Tin Can Renaissance: What’s Old Is New Again An interview with C ONSERVAS DE P ORTUGAL BY C AN THE C AN Portuguese Canning Industry Digital Museum + Gourmet Dining
If you’ve spent any time in Portugal, chances are you’ve felt a magnetic attraction to the colorful, diverse, and omnipresent cans of fish. Whether you’re a fish-eater or not, these affordable works of art run the gambit from silly to sublime and make fabulous souvenirs or gifts. For those that do enjoy fish, the varieties and preparations are astounding. Sure, you’ll find that old staple, tuna, but usually in olive oil and often enhanced with fennel seed, curry, or red pepper. Canned sardines, in their many forms and flavors, are everywhere. Then there are the oddball sounding types of fish including horse mackerel, cockles, and even eels preserved in an escabeche (vinegar-based) sauce. Perfect for picnics, Portuguese conservas (canned fish) have recently entered the fine dining limelight. Can the Can, located in Lisbon’s Praça do Comercio, was the first to pioneer this movement and offers some spectacular dishes. They also curate a digital museum, Conservas de Portugal, aiming to educate the world on one of Portugal’s most identifiable products. Relish Portugal sat down with Conservas de Portugal’s Victor Vicente to learn more about this ubiquitous (and delicious) fish. First Victor, what’s proper? Is it called “tinned” or “canned” fish? Ha! You are an English girl! Both ways are fine. I prefer “tinned” because it alleviates any depreciatory impression of "canned food”. My generation (I am 55) grew up with tinned fish. I wouldn’t say tinned fish was a “poor man’s lunch” but a scout food, camping food, quick meal, and beach food. Lots of brands promoted the practical aspect of taking a few cans with you on a camping trip, making a quick salad with tuna and mayonnaise, or some wonderful and tasty sandwiches to take to the beach. There was even a brand called “Campista”, meaning “Camper”.
Give us a brief history of the industry and the manufacturers, how this has changed over the years, and where does it stand today. When the canning industry first appeared in Portugal, it was partly due to the disappearance of sardines from the coast of Brittany, which led to French industrialists moving to Portugal in search of their raw material. The abundance and quality of the fish, the extensive coastline, and a tradition of fishing combined to create favorable conditions for the rapid development of a Portuguese fish canning industry. But it was not just through the initiative of foreign concerns that the industry developed in Portugal. Across the country, domestic companies emerged. The humble sardine, already a truly local product,
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