Column | How I got hooked on tinned fish

Big fish, as any fisherman can attest, get the attention. But little fish deserve the love.

Ask an ecologist (or connoisseur), and they’ll tell you that sardines, herring, anchovies and their pelagic brethren are the heroes and delicacies of the ocean.

Not that I don’t appreciate a silky slice of nigiri or hefty tuna sub. My childhood memories of albacore on a slab of crusty Italian bread (with a cream soda, please) remain the best. But I eventually concluded the collateral damage was too high. Rendering these fish — predators equivalent to wolves or tigers on land — into a can of commodity protein didn’t sit well with me.