Reviewed By Philip Van Heusen for Readers’ Favorite What most people know about shellfish would not even fill a crab cake appetizer dish. However, David Ritchey takes the reader beyond the knowledge of shellfish used for food to a deeper scientific understanding of shellfish. In Smitten with Shellfish, David not only gives an overview of the various types of shellfish—mollusks, crustaceans, and echinoderms—but he also discusses each type with their sub-types. After giving the reader a thorough understanding and description of each type of shellfish, David explains the use of shellfish in cooking. The last part of the book is dedicated to conservation efforts and the need to preserve habitats for shellfish. Shellfish are significantly crucial to our environment and food chain. Damage to this area of our environment will affect all environments. Learn all you can, then take whatever action you can to help preserve nature. Jules Verne wrote fiction about giant squids. However, his novel has nothing on a real-life squid caught in 2007. It weighed over half a ton and was 33 feet long. This is just one fact you will discover in David Ritchey’s book, Smitten with Shellfish. The reader will walk away with a new appreciation for shellfish. Shellfish will become more than just food to enjoy. I learned so much about the various types of shellfish, their geographical locations, and how some are farmed for human consumption. The sheer variety of shellfish is astounding. David even pointed out that the plural of octopus is not octopi but is octopuses. Take your time reading and absorbing the information in this book. David makes the scientific classifications of the various shellfish easy for laymen to understand.
