We heart sardines!

What’s so yucky about sardines anyway? What’s made them the butt of jokes for ages? Popular culture would have you think they’re so yucky, the back-story for an entire movie is based on our aversion to them (“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” starts off with a desolate town forced to eat only sardines). Is it the vision of plopping an entire fish, eyes and bones and all, in one’s mouth? Consequently I never even remotely considered the thought of eating sardines until a few weeks ago.
I noticed sardines kept popping up on lists of “superfoods”, “extra healthy foods”, and “foods to cheat death”, etc. Something about it being akin to salmon, with high levels of omega fatty acids. I decided “why not”. Whole Foods had shelves and shelves of varieties – all about the same price as canned tuna. I went for the healthy “skinless boneless” fillets – not quite ready for the super-duper healthy full-on fish yet (eating tiny fish bones = loads of calcium).
One Sunday afternoon Erik and I slowly peeled back the tin lid. Four lumps of gray flesh, closely resembling the outline of four tiny fish, greeted us. I quickly mashed them up with spicy brown mustard, a little minced onion, and a squeeze of lemon. We smeared the spread on some hard crackers (crispbread or wasa). All four of us sat at the table with our plates, staring, sniffing. All right, here goes nothing! Crunch!
Ecstasy! I never dreamed sardines would taste so good, so flavorful. It’s definitely a strong fish taste but clean and bright and yummy. Also salty, oh so salty. I must have actually eaten sardines before because my taste receptors immediately tapped my long-term memory and pulled out images from my trip to Turkey. I had visions of sitting at a restaurant next to the fishing wharfs eating seafood straight from the boats that had just trawled the Black Sea. Only a cold, crisp wheat beer would have completed the picture. That fishing wharf was a hoot – completely overrun by slimy squid, vertically challenged flounder, and all other manner of marine creatures.
The sardines were a hit with the entire family, including Sophia who now requests them on a regular basis. Our favorite sardine recipe at the moment features pasta tossed with sardines, spinach, Parmesan, and fresh bread crumbs. Recipe is here.