From the mid-1800s to the mid-1900s, New York served as the largest fish and seafood center in the US, provisioning much of the nation. The enormous size of the city, and, more importantly, New York’s wholesale and retail network, connected fleets of fishermen catching a wide array of species with countless grocers and restaurants. That industry was concentrated around the iconic Fulton Fish Market, where generations of immigrants labored, introduced the rest of the five boroughs to their culinary traditions, and by the 1920s worked under the shadow of organized crime. In The Fulton Fish Market: A History, Jonathan H. Rees explores the market’s workings and significance from its founding in 1822 to its relocation to the Bronx in 2005, telling the stories of the fishermen, retailers, chefs, and others who depended on the Market, and how it shaped the New York and US diet. Examining transformations at the supply-chain end, it also uses this vital distribution point to argue that wholesalers, innovative businessmen who adapted to a dynamic industry, were ultimately overwhelmed by revolutions in transportation and preservation. The book also explains how changes in the urban landscape and economy affected the Market and its surrounding neighborhood, bringing together economic, technological, urban, culinary, and environmental history to show how Fulton Fish Market shaped American cuisine, commerce, and culture.

Megan J. Elias, author of Food in the United States,1890- 1945 and Lunch: A History, joins in conversation.