Nathaniel Scharping on D-brief discusses a delicacy under development:
Henry Kaiser, National Science Foundation
Via Popular ScienceNews of the delicacy first appeared last summer, when Mie Pedersen, a gastrophysicist from the University of Southern Denmark announced that she and her team had found a new way to prepare jellyfish and turn them into snacks. Her method involves treating the animals, which can be more than 95 percent water, with ethanol and then dehydrating them. The result is a shell of collagen that makes for a satisfying treat.
It’s no new delicacy, either. Jellyfish have been a source of food in Asia for hundreds, and perhaps even thousands, of years. There, a month-long process involving salt and alum is used to dry out the jellyfish. The result is something that’s been described as “pickle-like” in texture, or perhaps a wet noodle, without too much flavor.
Which sounds innovative and all that, but this paragraph drove me slightly buggy:
And jellyfish, unlike many other marine animals, are actually doing quite well. This could make them an attractive option for consumption. In depleted fisheries around the world, jellyfish have filled the void. They feed on plankton, tiny crustaceans and fish larvae, and the competition is making it more difficult for fish populations to recover. As ocean temperatures continue to rise over the next century, jellyfish will likely continue their dominance of the sea.
Sure – as if those populations are going to recover without significant progress on climate change? To me, we’ve used up all the other species, so let’s move on to the jellyfish.
Yeah, I know. It’s just human ingenuity doing it’s thing. Taking something that seems useless and making it useful is an admirable thing, you’ll hear that from many. I can even agree.
But there’s an alternative view, and it’s this:
We’ve used up the ocean’s inhabitants, and then ruined it, but we’ll skim off the only thing still prospering and maybe use that up, too.
What’s wrong with this picture?
