Most folks in Baton Rouge know Chef Philippe Parola from his local cooking show or his various restaurant ventures. But he’s also a gastronomic venture capitalist and international food consultant through his parent company, Chef Parola Enterprises, and distribution arm, Partran. His latest venture was unveiled over lunch today to a group of reporters, elected officials and seafood-industry types. It’s silverfin, or technically, Asian carp. Silverfin is the name it has been given in a marketing plan developed by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, which is promoting recreational and commercial applications. Parola kick-started the campaign last fall and has helped create a business plan that will put silverfin on retail shelves within a month or so. “We have the whole game plan ready to go,” Parola says.
Culinary adventures are nothing new to Parola. In the early 1980s, he was among the chefs leading the way in cooking alligator meat. Parola, however, may be best known as the man who attempted to sell the nation on nutria meat a few years back. The campaign for silverfin is “dramatically different,” he says, because the media will have a harder time portraying a fish as an overgrown rat. “It had a tail. That was a problem,” Parola says, laughing. “But if we can’t do something with silverfin, we are clowns. It’s too good to ship to Asia, it’s too good to use as bait, and it’s too good to leave on the bank.” Read the full story here.—Jeremy Alford
