A Fisherman’s Tail…

CHRIS BENNETT was delighted by the rather late arrival of the infamous sardines.

SUDDENLY there were sardines, when we had almost given up on them – again.

The first I heard about it was when I read a report in the Mail & Guardian last week. One of the many advantages of reading online is that most e-newspapers are updated every hour or so. Margate leapt into life and there was a great treat, and feast, for the many visitors lingering around after the football had run out of oomph. Later reports of the shoals’ landing at St Michaels and, much further north, Virginia, added to the excitement.

Sardines are always with us, in tins; and, furthermore, there is a great deal to be said for them and their larger friends the pilchards. They all belong to the herring family, of which my favourite is the Arbroath Smoky, a kipper cured in the right sort of smoke in Arbroath, Scotland. Perhaps I should add that I was born and brought up in the aromatic town of Grimsby, once the biggest fishing port in the world: but no longer, as the people have fished out their own food stock.

It is the herring family that provides those of us who have been on the receiving end of heart surgery with so much hope, in the form of the important Omega three oils. Just as a useless aside, did you know that Omega is a Greek letter of the alphabet, and that it is one of the two O letters in Greek? The other is Omicron, in other words Big O and Little O. I told you it was useless information.

Consequently I am grateful for a lifelong liking for canned pilchards and sardines.

Most sources say that the oldest tradition of canning sardines, which always brings to mind the JohnSteinbeck novel, Cannery Row, arose in the beautiful and dramatic northern French province of Brittany, which gave its name to the ancient tribes from whom I, and indeed many of us, descend.

“Sardine fishing and canning is a traditional industry in Britanny, where most French canneries remain. The area is known as the place where sardine canning was invented. Douarnenez was the world's leading sardine exporter in the 19th century. The sardines are fried, dried, and then canned (this traditional process is labelled "préparées à l'ancienne"), whereas in most other countries processing consists of steam cooking after canning.” Those are the words of Alan Davidson, a British diplomat, writing in an article for a delightful publication called Petit Propos Culinaires in 1979.

What I did find especially interesting in my researches into the life of this enigmatic creature is that Morocco is the sardine capital of the world. Not so long ago, the little fish represent more than 62% of the country’s fish catch and accountedor 91% of raw material usage in the domestic canning industry. Some 600,000 tonnes of fresh sardines were processed each year by the industry. Morocco is the largest canned sardine exporter in the world and the leading supplier of sardines to the European market.

We here on the South Coast are especially fortunate in having this annual migration come so close to our shores. The sardines bring in their wake a host of other delights, including the dolphins and the whales, although these last come here for the breeding conditions anyway.

Finally this week, a French news report, on the excellent English language website France24.com, says the French have taken up cricket! Is nothing sacred, I ask myself.

Sources: Wikipedia and An Omelette and a Glass of Wine; Elizabeth David: