The San Francisco Standard: Sorry Not Sorry—It’s Our Moral Imperative To Eat Sea Urchins
Every winter, my family returns to the same rocky cliffside in Sea Ranch, 100 miles north of San Francisco, for one thing: sea urchins. The spiny, purple oceanic critters are smothering the coastline, but those brave enough to forage for them in frigid water are drawn to their sweetly saline gonads, known as uni.
Beyond our family’s cultural roots in Japan, where people eat 9,000 tons of sea urchin roe every year, the costly overpopulation of this less-than-cuddly sea tribble tells a very California story of ecological urgency that is tied up with Japanese American history, too.