NPR'S HERE & NOW RESIDENT CHEF'S FAVORITE COOKBOOKS OF 2025
Featuring a foreword from Shailene Woodley.
In connection with the James Beard Award- and Emmy-nominated PBS docuseries Hope in the Water by Andrew Zimmern (food equity and climate activist, Emmy and four-time James Beard award winner) and Barton Seaver (an expert on seafood cookery and sustainability), a sustainable seafood bible, including a guide to environmentally friendly practices for buying and cooking food from oceans, lakes, and rivers, with over 145 recipes.
Is farmed or wild-caught salmon better? Is tuna being overfished? Do I have to worry about mercury poisoning? Is seafood high in protein? Is industrial aquaculture sustainable? How can I do anything to address the climate change and food security crises? Is it okay to eat raw fish? How do you shuck an oyster? Is frozen seafood good? How do you cook mackerel without it stinking up the kitchen?
The answers are clear in The Blue Food Cookbook. In celebration of the fish, shellfish, and plants we eat from our oceans, lakes, and rivers (in other words, blue food) and in collaboration with the PBS docuseries Hope in the Water, award-winning chef and TV host Andrew Zimmern and leading sustainable seafood expert and educator Barton Seaver present a seafood bible looking at blue food from water to plate: a tangible, delicious cookbook for how to best buy, prepare, and cook from our oceans and waterways sustainably.
With a comprehensive guide to culinary categories of fish, how to best set up your kitchen, what you should have in your pantry, different cooking techniques, and more than 145 delicious recipes, this first-of-its-kind cookbook is all you need to cook seafood confidently and responsibly. Recipes span from humble meals to impressive fare for entertaining, from traditional dishes to creative takes--even desserts (trust!)--inspired by flavors from Zimmern's and Barton's travel around the world, restaurant experience, and their home kitchens, for blue food of all kinds, including tinned fish, shellfish, fillet fish, seaweed, and beyond:
- Butternut Squash and Mussel Soup
- Fish and Chips, but Make It Salad
- Seafood Pot Pie
- Halibut with Green Goddess Dressing
- Tuna Noodle Casserole
- Nashville Hot-Inspired Catfish
- Miso Broiled Carp
- Sockeye Salmon Enchiladas
- Vietnamese Caramelized Shrimp
- Chocolate Chip Kelp Brownies
A lusciously photographed and beautifully illustrated tome, The Blue Food Cookbook is a definitive must-have for every home cook looking to enjoy delicious, nutritious seafood more sustainably.
Seaver, Barton: -
Barton Seaver is one of the world's leading sustainable seafood experts and educators. Before leaving the restaurant industry to pursue his interests in sustainable food systems, he was an award-winning chef leading top seafood restaurants in Washington, DC. He became an Explorer for the National Geographic Society and has held various roles at Harvard University, through which he facilitates international conversations on sustainability and the role of food in resource management and public health. He has written seven seafood-centric books, including For Cod and Country, Two If By Sea, American Seafood, and The Joy of Seafood. Seaver has contributed to Coastal Living, The Coastal Table, Cooking Light, Every Day with Rachael Ray, Fine Cooking, Fortune, Martha Stewart's Whole Living, The New York Times, O: The Oprah Magazine, Saveur, The Washington Post, among many others. He has appeared on 60 Minutes, CNN, NPR, 20/20 and the TED stage. Seaver hosted In Search of Food on the Ovation Network and Eat: The History of Food on National Geographic TV. He built and leads Seafood Literary, an online training program teaching seafood-specific culinary education for all levels of cooks. He lives in costal Maine with his wife and sons.
Zimmern, Andrew: -
Andrew Zimmern is an Emmy-winning and four-time James Beard Award-winning TV personality, chef, writer, and social justice advocate. As the creator, executive producer, and host of the Bizarre Foods franchise, MSNBC's What's Eating America, Magnolia Network's Emmy-nominated Family Dinner, the Emmy-winning The Zimmern List, Field to Fire, Wild Game Kitchen, and the executive producer of PBS's Hope in the Water, he has devoted his life to exploring and promoting cultural acceptance, tolerance, and understanding through food. He has authored four books, sits on many national boards, and is a global ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme and the International Rescue Committee. He lives in Minneapolis, MN.
