Marjorie Furlong

My mom had this book when I was growing up. It has instructions on how to cook and eat just about every member of kingdom animalia, as well as a few plantae, that inhabits the Pacific Northwest intertidal zone. Want to know how to prepare sea cucumber? It's in here.

Alas, as it was written in the mid-80's (with the original, which was the edition my mom had, dating back to the 70's), it's pretty dated. First of all, some of the animals listed as tasty and abundant (like abalone) are severely endangered now (the white abalone will likely be the first invertebrate whose extinction can be directly linked to human activity). The cooking suggestions for most of the animals are some variation on the theme, "roll in flour, egg, and bread crumbs, and then deep fry."

As an avid scuba diver and environmentalist, some of the suggestions and passages are cringeworthy, but it's a fun bit of nostalgia for me and I admit that I'm intrigued by some of the more abundant creatures, like moon snails.… (mehr)