes.

[in Spanish] With a

bluefin From Barbate ♪

I'll give it all

to my mother to eat ♪

[music ends]

[crowd] Olé!