All three brothers followed their own paths, to notable success. Josh is a Madison Avenue ad executive. Mark is one of the most prominent environmentalists in Southern California. And Jonathan last year became the first food critic ever to win the Pulitzer.
In California, John's and Mark's families, with five children between them, often get together for birthdays and dinners.
But the brothers have squared off over food for 20 years.
Mark says that when he eats seafood, he tries to follow the recommendations of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch list, which rates each fishery on its sustainability and the environmental effects of the harvest.
Jonathan counters that he mostly eats seafood that is low on the food chain and not in danger of extinction. On Mark's blog, he wrote: "If you have spent the last 20 years of your life trying to protect sardines, mackerel and sea cucumber, Heal the Bay is in worse shape than I thought."
Of course, his upcoming article on Gourmet's website on a live octopus dish he tasted in South Korea is not going to help the familial discourse along.
"They bring you a plate of tentacles," he said. "These tentacles still have an electrical thing going on. It looks like a plate of writhing worms. . . . It's disconcerting. They crawl up your chopstick."
Undaunted, he grabbed one of the wriggling arms and took a bite.
"The suckers are still active, so they adhere to the top of your mouth," he said.
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joe.mozingo@latimes.com
