Executive chef Ned Bell’s dedication to sustainable seafood is unrivalled, earning him the 2017 Seaweb Seafood Champion Award for Advocacy, 2015 Green Award for Sustainability by Vancouver Magazine and a finalist spot for the Global Seafood Award for Advocacy at the 2015 Seaweb Seafood Summit in Malta.
Although Ned is proud of the praises bestowed upon him, taking over the sustainable kitchen at the Vancouver Aquarium Café in July 2016 has been incredibly gratifying. Ned worked closely with the Vancouver Aquarium's Ocean Wise program for years prior to coming to the café; in 2014, he launched the non-profit Chefs for Oceans, which aims to raise awareness about sustainable seafood and the perils of over-fishing to chefs from ocean to ocean.
“Ned has been such a huge supporter of Ocean Wise for years,” says Claire Li, Ocean Wise account representative at the Vancouver Aquarium. “When he changes the menu, he will call me to ensure all of the seafood he’s planning on using is sustainable.”
Before he took the helm at the café, Ned worked for the luxurious Four Seasons Hotel’s YEW Restaurant. “I joined the Four Seasons Hotel in 2011 with the intent to have the hotel become 100 per cent Ocean Wise,” he notes. “During my tenure there, Four Seasons became the first luxury hotel in the country to become certified 100 per cent Ocean Wise. After five years, I was ready to dive deeper into promoting change and educating people and my peers about the importance of healthy oceans.”
