Sustainable is the only practice our planet can afford.

Rice bran is a byproduct of rice milling and is usually used as animal feed or discarded as waste. Like canola and olive oils, rice bran oil contains high proportions of unsaturated to saturated fat. But unlike canola oil, rice bran oil is not a GMO, and unlike extra virgin olive oil, it is better suited for high-temperature applications—like deep-frying our fish and chips.

We serve our food on Karmic Seed compostable plates and single-use disposable cutlery. These revolutionary products are 100% natural and made from agricultural by-products. Karmic Seed company is ethical-traded, sustainably-based, and runs an active reforestation program.

Lyf is an avid apiculturist and keeps a hive of pollinating honey bees atop the Flying Fish Restaurant and Market building. Not only do these ladies help the gardens of our neighbors, they also find a variety of flowers next to their hive, helping us grow a small crop of tomatoes, crookneck squash, bush beans, and zucchini (which sometimes find their way downstairs to feature in seasonal, limited offerings from the kitchen).

Receiving fresh fish on short notice involves trips to the airport. A lot of trips to the airport. Our in-house delivery vehicle is a 2001 Bio-Diesel/Veggie Oil dual fuel VW Jetta wagon, one of the first conversions done by Farhad Ghafarzade at Green Drop Garage, that found its way to us through our awesome Portland network. We engineered an veggie reclamation process for our fryer oil that boosts our effective fuel efficiency to over 45 MPG and far exceeds our demand, allowing us to give away our surplus reclaimed oil to other veggie-powered enthusiasts.

The restaurant building at 30th and Burnside is enrolled in the Pacific Power Blue Sky Program which helps create local jobs, lift communities, and supports 100% Pacific Northwest renewable resources from Oregon, Washington and Idaho, including about 87% wind, 2% biomass, 10% solar and 1% geothermal.

A carbon footprint, that is. We recognize that rapid transit racks up a substantial carbon footprint and our business decisions are informed by reducing the global impact of eating fresh. We source our products from as close as we possibly can, promote relationships with farmers striving to reduce their own carbon footprint, and purchase over $10k of carbon offset credits each year.

We take seriously the recommendations published by respected organizations in the aquaculture world. We use the following sources of sustainability rankings and resources to help inform our decisions on which products and species to carry:
Monterey Bay Seafood Watch, Marine Stewardship Council, FishWise, Global Aquaculture Alliance, and Fair Trade USA.

The Gildersleeve family harbors a terrible secret... A terribly delicious secret, that is. Lyf learned from his father, who learned from painful trial and error, the most delicious way to smoke and preserve all manner of seafood and land-food. This recipe and meticulous process, inherited from his father and modified for our customers' sophisticated palette, informs all the smoking and preserving that we do here, in-house, at Flying Fish Co.