From sardinemaxxing to skincare, here's why tinned fish is the newest 'it' food

It's non soft to stay fresh up with trends these years.

pasture tops are in; side parts are out. Landlines are aura; Facebook is cringe. Drinking is bad, protein is king, and mostly, we're just along for the ride.

But now that the internet is obsessed with sardines, we have questions.

Sardines — as in the tinned fish, are having a cultural moment, reframed as a symbol of affordable luxury and health. According to the newest Pinterest trends report released Tuesday, "tinned fish is the new low-lift flex," and searches for "sardines breakfast" are up 1,815 per cent.

Articles claim "sardine girl summer" is back for a second year, while fish-themed accessories and decor are also on the rise.

On TikTok, nearly 100,000 videos are tagged #sardines, with influencers sharing recipes and sardine charcuterie boards, rating tinned options and calling sardines "skin care in a can."

"If you say you want a glow-up this year but you're not eating sardines, what are you doing?" wellness influencer Ally Renee said in a TikTok video with 2.7 million views.

The demand for canned sardines speaks to the power of social media, said Michael von Massow, a food agriculture professor at Ontario's University of Guelph. We saw the same happen with cottage cheese as protein took off.

"All of the sudden they're flying off the shelves and people are wondering why they can't get it anymore," von Massow said.

If you're wondering how sardines went from grandpa food to it food, it's kind of uncanny (sorry).

Demand for canned sardines — the collective name for a family of soft-boned, oily fish — skyrocketed during the First and Second World Wars as a source of protein for the troops, according to Outside Magazine.

But in North America, sardines went out of fashion in the 1960s, partly because of decreased supply and tuna's growing popularity in the canned fish aisle, according to NPR.

"Historically in North America, sardines sat in the pantry alongside Spam and tuna as cheap, slightly unglamorous protein, more associated with the Depression and wartime rationing than with anything aspirational," said McMaster University kinesiology professor Stuart Phillips.

"The shift is largely about packaging, provenance, and storytelling." 

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, people started re-thinking shelf-stable items like sardines. The shift was amplified by the popularity of "girl dinner" and snack plates, Gen Z's health and wellness craze, rising food costs of food, and the obsession with protein and skincare, Voxx notes.

The broader tinned fish aesthetic was helped along by Portuguese and Spanish brands with attractive packaging, Phillips explained.

"The cultural script around it has moved from thrift to curated indulgence," Phillips said.

Meanwhile, sardine fans on social media say some tins are getting harder to find. On Reddit's 120,000-member strong canned sardine community, some users say they can't find certain brands on Canadian store shelves.

With a product like canned sardines that's typically pretty consistent and rarely on special, even a small demand surge can look like a shortage because it's unexpected, von Massow said.

It takes a while for the whole supply chain to respond, he added, assuming stores and distributors decide to at all. If the sardine craze fizzles out, they could be stuck with extra inventory.

Jonathan Larrad, the owner of Toronto shops Spanish Pig and Tinmonger, says he has seen a 10 per cent year-over-year increase in sardine sales for each of the past three years, and that he suspects the rise has been more dramatic for retailers who don't already specialize in tinned goods.

"It's easy, packed in protein, different, it makes a story to tell and it looks great on camera as well for the Instagrammable generation," Larrad said.

But is there too much of a good thing? That's where the viral nutrition trend called sardinemaxxing comes in.

In sardinemaxxing videos, creators like Nick Norwitz, a metabolic-health researcher with hundreds of thousands of followers, post about the benefits they see from eating 1,000 sardines in a month, or nothing but sardines for 36 hours.

Phillips recommends taking those videos with a big grain of salt. And not just because some tinned varieties are high in sodium.

Sardines are an excellent source of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, high-quality protein, vitamin D, vitamin B12, selenium and, because you eat the soft bones, calcium, Phillips said. Because they're small and low on the food chain, their mercury levels are lower compared to tuna, he added.

But no food is a magic bullet, Phillips said.

"Eating one or two tins a week as part of a varied diet is a sensible, evidence-supported habit," he said.

"Eating 1,000 in a month is a YouTube video, not a dietary recommendation."

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Senior Writer & Editor

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