I’m eating a can of Bumble Bee tuna. I don’t know why the fuck someone would come up with the idea to name a line of canned tuna products after an insect, but that’s another issue. The reason I’m posting this is because, objectively, Bumble Bee tuna is inferior to Starkist. It just is. That’s all there is to it. It tastes more bland, it’s less solid and hearty, it’s all mushed together like pulp instead of being in nice thick chunks like Starkist. It’s just not great tuna.
Be warned.
Your assessment of Bumble Bee is how I would describe Starkist, if compared to Chicken of the Sea. 
Are you comparing like with like though? Don’t most brands of tinned tuna offer several grades - i.e. ‘steak’, ‘chunks’ and ‘flakes’ - it sounds like you’re comparing Starkist chunks against Bumblebee flakes. (I’m not familiar with either brand, as they’re not sold here)
I’m a StarKist man as well.
I never noticed any particular difference on a consistent basis, even on the non-brand-name tuna.
I wrote to Bumble Bee a while ago because I was tired of paying premium prices for “chunk white tuna.” As I told BB, when I opened the cans what I was finding was neither chunk nor white, although it might be tuna.
They eventually responded with the usual “sorry you were displeased, we do our best” letter and some coupons.
I find that no matter what brand I buy, there is very little consistency in quality.
Naw, they’re bumblebee CHUNKS, the label claims. But they have the consistency of Skoal or minced beef. Totally not chunky at all.
This happened with me with Chicken of the Sea. I stopped buying BumbleBee because it was mushy. I had a great run of yummy tuna. Then I bought several cans of CotS, and the same thing happened–it went from nice chunks to mega mush. So I wrote them and they wrote back saying some crap about how they can’t vouch for the consistency of every can, and gave me coupons so I could buy more tuna mush for less.
If you can’t vouch for the consistency of every can, why should I buy your tuna? So now we’ve moved on to Starkist. Until they get mushy.
I’m not surprised. I was very disappointed by Bumble Bee sardines several times. I simply avoid that brand now for any products.
I don’t eat a whole lot of tuna and when I do, it ends up in a skillet of Tuna Helper anyway. That being said, Starkist is the brand I have experience with and it’s been pretty consistant.
I thought it was just me! “Chunk light” tuna has looked and tasted like cat food for awhile now, all the brands. We switched to “solid white albacore” – much better.
Invariably, when I want big chunks - like if I’m going to eat the tuna out of the can - I get fine pieces. But if I want it in very small peices – like to make tuna salad - it comes out in big solid hunks. So opening a can of tuna is almost always disappointing.
Starkist solid pack in water is the way to go. No mysteries, no cat food, just slabs of albacore.
Plus Starkist has a crazy fish who thinks he’s Phil Silvers, whereas Bumble Bee just has a stupid singing bee that goes “Bum, Bum, Bumble Bee.”
So you’re saying that the tuna named after a bird is better than the tuna named after an insect?
*Link is to a YouTube video, SFW
Some people swear that you can get better poultry (and hot dogs) when you choose the Kosher product. Does this translate to tuna, too?
Starkist and Bumble Bee are located in one section of my food store.
Over in the Kosher section is canned tuna bearing the Season brand. Anyone had any experience with this?
It seems lately that I’ve been getting better quality tuna by buying the store brand over the Nationals. Don’t know why.
fixed spelling
A brand called Bumble Bee Tuna actually exists? A scene in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls just took on a whole new layer of humor.
bringing the total number of layers to about 1.5
I’ve consistently found the pouches of all brands to be superior to their same-brand cans. They don’t sit in a can full of water for months. There’s relatively little excess water in the pouches. And it consistently smells much fresher…I think the tuna in cans absorbs something from them.
But to answer the OP:
I like chunk light in water. I prefer Starkist to Bumblebee.