Good Food
The Seafood Show
We devote this week's show in its entirety to seafood. Journalists Martha Mendoza and Paul Greenberg discuss slavery and sustainability in the shrimp supply chain. Chef Brian Sheard and author Cynthia Nims share tips for cooking mussels and oysters at home. We wrap up the show at sea, fishing off the Santa Barbara coast with Ben Hyman.
By Evan Kleiman • • 58m ListenPhoto: Sam Beebe
In this episode
6 storiesSeafood from slaves
Shrimp is the most popular seafood eaten in the US. Americans consume 1.3 billion pounds of it each year, which amounts to roughly four pounds per person. Very little shrimp eaten here comes from local waters: Thailand dominates the market and half of the country's shrimp exports end up on American tables.
Read the story18 minThe quandary of sourcing sustainable shrimp
The downside to knowing more about where your food comes from is that nagging moral sense telling you it's time to make a change. So if we want to eat shrimp that is grown sustainably and locally, what are our options? We get some answers from Paul Greenberg , a journalist who can make a book on seafood as engaging as any mystery novel.
Read the story9 minSteamed mussels with fennel and Point Reyes blue cheese
Next we move from crustaceans to shellfish. At the Santa Monica Farmers' Market, Laura Avery shops with Brian Sheard, chef at Taste on Melrose , as he picks up fennel to be sauteed and added to a dish of steamed mussels, Point Reyes blue cheese and white wine sauce. Sheard says the fennel grown this time of year is the most flavorful.
Read the story8 minScallops, uni and mussels at Dudley Market
If seasonal seafood is your bag, might we suggest a visit to Dudley Market in Venice Beach? That's where you'll find chef Jesse Barber pairing mussels, scallops and sea urchin with stinging nettles, borage flowers and pickled nasturtium pods, among other intriguing ingredients.
Read the story7 minPraise for oysters straight outta the jar
The famed Portland gourmand James Beard once wrote that oysters are best eaten on the half shell “with nothing to enhance them except lemon, a bit of grated fresh horseradish or a mignonette pepper sauce.
Read the story10 minGone fishing off the Santa Barbara coast
We wrap up this week's show at sea with an audio postcard from our executive editor Gillian Ferguson. She went fishing off the Santa Barbara coast with Ben Hyman of Wild Local Seafood last month. You can check out what Hyman reels in every week at the Santa Monica, Mar Vista and Hollywood farmers' markets.
Read the story4 min
