The Splendid Table: Why we should be eating more purple sea urchins
Sea urchins hit all the taste pleasure points – salt, sweet and umami. In a lot of places, sea urchins are overfished, but that certainly isn't the case off the coast of California, where there's such an overabundance of purple sea urchins that it has become an aquacultural concern. Ali Bouzari is a biochemist and trained chef. He also happens to spearfish and free dive in his spare time, which is how he ended up writing a piece for Saveur entitled “Sea Urchins in Mendocino.” He talked with Francis Lam about researching, diving for, cooking with, and eating purple sea urchins -- and encourages us all to do the same.