History

The Once Popular Seafood You'll Likely Never Eat In America By Mariana Zapata Nov. 9, 2025 8:20 pm EST

Once upon a time, Indigenous people living off the coast of California and Mexico's Baja Peninsula regularly ate white abalone. The area's inhabitants fished for this delicious and nutritious mollusk for over 7,000 years, and some groups also used its beautiful shells for important religious ceremonies or celebrations. But human beings have a penchant for ruining everything, especially when we get greedy without thinking of the consequences.

After European colonization and the Industrial Revolution, the market for abalone grew. Fisheries in the 19th and 20th centuries quickly depleted populations of the sea snail to meet this insatiable demand. When one population com

See Full Page