There have been more tinned fish cookbooks released over the past year or two than you can fathom.
The cult tinned seafood store Fishwife offers merch that looks more like it belongs to a fully-fledged lifestyle brand than a company selling smoked trout. There are tinned fish-of-the-month clubs. People have nicknamed tinned fish “ hot girl food.” There are entire Substacks reviewing the best varieties. When you get snowed in at your apartment, and there’s nothing fresh left in the house, what could be better than a beautifully patterned can of Portuguese conservas? It’s versatile, eco-friendly, and most importantly of all, delicious-and yet even I could never have foreseen the tinned fish mania that has gripped the world in 2022. (In fact, as someone who appreciates the importance of omega-3 fatty acids and hates doing dishes, I basically subsist on it.) It can be a chic and toothsome appetizer, or something that you pull from the pantry to liven up your favorite pasta dish. It was a trend I was delighted to witness, for one very simple reason: I love tinned fish. In 2018, I wrote an article for Garage magazine about the increasing prevalence of tinned fish in New York restaurants.
