Fran on the Groser beatup

Fran O’Sullivan writes:

The faux outrage over Tim Groser hosting a so-called lavish dinner at which Patagonian tooth fish was served is absurd.

Critics probably don’t think of themselves as “food Nazis”, but trawling through the Trade Minister’s credit-card receipts and beating up on him for eating a protected fish – when in fact the Chilean sea bass is legally sold internationally – paints a miserable and petty picture.

Groser can’t recall whether it was he or one of his two guests who ate the offending fish or, quelle horreur, enjoyed foie gras.

It’s pathethic.

Could you imagine being at dinner with four of your ministerial colleagues from other countries, and as one of them orders the fish, that Groser should step in and demand that his colleagues order something different. They would think he was bonkers.

The point about Chilean sea bass – a good choice, by the way; I’ve eaten it in Chile and Argentina and it is delicious – is that it is legally fished within quota limits like many other species, and has been by New Zealand companies in Antarctic waters.

Yep.