Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing...

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 336 pages
• Published by: Bloomsbury USA
• Edition: 1st Edition April 29, 2008
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1596912251
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1596912250
• Book Dimensions: 6 x 2.5 x 1.4 inches
• Weighs: 1 pounds

From Publishers Weekly
In this whirlwind, worldwide tour of fisheries, Grescoe (The Devil's Picnic) whiplashes readers from ecological devastation to edible ecstasy and back again. In disturbing detail, he depicts the turbid and murky Chesapeake Bay, where, with overharvested oysters too few to do their filtering job, fish are infested with the cell from hell, a micro-organism that eats their flesh and exposes their guts. He describes how Indian shrimp farms treated with pesticides, antibiotics and diesel oil are destroying protective mangroves, ecosystems and villages, and portrays the fate of sharks—a collapsing fishery—finned for the Chinese delicacy shark-fin soup: living sharks have their pectoral and dorsal fins cut from their bodies with heated metal blades. The sharks are kicked back into the ocean, alive and bleeding; it can take them days to die. But these horrific scenes are interspersed with delectable meals of succulent Portuguese sardines with fat-jeweled juices or a luscious breakfast of bluefin tuna sashimi, cool and moist halfway between a demi-sel Breton butter and an unctuous steak tartare; the latter is a dish that, due to the fish's endangered status, Grescoe decides he will not enjoy again. The book ends on a cautiously optimistic note: scientists know what steps are needed to save the fisheries and the ocean; we just need the political will to follow through. Grescoe provides a helpful list of which fish to eat: no, never, depends, sometimes and absolutely, always. (May)
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Product Review


“If you're a seafood lover, pick up this guide to which fish are the best for our bodies and which are best for the environment.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Research that brings muckraking books such as "Fast Food Nation" to mind.” —Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“From pollutants to piracy, preservatives to Patagonian toothfish, Grescoe surveys the state of our collective waterways in Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing seafood, which combines some literal seabed muckraking with a fascinating travelogue…[An] aquatic The Omnivore's Dilemma.”   —Gothamist

“Fascinatingwill inform many about the dire state of the oceans, expose the dreadful environmental consequences of badly managed aquaculture, and prompt us to make better seafood choicesWith clear, compelling writing, Grescoe covers a vast array of topics ranging from ecology (e.g. how overfishing affects ecosystems), cooking and eating (a trip to a Japanese restaurant that serves whale meat), economics (the business of black-market cod), and history.”   —Ethicurean

“Grescoe takes us on an international tour of controversial cuisines -- shark fin soup in China, whale sashimi in Japan, monkfish tail in New York City -- meanwhile offering an overview of the corrupt practices that have put the oceans (and our health) in danger. The portrait he paints is grim: oceanic dead zones that, because of pollution and overfishing, can no longer support organic life; salmon farms polluted by pesticides and disease; ruthless bottom trawlers with nets that can destroy entire ecosystems. A warning is not a death sentence, however. The book empowers consumers to ask the right questions -- if the halibut is from the Atlantic or Pacific, for instance, and whether the lobster pasta is actually made from monkfish, which is endangered. And asking these questions will make it possible to enjoy seafood for years to come.”   —Salon.com

“Grescoe's tale hits all the right notes. It's an entree you'll remember.”  —Fortune Small Business

“In this whirlwind, worldwide tour of fisheries, Grescoe (The Devil’s Picnic) whiplashes readers from ecological devastation to edible ecstasy and back again.”   —Publishers Weekly

“Bottomfeeder highlights the diversity, complexity, and fragility of our oceans. It’s an important reminder that we all have to take better care of our oceans if we want seafood in our future.”—David Suzuki, co-founder, David Suzuki Foundation

 

 

Reader Reviews
Bottomfeeder is an excellent read on a critically important topic. The book documents the massive overfishing that combined with environmental pressures is driving many fish species to the point of extinction, and that much of the cheap seafood on our plates is not safe or sustainable for humans or the planet. Unfortunately, this issue has gotten limited coverage outside the environmental media and for many readers Grescoe's book will be an eye opener that explores new territory. Marine biologists estimate by 2040 a large number of species will be decimated. If whole sections of the aquatic food chain go the way of once plentiful Chesapeake Bay oysters and blue fin tuna, what will happen? Grescoe jokes about fish and chips being replaced with jellyfish and chips as a lighthearted way to highlight the issue. As he points out, fishing is the only large scale hunting activity still carried out in the wild. Decades of massive, industrial scale fishing are an uncontrolled experiment, upturning species in every ocean, turning predator into prey and destroying environments and human health through questionable fishing techniques, unsafe farming practices and black markets. Nobody escapes responsibility for this mess, but Grescoe turns what could have been an angry polemical rant into a globe trotting adventure and keeps Bottomfeeder enjoyable to read. His love of food shines through on every page as he talks to fishermen, scientists, bureaucrats and chefs. By the end of the book, the root cause of overfishing is shown to be the familiar toxic brew of greed and ignorance familiar to the environmental genre, aided by ineffective government oversight and often compounded by chefs whose promotion of a tasty fish can spell disaster for a species. The tragedy is that Bottomfeeder may be too late to have a large impact. Chesapeake Bay oysters will likely never return and the race to the bottom is well under way around the world. The book does however give some excellent suggestions on fish to enjoy and species to avoid, leaving the reader a small part to play in turning back this "tragedy of the commons". Even if you don't read this book, check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium website for "Seafood Watch", a handy guide on sustainable seafood.