Food Fights

Some of the world's most bitter conflicts have nothing to do with access to resources, ethnic chauvinism, or the balance of power. Here's a short guide to the planet's fiercest gastronomic controversies.   

BY ANNIE LOWREY | MAY/JUNE 2010

ESCOLAR

The Battleground: United States

The Fight: The escolar, a member of the mackerel family, has fatty, sweet, firm, white flesh and healthy stocks. U.S. seafood companies started marketing it to restaurants aggressively in recent years, and it popped up on menus under the aliases "white tuna" and "butterfish." But humans cannot digest the wax esters that make escolar so tasty, giving some eaters serious gastrointestinal problems. Food bloggers and journalists in Hawaii -- where most of the fish is caught and sold -- led a campaign to ban it, and lawmakers introduced a bill to do so this year.

 

Annie Lowrey is an assistant editor at Foreign Policy.