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| Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood | 
 enlarge | List Price: $24.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 10 reviews)
Sales Rank: 48272
Category: Book
Author: Taras Grescoe
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Studio: Bloomsbury USA
Manufacturer: Bloomsbury USA
Label: Bloomsbury USA
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 1596912251
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.692
EAN: 9781596912250
ASIN: 1596912251
Publication Date: April 29, 2008
Release Date: April 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
An eye-opening look at aquaculture that does for seafood what Fast Food Nation did for beef. Dividing his sensibilities between Epicureanism and ethics, Taras Grescoe set out on a nine-month, worldwide search for a delicious?and humane?plate of seafood. What he discovered shocked him. From North American Red Lobsters to fish farms and research centers in China, Bottomfeeder takes readers on an illuminating tour through the $55-billion-dollar-a-year seafood industry. Grescoe examines how out-of-control pollution, unregulated fishing practices, and climate change affect what ends up on our plate. More than a screed against a multibillion-dollar industry, however, this is also a balanced and practical guide to eating, as Grescoe explains to readers which fish are best for our environment, our seas, and our bodies. At once entertaining and illuminating, Bottomfeeder is a thoroughly enjoyable look at the world?s cuisines and an examination of the fishing and farming practices we too easily take for granted.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 Overfishing, Often Overlooked December 3, 2008
In this era of incredible food journalism from the likes of Michael Pollan and Marion Nestle, there's been a lack of authors journeying beyond the corn fields and feedlots to explore the state of seafood. Grescoe braves that topic, taking us to the four corners of the earth to investigate first hand the people, places, and practices involved in the fishing and farming of seafood. Along the way, he reveals little by little the variety of reasons to avoid certain species when trying to eat ethically and sustainably.
At times, the book seemed self indulgent - as the author eats his way around the globe, dining on every species he goes on to warn against, waxing nostalgiac about his travels - but every first hand account lends necessary credibility to his warnings. Unlike other food writers I've enjoyed, I didn't feel that I was being taken along on his journey of enlightenment, discovering the truth together along the way. Instead, Grescoe seems to reveal too early that he already knows the truth about each species, and that he's graciously sharing that knowledge with us. To me, this made the book feel less satisfying, and the author less appealing - less the guy you want to invite to dinner to try out a new dish, and more the guy who would try too hard to impress you with his obscure food knowledge.
Even if the author comes across more guide than fellow traveller, his message and it's value are clear. To eat seafood ethically, one must educate yourself, ask questions, and make choices - choices that Bottomfeeder makes easier, with both Grescoe's accounts of his travels and with summarized guidance and resources in the final chapters.
 30 messed up pages September 23, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I ordered this book in April but didn't get around to reading it until now. I found the book interesting and absorbing if a bit depressing, but I got to page 56 and the next page after that was a repeat of page 25 from earlier in the book, and this duplication of pages from the previous chapter went on like this for 30 pages and then...it skipped ahead to page 89.
I'm rather annoyed that I've missed out on 30 pages of the book, and I can't return it since it's been more than 30 days since I purchased it.
 wake up and smell the ocean September 6, 2008
an amazingly insightful and well written book that covers all angles without bias. an indispensible read for every serious living being. you will be delighted and mortifed by the events which take place in this in this fast paced incredible journey into the depths of what seems to be the undeniable self destruction of one of our most precious resources. those with week stomachs beware. i am not easy make queasy but this book which is part monster movie and part homers odyssey had me cringing a lot. a must must read. it will change your life.
I can't believe I enjoyed a non-fiction book! August 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Science hurts my head. In college I couldn't make it through a semester of biology. The textbook was incomprehensible and the teacher's carefully prepared PowerPoint slides wasted. It was all just gibberish. Science, especially life sciences, was definitely not for me.
(Science was somewhat redeemed the following year in my astronomy and geology classes. Still tedious and boring, but at least I `got' it. Whereas I'm still unable to remember basic parts of cells or DNA. Ribosomegolgibodynebulei what?)
But I try to be a good little environmentally-friendly girl and recycle, bring fabric bags to the grocery store, buy vegetables at farmer markets and patronize local businesses rather than big box corporations. (Amazon remains my huge weakness and exception to that rule.) Bottomfeeder was impulsively requested because of the catch phrases "eat ethically" and "vanishing seafood." I love to eat fish, but I never really cared about where it came from. There's plenty of fish in the sea, right? This book has completely revolutionized my thoughts.
A combination o travel writing and scientific research, Taras Grescoe hunts down local seafood delicacies from around the world (Bouillabaisse in Marseilles, bluefin tuna sashimi in Japan) and traces the fish's journey from the ocean to the dinner table. In addition to mouth-watering descriptions of exotic dishes, he has written a condemning expose of the world's destructive over-fishing. By decimating the ocean floor with massive bottom-trawlers and wastefully throwing hundreds of tons of bycatch (fish caught in giant nets with fishermen's intended prey but are too small or the wrong species to sell) the fishing industry is on a collision course with disaster.
But Grescoe isn't all bad news. In each chapter he focuses on a certain species and shares the best way to get it with minimal negative impact. If there is no good solution to be found he suggests tasty alternatives. He also highlights possible suggestions and experimental attempts to bring fish populations back to sustainable levels. His message is dire; if the industry doesn't change we're looking at a future of not sushi and salmon steaks but "peanut-butter-and-jellyfish" sandwiches. (When a natural ecosystem is upset due to key species removal or pollution, algae and jellyfish are often the only creatures left.) But it is not without hope. Take the time to read this book; with seafood consumption on the rise and TV shows like "Deadliest Catch" gaining popularity Bottomfeeder contains information that all consumers must know.
This messed with my appetite July 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
While I was reading Bottomfeeder, I was sometimes craving fish (sardines, especially!) and sometimes thinking I never wanted to eat another fish (farmed salmon) or shrimp again.
Bottomfeeder is a real eye-opener about where our seafood comes from and how its future is in jeopardy. Ever wonder how Red Lobster gets sooooo many shrimp to feed soooo many people all over the country? And ever wonder why those shriimp all exactly (pretty much) the same size?
Surely you've heard that salmon is plentiful because there are salmon farms. Want to learn how gross those farms are? Read this book.
Luckily, as a seafood lover, Grescoe writes about sustainable fish populations and does give very good, clear direction about what sorts of fish -- what species, and how and where they are fished or produced -- one can eat without feeling like one is contributing to the eventual demise of species, and isn't harming one's health with too much mercury, antibiotics or other nasty chemicals.
I loved reading about Grescoe's adventures in eating seafood around the world. Descriptions of sardines made my mouth water, descriptions of pufferfish made me recoil. This is an adventure in eating good food, and an education in how (as the subtitle says) to eat ethically in a world of vanishing seafood. I hope everyone who eats a lot of seafood will read it.
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