6 Kinds of Obscure and Sustainable Seafood that Could be the Next Big Thing
May 15, 2025 | 2 min to read
The article emphasizes the importance of diversifying our seafood choices to combat overfishing and enhance culinary experiences. Chef David Standridge of The Shipwright’s Daughter advocates for showcasing lesser-known, sustainable species like European green crabs, urging restaurants to create demand for them. By embracing these eco-friendly options, chefs can influence public taste and support local fishermen, ultimately promoting a more sustainable seafood culture.
Under-the-radar species that are tasty, abundant, and environmentally smart.
Eating the same fish all the time isn’t just unsustainable. It’s boring. Diversifying our seafood diet reduces pressure on overfished species like salmon and shrimp, while also increasing the types of textures and flavors we experience.
“It’s really up to restaurants to get obscure seafood on plates and in front of people to generate enough demand for the fisherman to bother with them,” says David Standridge, chef and partner at The Shipwright’s Daughter in Mystic, Connecticut, whose efforts to demystify local seafood like invasive European green crabs netted him a James Beard Award last year.
Here’s Where New England Is Embracing Eco-Friendly Seafood
In a country where we’ve lost so many of our specialty fishmongers, chefs and restaurants have an outsized influence on the kind of seafood people eat. “Your local ShopRite is never going to sell limpets,” says Standridge, about the East Coast sea snails. “But some years ago they didn’t sell mussels either, until they were popularized in restaurants to the extent that people wanted to cook them at home.”
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