from Yahoo News:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100414/ap_on_bi_ge/us_so_long_sardines
I have to admit that I did my part to hasten their decline – I’ve never eaten sardines. Oily fish packed tight in little cans never held any appeal for me. But it’s too bad, nonetheless.
I used to go to a sandwich shop that offered a sardine and onion hoagie that was heaven. It was made with a full can of fancy imported sardines. Never would have guessed there was a US plant!
The oily ones are anchovies. Or sardines packed specifically in oil. I always get mine packed in water. I eat them right out of the can, with plenty of hot sauce.
I’ll bet that was one hell of a funky-smelling place to work.
I tried to support them, but Beach Cliff sardines are nasty. King Oscar (from Norway of course) are much better.
According to the linked article the fish themselves are oily, regardless of what they’re packed in. Packing them in oil is just gilding the lily. Or something.
I have no desire to eat them, but would like to know:
1 Do they gut the fish or do you eat their guts too?
2 How can you stand eating a fish head?
I get the sardines in tomato sauce. Terrific with plain bread!
They’re gutted, and the heads are removed. Depending on the species, the tail may be removed as well. The rest of the bones are left in.
Thank you! I’m still not eating any.
I always likes the one packed in mustard sauce. Usually I’d eat them plain and loaded into a hot dog bun but they’re also good when mashed up with bread crumbs, egg, chopped onion and celery, formed into patties and pan-fried.
I was actually a little bit surprised that the US still had a full time cannery for sardines but I’m still sorry to hear about its demise.
The bones are the best part. Crunchy! And, while sardines may be oilier than many other fish, they do not tend to come across as oily in the can unless packed in oil.
Sounds like I may have to stock up. I actually prefer the cheap, American ones to the imports.
They are the ultimate health food and I eat them all the time.
I’ve never seen any American ones (I always check for curiosity’s sake) - all mine are from Spain, Portugal, or Norway.
The sardine fishery is alive and boomng here in Astoria, but almost all of the product is frozen and exported to Japan and Asia.
Interesting. My parents live less than a mile from Cannery Row in Monterey California - the one written about by Steinbeck. It was all about sardines until they up and disappeared - no doubt due to overfishing and other environmental factors…
Thats sad. I like Sardines, particularly the ones in mustard sauce. Heck, I have a few cans of them in the cupboard right now. I keep one or two in my car in case of a “Food emergency”, along with a few cans of beanie weenies and vienaa sausages. But that might be an Army thing. You never know when youwon’t have time to grab lunch so I know I can always run out to my car, crack opena can of sardines and at least have something to eat.
Geez…don’t we make ANYTHING in the US anymore?
Too bad-Maine sardines had a nice flavor. That said, I have been eating sardines for years-the Norwegian ones are very good.
Does anybody know what the Pacific sardine fishery disappeared? I have read “Cannery Row” as well-it seems the fish left and never came back!
The Pacific sardine fishery has recovered very nicely, actually. The collapse of the fishery in the 1950s and its bottoming out in the 1970s appears to be part of a very long climatic cycle which sees sardines and anchovies alternating as the major species of small pelagic fish in the Pacific. Overfishing may have exaggerated this effect, prolonging and deepening the collapse, but since the recovery in the early '80s, the fishery has been managed to maintain a healthy population. While the catch is only 10 - 15% of what it was in the 1930s, and the total sardine biomass is estimated as a quarter of what it was then, the main problems with a California canning industry are (1) that much of the California catch is “low-value” fish that are used for bait, tuna feed, and fish meal, and (2) sardines just aren’t that popular any more.
Sardine canning plant. Who knew they had a special place for people from Sardinia to go and get fired in? 
