Consider the Eel: A Natural and Gastronomic History

Rating:
Summary: Tales of the Elusive Eel
Review: If you are an American, it is unlikely that you have ever eaten eel. You are more likely to have eaten eel if you are a European, and if you are Japanese, you may well eat it regularly. It is hard to figure out just why Americans now have an aversion to eating eels and other countries do not, especially since eels are part of our Pilgrim heritage, they were enjoyed by our founding fathers, and they formed an important commercial catch earlier in the last century. It�s all very mysterious, but if you read _Consider the Eel_ (University of North Carolina Press) by Richard Schweid, you will quickly realize that almost everything connected to eels is mysterious indeed. It isn�t just that humans deal with eels in peculiar ways; the fish itself is full of paradoxes and unsolved questions.

Schweid�s topic is the Atlantic eels of two species, the European and the American. These eels reproduce in the open sea, and early development of the young takes place there, but they drift to different fresh water sources to feed and grow to adult sizes, over a period of up to twenty years. (This is opposite to the life cycle of the salmon.) Then they stop eating forever and head to sea, changing their eyes to adapt to ocean dark, and changing body chemistry to put up with salt water and the change of water pressure. It was only in 1924 that a Danish researcher found eel larvae in the Sargasso sea, the huge area of the Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda and the Azores. All the Atlantic eels go there to mate, and then they die, but no adults have ever been seen swimming there; the only two eels found there had been eaten by other fish. We can only guess at what they are up to deep below the surface. The larvae look like little oval leaves. Depending on currents, the larvae float for thousands of miles and for years until they reach estuaries and mouths of rivers. Once they find a river with a muddy bottom and food sources, they take control of their lives. They can even cross land to get to a lake or pond over a mile away. Farming eels is quite possible, and can be lucrative, but must be done under an extraordinary disadvantage which no other farm animal presents. Eels cannot be bred in captivity. No one has been able to make them forgo their trip to the Sargasso for reproduction.

American eel fishermen and dealers, many of whom Schweid talked to in preparation of this book, have a peculiar business of trading in a product that no one they know likes. Many of them have been in business for decades, although catches are declining and sales which have to be to Europe or Japan are profitable or not based on exchange rates. Many are simply revolted by the idea of eating their product. Schweid offers to fry some for supper, and a woman who has caught eels for decades replies, �I would never eat one. Looks too much like a snake.� Another fisherman, when Schweid brought up the long migration of the eels said, �I know what all the scientists say about what they do, and the trip they make. It may be right, but it ain�t reasonable.� Whether the facts are reasonable are not, this readable account of a very strange fish and the strange people who make their living from it is full of facts that are entertaining and astounding.

Rating:
Summary: Tales of the Elusive Eel
Review: If you are an American, it is unlikely that you have ever eaten eel. You are more likely to have eaten eel if you are a European, and if you are Japanese, you may well eat it regularly. It is hard to figure out just why Americans now have an aversion to eating eels and other countries do not, especially since eels are part of our Pilgrim heritage, they were enjoyed by our founding fathers, and they formed an important commercial catch earlier in the last century. It's all very mysterious, but if you read _Consider the Eel_ (University of North Carolina Press) by Richard Schweid, you will quickly realize that almost everything connected to eels is mysterious indeed. It isn't just that humans deal with eels in peculiar ways; the fish itself is full of paradoxes and unsolved questions.

Schweid's topic is the Atlantic eels of two species, the European and the American. These eels reproduce in the open sea, and early development of the young takes place there, but they drift to different fresh water sources to feed and grow to adult sizes, over a period of up to twenty years. (This is opposite to the life cycle of the salmon.) Then they stop eating forever and head to sea, changing their eyes to adapt to ocean dark, and changing body chemistry to put up with salt water and the change of water pressure. It was only in 1924 that a Danish researcher found eel larvae in the Sargasso sea, the huge area of the Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda and the Azores. All the Atlantic eels go there to mate, and then they die, but no adults have ever been seen swimming there; the only two eels found there had been eaten by other fish. We can only guess at what they are up to deep below the surface. The larvae look like little oval leaves. Depending on currents, the larvae float for thousands of miles and for years until they reach estuaries and mouths of rivers. Once they find a river with a muddy bottom and food sources, they take control of their lives. They can even cross land to get to a lake or pond over a mile away. Farming eels is quite possible, and can be lucrative, but must be done under an extraordinary disadvantage which no other farm animal presents. Eels cannot be bred in captivity. No one has been able to make them forgo their trip to the Sargasso for reproduction.

American eel fishermen and dealers, many of whom Schweid talked to in preparation of this book, have a peculiar business of trading in a product that no one they know likes. Many of them have been in business for decades, although catches are declining and sales which have to be to Europe or Japan are profitable or not based on exchange rates. Many are simply revolted by the idea of eating their product. Schweid offers to fry some for supper, and a woman who has caught eels for decades replies, 'I would never eat one. Looks too much like a snake.' Another fisherman, when Schweid brought up the long migration of the eels said, 'I know what all the scientists say about what they do, and the trip they make. It may be right, but it ain't reasonable.' Whether the facts are reasonable are not, this readable account of a very strange fish and the strange people who make their living from it is full of facts that are entertaining and astounding.

Rating:
Summary: Icky no more!!
Review: Sure eels are slimy and weird, but that doesn't mean you can't learn to love them!

Read this book and instead of retching at the thought of a mouthfull of broiled eel, you'll find yourself smacking your lips (at least I did).

Overall, this book seems well researched. It's well written and an overall fun read. Like an eel, it's sluggish some times. But page after page it remains fascinating.

Buy it.