Meet PCG Member – Rodney Roden: Two Fins Up for Seafood Sustainability

The journey continued as Roden sold Lucky Fish to a business partner in 2017. That June, he began his present-day role as “fish guy,” more formally known as general manager, at Saltwater Markets.

His day-to-day fluctuates between procuring fish, checking product quality, maintaining vendor relationships, butchering fish, building displays, welcoming customers, and, yes, even dishwashing.

“I’m the chief dishwasher, best dishwasher that I know of,” said Roden. “If you called me and said what are you deep down, who are you, I would tell you I’m a dishwasher.”

Others would say his knowledge and understanding of all variations of seafood are his true assets to Saltwater Markets.

“I love farmers markets, but to be able to butcher a fish in front of people and sell them the collars, the cheeks, the throats, the ribs… it’s really cool to be able to stand in one spot five to six days a week and introduce how many usable parts of a fish there are.”

Roden also believes that people shouldn’t “have to be wealthy to have rich experiences” and faces the daily challenge of teaching the public that high quality seafood doesn’t have to break the bank.

“That’s how we make seafood sustainable: stop worrying about a dollar every single time we look at an animal,” he said. “That’s what’s happened to our food system now.”

His beliefs in seafood sustainability and using all parts of the animal certainly align with the mission and efforts of the Piedmont Culinary Guild. So it’s no surprise that in 2016, PCG member Captain Tim Griner nominated Roden for a PCG membership.

“To nominate somebody is to put your faith into what they do,” said Roden.

Since joining the Guild, Roden has been an active participant. At the inaugural Farm to Fork In The Garden in 2018, he shucked oysters alongside Inland Seafood for the crowd. In 2019, he found himself once again at the oyster station (this time with Toadfish Outfitters) but not without a little knowledge-dropping, too.

“You might get to eat a little oyster, but you’re not gonna get it for free,” he said with a laugh. “You’re gonna have to listen to what I think about seafood for a minute.”

In fact, PCG has provided the perfect platform for Roden to speak about seafood and sustainability. In 2018, his made it on the Symposium schedule for a butchery and profitability seminar with a demo by Shane Gribbles. Roden spoke for so long, Gribbles only had 10 minutes to complete his dish.

“It struck me so deeply that I had a captive audience that paid to listen, and I just went off,” said Roden. “I had the best day talking about seafood I’ve ever had.”

And in 2019, history repeated itself. His 101 Butchery class with PCG member Chef Ben Philpott turned into “part two” of the speech from 2018 while Philpott had only a handful of minutes to complete the demo. But Philpott has, of course, nothing but good things to say about Roden.

“People like Rodney are one of the reasons I love being a Charlotte chef,” he said. “He’s always willing to help the food community in this town. Whether it’s a PCG event or soup day at Free Range, Rodney is there with a smile, a joke, and whatever support is needed.”

Alas, part three of the seafood seminar was certainly on the table for 2020, but the Symposium was canceled due to COVID-19.

Roden believes the public still has a lot to learn about seafood and would love the opportunity to continue these “de-mystifying seafood” gatherings in the future.

“Knowing your vegetable farmer or poultry producer – that’s something very personal to people,” he said. “But seafood is still that wild west, scary, hidden, mystic kind of thing. Where that money eventually ends up is so important to me.”

As a member of PCG, Roden has truly seen a measurable profit and new customers at Saltwater Markets. But the membership strikes him on a deeper level, too.

“The Guild gives all of us a place to be that passionate without being a little weird,” he said. “And I love that. What the PCG does, whether it knows it or not, it gives validity to how you run your business. To how you procure and present your product to the people you serve. It gives you this overwhelming validity… gives you that thumbs up.”

Currently, as a result of COVID-19, Roden is “passing money to neighbors” through a newly formed grocery inside Saltwater Markets. The team is selling sell bread, milk, donuts, and other local product due to high customer demand.

Roden is looking forward to the day he can gather again with his like-minded colleagues of the Guild.

“I can’t wait to get back to getting together,” he said. “I wanna see us come out of this better.”

With Roden around, we’re all bound to come out a little better no matter what.

Profile written by Allie Papajohn