Fishy not at all

Cod
by Mark Kurlansky

A little natural history would have rounded this work out, but maybe that wasn't Mr. Kurlansky's intent.  His intent was great and his goals were achieved--he wrote a comprehensive, amusing and very readable history of man's relationship with the lowly--but powerful--codfish in the last thousand years.

I was enlightened and maybe a little bit mind-altered.  The history books told me that New England flourished on the molasses-rum-slave triangle, but they never mentioned a just as important sailing route that included tons of salt cod.  The ships carried their load of fish from Boston to Spain; they sold the best fish and picked up wine, fruit, iron and coal; then they sailed to the West Indies and sold some of the Spanish good and the leftover cod.  Finally they picked up sugar, molasses, tobacco, cotton and salt, and sailed back to Boston.  Money was made at every stop.

When the Massachusetts legislature moved [its courthouse] again in 1895, the [carved wooden] code was ceremoniously lowered by the assistant doorkeeper and wrapped in an American flag, placed on a bier, and carried by three representatives in a procession escorted by the sergeant-at-arms.  As the entered the new chamber, the members rose and gave a vigorous round of applause. 

All of which proves that New Englanders are capable of great silliness.

The last part of the book is so very depressing that I'd almost recommend you skip it.  But if you're not already aware that fishing is not sustainable in the modern world, you should.  It's a cruel, stupid cycle mankind is in, and we need to get out of it! 

Technology improves--population grows--fishing increases--prices go down.  Species become rare due to overfishing. Prices go up--fisherman increase their catch.  Not out of greed, in general, but simply to stay in business.  The catch goes down, down, down. Technology improves to extract the maximum from a dwindling resource.  And eventually, the population dwindles to a point where it is not sustainable.  We don't starve--we can eat plants.  But the sea lions, the seals, the predator fish who can't adapt so easily...they may not make it.  I have an ever-growing list of fish that I cannot buy because the species are being depleted.  Cod was already on there, but just recently I read that sardine populations are way down, too.

Mark Bittman has an article in GQ (http://www.gq.com/story/guide-to-eating-sustainable-fish) that lists the fish his research says are still okay.  With recipes, if you're interested.  After reading it I went out and bought a can of Mackerel.  I've still not convinced myself to open it. Oh, well, if I can't stomach it, the kitties will be happy.