Showcases Regal Springs' Tilapia as Gourmet Alternative
Regal Springs Tilapia hosted an intimate dinner at the Avenues at The Peninsula in Chicago in May. Celebrity chef Curtis Duffy cooked Regal Springs' Tilapia for food writers and sustainability experts, as well as customers and staff of Regal Springs.
Second generation Regal Springs employee Magdalena Lamprecht Wallhoff explained the purpose of the event. "We want to dispel misconceptions that Tilapia cannot compete with higher end seafood. Our Tilapia can. Not only is it the sustainable answer to the increasing demand for seafood, ours is a top quality product."
The founder of Regal Springs, Rudi Lamprecht, shared his story, his vision and his process for running the world's largest vertically integrated Tilapia company. "It's never been easy, especially given the many cultural nuances we deal with on a daily basis in all the countries where we work," he said, "yet together with the local communities we have reached an equilibrium whereby we all benefit."
The conversation at the dinner ranged from consumer education to environmental standards development. "I'm pleased by the feedback we received, especially from industry observers such as FishCoice," said Lamprecht. The food writers present were particularly interested in Regal's efforts to protect natural resources (for example, the company only uses less than 1% of lakes' surface area to farm); they learned of Regal's programs to reforest areas and to halt deforestation in other areas. "[Halting deforestation] is significant on so many levels and one of them is the taste of our tilapia. Trees prevent erosion and when less mud slides into our pristine lakes, our tilapia retains its pure taste. It's a win-win all around," explained Lamprecht Wallhoff. "Curtis [Duffy's] interpretation of our fish was an appropriately progressive presentation. Our Tilapia has everything it needs to be the go-to replacement in gourmet and sustainable fish recipes."
