Food world bids farewell to unsung hero of fresh fare and good taste

Washington

ALMOST everyone who loves good food owes a debt to Jon Rowley, whether they know it or not.

The interest has accrued over the past 40 years from the gleamingly fresh fish we eat at restaurants or buy in supermarkets, from just-shucked oysters and the simplicity of a foraged salmonberry, from Mr Rowley's insistence that even good foods had to be coaxed like children into reaching their greatest potential.

Most famously, Mr Rowley turned Alaskan Copper River salmon from a lowly cannery catch into a premium signature of spring.

"There is nobody like him," said…