Twenty-five years ago, when I decided to change to a vegetarian diet, I read a lot of books. One was Frances Moore Lappé’s classic Diet for a Small Planet. It opened my eyes both to the personal health benefits of a vegetarian diet, and to the health benefits for the planet. Back when McDonald’s kept track on their signs of how many burgers they sold, I often wondered how many cows made up those burgers and how many acres of grass those cows were grazing on (I used to think cows all grazed on lush, open fields. Silly me!) In Diet for a Small Planet, I learned that it takes about 21 pounds of protein in the form of animal feed to go through the food processor that is a cow to produce one pound of protein in the form of beef. I realized that were I to continue eating beef, I would be selfishly using up natural resources far in excess of what was needed.
In the last several years, after learning more about the health benefits of fish oils, and, admittedly, loving the taste of most fish, I decided to add fish and other seafood back into my diet. Earlier this year, however, I heard a claim that the fishing industry was more energy-intensive than the meat industry, because of the fishing vessels at sea and the energy necessary to transport fish from one place to another. I didn’t think that was true, but I didn’t know.
When I heard about the book Bottomfeeder, by Taras Grescoe, I grabbed it. This book, like Lappé’s, has opened my eyes to the global consequences of the food choices I make. The seafood industry consists of many different fisheries. A fishery is defined as “all the activity, from netting to selling, centered on the catching or harvesting of a single species of fish.” Some fisheries are very energy-intensive and some aren’t. Some species of fish are vanishing due to over-harvesting and pollution, and there are other fish that are much more plentiful. Some fishery practices are healthy and some are just plain gross. Grescoe traveled around the world to research some of the most popular fish and seafood industries.
The subtitle might put off some readers who would otherwise enjoy this book. Grescoe’s book is not foremost a how-to, but is a travelogue of his nine-month, world-wide adventure eating different seafood cuisine in different cultures. Among the seafoods Grescoe discusses are Red Lobster’s oh-so-perfectly-sized shrimps, fish and chips in England, shark fin soup in China, the rapidly-decreasing bluefin tuna, frozen fish sticks, farm-raised vs. wild salmon, and the nearly-depleted cod fisheries. He even interviewed Tommy Leggett, who used to sell his oysters at the Williamsburg Farmers Market and is currently a supplier to many area restaurants. (Grescoe admires Leggett’s sound aquaculture practices). Grescoe further describes how unregulated fishing practices, out-of-control pollution and climate change affect today’s seafood industry.
There are some fish I don’t think I’ll ever knowingly eat again (farm-raised salmon). There are others – like sardines! – I’ve already started eating more of. Extremely interesting, Taras Grescoe’s Bottomfeeder will answer questions you may never have thought to ask about the seafood you eat.
Check the WRL Catalog for Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood
