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You Should Be Eating More Canned Fish

Think of it as oceanic charcuterie

David Neimanis
Heated

Photo: Claudia Totir via Getty Images

Whenever I bring up my love of canned fish, my friends and colleagues morph into picky children.

Canned seafood has a bad reputation in the United States, and it’s not just anecdotal: On an annual basis, the average American consumes about 3.5 pounds of canned seafood, a number that’s been steadily falling over the last three decades. Meanwhile, the average Spaniard polishes off nearly three times that.

I wasn’t always a canned fish lover. A friend of mine recommended sardines during one of my sporadic efforts to work out often and eat well. He raved about the health benefits, cost-effectiveness, and convenience of these protein-packed little cans. I tried them out, and, well, I liked them. I didn’t love them, but I liked them enough that they became part of my diet.

It wasn’t until I went on a trip through Southern Europe that my love story began.

People in Spain and Portugal love canned seafood, or conservas. I knew this prior to visiting, but I didn’t quite understand the extent to which conservas were appreciated. At a tiny tapas bar in Barcelona called Quimet & Quimet, it all began to make sense. The only options for food and drink were wine, spirits, and canned seafood.

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Responses (51)

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I’m Portuguese and I approve this article :)

This is great! I am Swedish, so as much as you highlighted Southern Europe’s use of canned fish, us northern Europeans also eat a fair amount. I grew up in the US, but ate traditional Swedish food including canned sardines and mackerel. We also are…

Unfortunately, canned fish have been found to contain heavy metals (lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, iron, copper, and zinc), PAH’s and BPA in unsafe levels.