Edible Invasion
Invasive species are spreading, thanks to globalization and climate change. Restaurants are making the most of these "new" ingredients
Globalization and climate change have created the perfect environment for invasive species to travel worldwide and thrive. One way to combat this threat is through consumption. Restauranteurs and governments are taking action, including these ingredients on their menus and rebranding them to entice consumers to dig in.
MILAN—The granchio blu, better known here in the U.S. as the Maryland blue crab, is showing up on menus across Northern Italy. Having hitchhiked across the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and then up the Adriatic Sea aboard cargo ships, this Chesapeake Bay delicacy has made a new home here and, thanks to climate change and no natural predators, has seen its populations explode — a different story than in the U.S. where its populations have declined.
There’s no denying that this invasive species is wreaking havoc on the local ecosystems and the economy in Italy. Coldiretti, the agricultural organization representing the Italian fishing industry, said in a statement that the blue crab had caused around €100 million ($109 million) of damage, wiping out clam production in the northern Veneto and Emilia Romagna regions. Those classic dishes, like spaghetti alle vongole (spaghetti with clams) — one of my favorites — might go the way of the Dodo bird in the coming years or, at the very least, become much more rare and expensive.
Some Italian chefs have embraced the blue crab by incorporating it into their cuisine, creating new dishes like spaghetti al granchio blu, because they like its versatility or are interested in combatting species spread and protecting the ecosystem. However, regardless of their motivations, the blue crab has arrived and is remaking some menus across Italy.
But Italy isn’t the only country combating invasive species through “invasivorism,” the act of catching, hunting or foraging invasive species to eat them. Some chefs here in the U.S. are doing the same, perhaps leaning into the idea that if you can’t beat them, eat them. They sometimes face an uphill battle in getting consumers to take a bite.
How They Got Here
The arrival of these species may boil down to two of the prevailing realities of our times: globalization and a warming planet, both caused by humans.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, invasive species are spread primarily by human activities and are often unintended. People and goods traveling quickly around the world, typically by plane or boat, frequently carry uninvited species with them. Ship ballast water, for example, can introduce invasive species to an area, as it did with the blue crab in Italy.
More than 6,500 established invasive species are in the United States today, including the zebra mussel from Europe and the snakehead fish from Asia, which have made a new home in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Reports have shown that invasive species have cost North America $1.26 trillion in the last 60 years, crowding out native species and damaging agriculture production.
“Invasive species can cause harm when they establish themselves at the expense of native plants and animals, encroaching on their food or habitat,” according to the Chesapeake Bay Program, a regional partnership that directs and conducts the restoration of the bay. “Indeed, after habitat loss, invasive species are among the top threats to native plants and animals.” The Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health at the University of Georgia estimates that invasive species have put more than 40 percent of the nation’s threatened or endangered species at risk of further decline.
Climate change further contributes to the spread of invasive species by creating conditions that increasingly favor them, disrupting ecosystems and threatening native biodiversity. As temperatures rise, regions that were once too cold for certain non-native species become more hospitable, allowing these organisms to establish themselves. This shift is particularly evident in aquatic environments, like the Mediterranean, where warmer waters enable invasive species, such as certain fish and algae, to expand their ranges, a subject New Rules Media covered earlier this year.
However, warming is happening on the land, too, which is creating the right conditions for some invasive species to spread on the ground. For example, a 2023 United States Geological Survey report showed that Burmese pythons, first recorded in the Florida Everglades in 1979, are expanding their habitat and moving northward so quickly that their progress can be marked in miles per year in some areas. As a result, it is believed that Burmese pythons could reach Georgia in just a few years.
Eating Through It
For some restauranteurs, utilizing invasive species in their cuisine is second nature.
Take Thip Khao, a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant serving Laotian food in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Here, they’ve served the invasive snakefish in various preparations for years, like curries and hotpots. However, utilizing the snakefish may be easier for restaurants like Thip Khao, because it is already considered a delicacy in Southeast Asian cuisine. Its use can signal authenticity, which some customers crave, especially GenZ.
For other invasive species, rebranding is required.
Illinois, through its Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), took the unusual step of rebranding the Asian carp, a nuisance fish of Midwest waterways, and marketing it as “copi,” a play on the word “copious” and a reference to the vast number of the invasive, habitat-destroying fish in 2022. The mission was simple: get it out of the waterways, onto people’s plates and into their bellies.
“(Before the rebranding) we had been at about 7 or 8 million pounds annually of invasive carp harvested from the Illinois River. We have seen that number jump to about 15 or 16 million pounds,” shared Brian Schoenung from IDNR, who helped spearhead the copi rebrand, in an interview with WCBU Peoria Public Radio last year. “We have had nearly a 10 million pound increase in the harvesting of these fish from the Illinois River since the rebranding.”
Jesse Griffiths, co-founder and chef of Dai Due in Austin, Texas, and author of The Hog Book, a James Beard Foundation Award-winning book, rebranded “feral pig” on his menu as “wild boar,” and customers ate it up.
“What we learned early on is that feral hog chorizo doesn't sell nearly as well as wild boar chorizo,” he said in an interview with Texas Public Radio. “But you will find often it's just a semantic deal… Feral hogs are hogs that are on the wrong side of the fence. They're escaped, or they could be, you know, 100 generations wild, but they're just hogs without addresses.”
“We have a species that we can eat as much as we can and as much as we want, and the impact will only be positive,” said Mary Parks, founder of GreenCrab.org, a nonprofit dedicated to building culinary markets for invasive green crabs in the Atlantic. So, the next time you see something you’ve never heard of on the menu, try it. You’ll be doing a service to your taste buds and the local ecosystem.