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Skip the Salmon, Try the Sardines

By jjacquet on June 10, 2008.

Taras Grescoe, author of Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood has a new article out in the New York Times on why we should opt for sardines over salmon. On the one hand, I disagree with Grescoe's overall premise that we can steer consumption to achieve a desirable outcome. Consumers alone cannot save our fish. On the other hand, I commend his efforts to raise awareness and support for eating lower on the marine food web. Check out his article and see what you think...

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I had fried sardines in a resturant in Amsterdam. They had a mild sardine flavor and were quite good.

By Jim Thomerson (not verified) on 10 Jun 2008 #permalink

Sardines do taste good, though! I wouldn't recommend the following recipe from 1762 (I normally eat them over rice), but it gives a flavor of how one might eat Clupaeids (in this case herring):

"A HERRING PYE: Scale, gut, and wash them very clean, cut off the heads, fins, and tails; make a good crust, cover your dish, then season your herrings with beaten mace, pepper and salt; put a little butter in the bottom of your dish, then a row of herrings; pare some apples, and cut them in thin slices all over, then peel some onions, and cut them in slices all over thick, lay a little butter on the top, put in a little water, lay on the lid, and bake it well." (Gellory, 1762)

Gelleroy, W. 1762. The London cook, or the whole art of cookery made easy and familiar. Containing a great number of approved and practical receipts in every branch of cookery.. London: S. Crowder, and Co., J. Coote; and J. Fletcher.

When I was 9 and 10, I spent two summers in Tarragona (Spain). I had everyday an oil sardine on a fresh buttered bun, and I remember this as heavenly.

By Daniel Pauly (not verified) on 10 Jun 2008 #permalink

Jennifer: I couldn't comment on your "Consumers Alone Can't..." essay, so I hope you don't mind my doing so here. I agree completely that mislabeling is a huge problem (and efforts towards 'traceability' may offer a partial solution).

Hake or whiting, however, is caught in (mostly midwater) trawls (Merluccius productus and M. gayi) or purse seines (M. gayi), not by longlining. I don't know about the status of M. gayi, but M. productus stocks seem to be pretty healthy.

I'm curious, though, why you think that 'voting with your pocketbook' is ineffective.

By Pete Nelson (not verified) on 10 Jun 2008 #permalink

Wel, if you consider that the level of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in sardines are the same, if not higher in some North Atlantic (or the baltic, heavens!)areas as that in farmed Atlantic salmon (Norwegian, salmo salar) then dig in!

Surveillance, where it exists for countries supplying the EU, show sardines to have fairly high levels of POPs, and considering they are eaten more frequently than farmed salmon, would constitute the majority of POPs in seafood.

Please show us the the surveillance data, as lower on the food chain is not always safer.