CJ JACKSON, DIRECTOR AT BILLINGSGATE SEAFOOD TRAINING SCHOOL

CJ Jackson, Director at Billingsgate Seafood Training School. Welcome to Fish Focus spotlight on Women in Seafood, Issue 2. Follow us as we celebrate the amazing women at the forefront of the seafood industry.

Could you tell us about your background, why you decided to become a chef and what made you decide to focus on seafood?

I grew up in semi-rural Kent – where my slightly eccentric father thought as a family we should be as self-sufficient as possible – living off the land… this was well before The Good Life TV show!

My father was a successful lawyer based in London and we all were given various roles at home – mine was hand raising young cattle and milking goats. My sister organised sheep, poultry and horses. My poor dear mother had to juggle everything else. My brother was away at school and was sent to shoot pigeons and rabbits when he was home.

To escape from being dragged out into the garden at 2am to mend fences and round up loose animals in my father’s very best alpine garden, I chose to help in the kitchen as we all had to ‘earn our keep’! My Mum was an under-confident cook, although good, but my grandmother loved cooking for us, so I used to help her.

My Father was a very keen fisherman, so our weekends and holidays were spent fishing on the River Stour in Kent, or on the Moray Firth in Scotland, on the Findhorn and the Spey. We would all sit around watching my father and brother fish and we did have the odd opportunity to have a go too; – my first catch was an eel – that nearly pulled me into the river, my second was a small brown trout (which we smoked in a box) and the third a small flat fish!

We also fished on the West coast of Scotland and my sister and I caught pollack with a small hand-line off the coast.

As a family we would also go cray fishing in the river Darenth – this was the 1960’s and no one worried about sustainable issues then!!

From there I would go fishing wherever possible, so I grab the opportunity whenever I can. I have now fished in many seas and oceans globally: Norway, Australia, The Skeena System in British Columbia and Alaska are the most memorable – although I have never developed sea legs!!

What was it that led you to become an educator?

I had a terrible school experience and I always felt I would like to do a better job. What was missing from my school experience was kindness and encouragement to be the best I could.  I have loved learning and sharing about food – but specifically all things seafood, which is a never-ending learning experience.

Sustainability is a key word in the seafood industry and you have said this is a primary message that you promote, have you seen an improvement in practices, since the start of your career?

I wrote my first book – published by Bloomsbury in 1995. When I started researching that, everyone was up in arms about the farming of salmon and the toll that took on the environment. This made me want to understand and know more. The most important point is that we will need to farm seafood to feed a growing population, but instead of damning it, we should all be focusing on the best way to do this.

During my research over the years, I realised that we have had a knowledge of the importance of sustaining our natural resources from the wild- so some minimum landing sizes were set as far back as the 1880’s and probably well before that – putting back seafood that is too small

What challenges are there for the future of Billingsgate?

There is no Seafood School, as that closed in 2022, but I have delivered my own programme at the kitchens at Billingsgate Market since then, thanks to the City of London Corporation, who have encouraged this so that we can create a new training facility as and when the market moves away from Canary Wharf.

How has being a woman in this traditionally male industry, helped or impeded your career?

The attitude of women in the industry is steadily changing and works both ways. As a woman, there are lots of new opportunities as the industry recognises that more doors need to open.

As an example, I am very proud to say that I was invited to join the livery at Fishmongers’ Company (the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers’) back in 2007 and as a Livery Company they only opened the doors for women in the early noughties – The Princess Royal was the first lady.

When I started at Billingsgate in 2003 I had to bat for my corner a little as there weren’t many women working there at the time. I have had to develop a very thick skin and it took a while to be accepted. I hope now that I have gained a certain amount of respect by speaking plainly and getting to know many of the merchants and understanding the challenges that they all face.

As part of your teaching, do you do anything to specifically encourage girls and women to enter and progress in the seafood industry?

Interestingly I have seen more women enter and succeed in the food industry since I started out as a chef. Prue Leith was one of the forerunners and I worked at her school in the 1990’s. This was staffed by some very formidable women. As for the seafood industry, when I first started out focusing on seafood and I wanted to go out on fishing boats, I was told that many fishermen wouldn’t take a women out as it was considered ‘bad luck’. I now see many women out on boats and working in the industry.

I deliver a number of cutting-edge programmes and would encourage both men and women to view the industry as a great opportunity for a fantastic career.

What are the things that you are proudest of in your career and what are your most significant achievements?

I don’t feel proud as such because I feel that I have been very fortunate to be offered lots of different opportunities, so it’s more like being open to new ideas than anything else. I taught myself to take up all opportunities I can.

I strongly believe that you never stop learning and if you do, you need a change of career. I am still learning!

But I have been incredibly fortunate to work with and teach a diverse range of people from many different backgrounds both here and abroad and I have really loved these opportunities.

Key moments include

Working with a group of partially sighted adults at Billingsgate, teaching them to prepare and cook fish, holding someone’s hand when they try skinning a fish fillet – that was a very humbling experience.

Over the last 25 years at Billingsgate, I have had the privilege to work with hundreds of primary and secondary school students from both mainstream and special educational needs. I absolutely love how they view things and they describe what they see: recently one 6-year-old gasped when she realised the mussels she was touching were still alive… saying “I saw its lips move,” in other words the shell’s closing.

In the last year I have worked with under graduates and postgraduates from Middlesex University as they study for their EHO exams. That has made me research and learn more – loved that! Many of these students are visiting from abroad, so learning how to communicate with them has been a great experience.

I also have had the opportunity to go into a school in South London to work with a group of Year 10 and Year 11 students teaching them how to cook and that has been hugely challenging but very rewarding too.

I always say to trainee and apprentice chefs – that I am coming to the end of my career and they are at the beginning – it is now their turn to make sure the UK is a seafood loving nation on-going…

Finally, over the last few years I have loved being invited to work with Seafish UK  and travel with their team to run kitchens and demonstration areas on their seafood stages promoting UK product in Boston, Barcelona and China.