Starfish Cookbook

In fact, the lip-smackingly good recipes in this book use only the top ten most sustainable fish off the SASSI (SA Sustainable Seafood Initiative) green list. In this surprisingly funny, surprisingly fascinating read, author Daisy Jones takes you on an epic road trip to meet the farmers, conservationists, fishermen and scientists who will protect the top ten in the years to come.

You'll visit a vloeking oyster farmer in a wasteland on the West Coast and a high-heeled SASSI scientist. You'll meet an abundantly bearded kabeljou farmer in Paternoster, a third-generation treknetter in Fish Hoek and an Irish-accented aquaculturist in East London. Daisy has conducted hours of interviews on boats, rafts and on farms to find out why her top ten are not in danger of overfishing and why catching them does no damage to the environment.

The chapters on each fish, and the paintings and illustrations that accompany them, will secure the top ten in your memory - a phenomenon sure to come in handy when you shop or dine out sans SASSI checklist. The recipes at the end of each chapter, gorgeously photographed by Craig Fraser, tempt those of us in the habit of opting for white linefish and prawns to try something meatier (yellowtail), oilier (sardines) or slurpier (mussels).

A chart at the end of the book provides green alternatives to orange- and red-listed fish - both local and overseas varieties. There's a word on SASSI, a word on the MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) and a word on the state of our oceans. It's an adventure, switching to green fish. And it's the right thing to do.