- NORWAY King Oscar cod liver 2. ITALY Agostino Recca anchovy fillets
- CHINA Yu Jia Xiang yellow croaker fish in black bean sauce 4. TAIWAN Tong
Yeng mackerel in chile-tomato sauce 5. LATVIA Stella Maris mackerel in oil
72
Yes, You Can!
Of all the things millennials have killed over the years, the
slow death of seafood in a can may have provoked the least
amount of hand-wringing. When a 2016 U.S. Department of
Agriculture report noted that tinned-tuna sales had fallen
42 percent over the previous three decades, most people
seemed to agree it was for the best.
But while these preserved foods might be having a tough
time in the U.S., the category is gaining traction elsewhere. The
global market for canned fish is expected to reach $36.7 bil-
lion by 2021, up from $29.75billion in 2016, according to
Supermarket News. Versions from Portugal and Spain, France,
and other Mediterranean countries are prized as much for their
locally caught fish—notably anchovies, sardines, and tuna—
as for their colorful, collectible tins. Other European staples
include firm chunks of mackerel from Latvia; roasted sprats
from Ukraine; and cod liver from Norway, which often comes
labeled “by special royal permission of King Oscar.”
Asia’s canned-seafood scene is even bigger. In China you
can get fried croaker with fermented bean sauce, though
you may find the color unnervingly black when you peel
off the lid to reveal the chewy, funky pieces of sardinelike
fish. More appealing is Korean tuna doused in a chile-spiked
sauce. The Japanese are especially enthusiastic about canned
fish, which are high in protein and heart-healthy omega-3
fatty acids—conducive to the low-carb diets that have taken
hold in the past few years. (They’re also handy to store in
case of an emergency.)
There are discrete signs that imported canned seafood
might take off in the U.S. Sales of tinned fish in the José Andrés
Foods line have increased 18 percent from 2017 to 2018, says
Marisol Plata, product brand director at ThinkFoodGroup
LLC. At the chef ’s upcoming Mercado Little Spain in New
York’s Hudson Yards, canned fish will be sold at the retail
market and served at the bar. “We’ll have a nice portfolio of
tinned seafoods at different price ranges,” Plata says. A new
line includes sardines, ranging from $7 to $20 a tin, as well as
creations from Spanish chef Albert Adrià.
At Il Buco, also in Manhattan, owner Donna Lennard says
customers increasingly appreciate canned seafood as a lux-
ury item. “To many of our guests, tinned fish has become akin
to a bottle of Burgundy or caviar,” she says. Asmass-producedpackedtuna
disappearsfromtables,
fancytinnedfishgetsthespotlight
Photographby
Ted+ChelseaCavanaughThese anchovies
make a potent
pasta sauce when
stirred into a
skillet of garlic
and oil125711FISH THE FOOD ISSUE March 11, 2019