Fish: Know it, cook it, eat it

The book Fish: Know it, cook it, eat it published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in November 2022 provides international recipes with insights into the global fish trade. It blends scientific facts and cultural history, melds nutritional information and sustainability concerns, and juxtaposes consumer tips with fantasy incursions into the psyche of ocean and pond life. 

The book includes recipes from 45 FAO member countries. These range from a Korean braised mackerel with radish (godeung eo-jorim) to Saint Lucia’s national dish of green fig and saltfish. Such folk fare – sometimes given a more urban twist – is complemented by specially commissioned dishes from world-renowned or emerging chefs: in a witty dig at food loss and waste, Spain’s Michelin-starred Chef del mar, Àngel León, turns disposable by-catch such as flathead grey mullet into a rosy fish mortadella.  

Moreover, the book offers an overview of FAO’s efforts to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing – and, with more than 800 million people going hungry around the world, to turn aquaculture into a sustainable force for food security. Many of the recipes in the book feature farmed and freshwater fish, in a conscious rebuff of the snobbery that systematically favours wild species and fish from capture.

Finally, playful “interviews” with fish distil facts about our marine environment, while implicitly challenging overly anthropocentric approaches.  

(FAO/ile)

Read more and download the book on the FAO website