For as long as I can recall, my family’s celebration of the Christmas / Yule holidays has involved certain foods. Most of these are traditional old country creations, recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation. However one delicacy was added as the result of the north Oregon coast location in which my grandfather settled when arriving from Finland: crab. And not just any crab – Dungeness Crab (Metacarcinus magister / Cancer magister).
If I’m honest, when I hear the word “squid,” I don’t think of their remarkable predatory skills.
I don’t think of their millennia-old significance in mythologies from around the world.
I think of deep fried calamari and chips.
While many may likely most readily recognize Rachel Carson as the author of “Silent Spring,” the 1962 environmental science book that successfully reached a wide reading audience and opened the eyes of millions to the risks of indiscriminate overuse of pesticides, it was as a marine biologist that she began her writing career and became a popularly read author.
I slowly arose from my feasting-induced state of inertia this weekend, still a bit fuzzy-headed from a lingering high blood-to-gravy ratio, and called up Mark Avery’s blog on my laptop to see what book he had selected for his Sunday Book Review this week. Much to my surprise, and very much in keeping with the spirit of the just concluded U.S. holiday from which I was still recovering, his list of book recommendations was overflowing, not only with his own choices, but with those brought by his guest contributor Stephen Moss as well.