San Francisco Seafood: A History from Ocean to Table

A deep dive into the history and evolution of San Francisco’s seafood industry and what it teaches us about sustainability and cuisine today. For early San Franciscans, seafood was an important source of nutrition and a feature of social life, inspiring culinary developments that remain components in California cuisine more than a century later. Consumers interested in flavorful alternatives to meat and associated health benefits could follow recipes for nearly fifty types of marine life from state waters, such as salmon, flounder, and oysters.Others are no longer available, out-of-vogue, or simply forgotten.Further, overfishing and environmental damage decimated many local seafood stocks, providing a cautionary tale with global significance. In San Francisco Seafood: A History from Ocean to Table, Paul Stangl traces the development of San Francisco’s fisheries, seafood markets, cookery, and dining culture from the Gold Rush to the 1920s. Migrants from around the world imported fishing