NPR

The Truth About Ugly Foods: They're Delicious, Abundant And Good For The Planet

From ugly fish like sea robin to the discarded parts of livestock, like ox cheeks and chicken feet, a new book celebrates repugnant-looking but flavorful foods, and urges us to eat more of them.
Boiled octopus, a recipe for "reliably tender, flavorful octopus that can be used as it is, or as a basis for fried or grilled octopus dishes," write Richard Horsey and Tim Wharton in <em>Ugly Food</em>. "Octopus is also totally sustainable, very economical and incredibly versatile — the various methods of preparation and cooking lend it subtly different flavors," says Wharton.

Tim Wharton bristles at being called a "foodie," with its connotation of lush, sumptuous "food porn." He prefers "gastronaut," a label popularized by late British television chef Keith Floyd, for its evocation of intrepid culinary exploration.

Wharton's provocative new book , written with fellow gourmet Richard Horsey, is a celebration of the gustatory pleasures of octopus and other beasts and plants less eaten. The authors make an impassioned case for why we should prefer the likes of sea robin, a plug-ugly whiskered fish found along America's eastern seaboard, to the comelier but parlously-overfished Atlantic cod and

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