The Blue Food Cookbook
Delicious Seafood Recipes for a Sustainable Future
Published on 4. December 2025
Book
Hardback
400 pages
978-0-06-337977-0 (ISBN)
Description
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.
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.
Reviews / Votes
"As an advocate for sustainability and the preservation of our homelands, oceans and Native culture, I wholeheartedly endorse The Blue Food Cookbook by Andrew Zimmern and Barton Seaver. This book not only showcases mouthwatering recipes but also highlights the vital importance of blue foods in supporting healthy and thriving ecosystems. It's a must-have guide to enjoying delicious, ocean-friendly meals while helping protect our blue planet." - Dune Lankard, Eyak Athabaskan fisher, founder of the Native Conservatory, and 2025 James Beard Impact Award winner"Andrew Zimmern and Barton Seaver's highly anticipated The Blue Food Cookbook: Delicious Seafood Recipes for a Sustainable Future is an all-encompassing guide to buying and cooking seafood, with a laser focus on sustainability." - Library Journal
"Andrew Zimmern and Barton Seaver have together written a book that is beyond my wildest expectations! I am first and foremost a pescatarian, and I now have what I consider a modern cookbook covering most of my questions relating to seafood: a glossary of edible types, where they are from, fresh or frozen, farmed or wild, how to source, how to buy, what did your fish of choice eat, how to cook it, how to season it, how to serve it. I am looking forward to trying every recipe and utilizing every suggestion! Thank you, Andrew and Barton." - Martha Stewart
"The Blue Food Cookbook is a love letter to our oceans and the people who both protect and depend on them. Through informative facts and delicious recipes, this book shows us the importance of sustainable fishing practices and how we can maximize the diversity of our marine ecosystem, ultimately benefiting the well-being of all." - Chef Eric Ripert
"Andrew and Barton are a superhero duo...and here they are teaming up to take on one of the most important missions of our time, teaching us how to be respectful of one of our planet's most amazing resources, the sea...while still encouraging us to enjoy its fruits." - Chef Jose Andres
"The Blue Food Cookbook isn't just a cookbook. It's a guide, a resource, a rallying cry-and a love letter to sustainable eating. Andrew Zimmern and Barton Seaver are a powerhouse pair-and two of the most passionate voices I know when it comes to caring for our planet. They've poured their lifetimes of advocacy, storytelling, and real-world kitchen smarts into these pages. The recipes feel like you're sitting in on a conversation between old friends-different styles, same mission: keep it simple, make it thoughtfully, and always, always make it delicious." - Carla Hall, chef, author, TV personality
"For three decades, Andrew Zimmern has used his culinary gifts to bring the world into our hearts and minds-via our stomachs. Now, he and co-author Barton Seaver bring us the sea. Buy The Blue Food Cookbook not only because you love to eat, but also because you care about our planet." - Dan Buettner, National Geographic Fellow and #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Blue Zones
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers Inc
Illustrations
color photos & illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 261 mm
Width: 212 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
1425 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-06-337977-0 (9780063379770)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Andrew Zimmern | Barton Seaver
The Blue Food Cookbook
Delicious Seafood Recipes for a Sustainable Future
E-Book
10/2025
HarperCollins
€30.64
Available for download
Persons
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.
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.
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.