Blue Crab in Italy: From Ecological Crisis to Culinary Opportunity

If you've ever cracked open a sweet, succulent blue crab in the United States, you know how beloved this shellfish is across the East Coast. But in Italy, the story of the blue crab is far more complicated—and, until recently, largely untold. This invasive species, once a stranger to the Mediterranean, is now causing ecological upheaval and threatening Italy's prized seafood industry. In this episode, I spoke with marine biologist and entrepreneur Carlotta Santolini, co-founder of BluEat and the all-women initiative Mariscadoras, to learn about the growing blue crab Italy crisis and how a creative, sustainable food supply chain may hold the solution.