https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-eat-lower-on-the-seafood-chain-202303222904
CT feeds stinky fish to his kids
I’m proud to say I introduced my kids, when they were growing up, to sardines and mackerel, foods that I loved when I was growing up a son of poor immigrant parents. They routinely gross our their friends as they pick up small smelly fish and consume them, while exclaiming: “Oooh, that’s the spine! That’s the guts! Yum, that’s good!”
When the world food supply collapses, and no one else will eat stinky smelly fish, my kids and I will be fine. We’ll be out back, consuming our Costco-brand mega-pack of canned sardines on top of bagels.
Lox and Bagels origin story
I thought everyone ate like this. Turns out the origin story comes from my mom.
We were invited to a weekend brunch with my father’s work colleague, and they were serving lox and bagels. Our family had never heard of such a thing, and 12-year-old me gobbled down numerous servings and loved it.
My mom took notice and went to the store to buy lox, which, she found out, was salmon.
However, she also found out, salmon was expensive beyond my dad’s assistant college professor budget.
So, shopping around, she found sardines in a can. She brought these home, with bagels, hoping that her son would not notice the difference.
Sardine and Bagel Switcheroo
How did it go? Sardines and Bagels? I was in heaven. “Mom, can we have this every week?” And a tradition was born. I don’t even remember that someone did a switcheroo.
CMIO’s take? OK, no informatics lessons here, you can move on.
Can’t say I’ve ever eaten a sardine on anything aside from a fancy Caesar salad. I will leave this pearl: Caesar salads are actually Mexican in origin!