Nicknamed the hottest new, extremely old trend, tinned fish has become the latest craze in the world of food in 2023. With #tinnedfish becoming a huge trending topic in the past year, it has amassed over 20 million views on TikTok alone and tinned fish companies have seen an increase in sales by over 130%. There’s no doubt that 2023 is the year of tinned seafood.

According to the founder of Tiny Fish Co. Sara Hauman, “Within the past few months, interest in ‘fancy fish in a can’ has been surging”. For a long time, tinned fish on supermarket shelves was limited to tuna, sardines and anchovies, but not anymore. Recently there’s been a total reinvention in the idea of tinned fish, with bold and modern flavours being introduced to the mix, like scallops, smoked oysters and stuffed baby squid. There has been a surge in companies remarketing their products with more contemporary and on trend branding, resulting in a range of cool, metal boxes becoming the fashionable luxury food product of the year.

In many European countries such as Spain, Portugal and Malta, tinned fish is more than a convenient product to use in their cooking, it’s a premium snack. It’s been a huge part of Portugal’s culinary heritage since 1853, when the national canning industry was born.

Since then, tinned fish has become a popular food seen on various restaurant menus, from casual to fine dining restaurants.

It has also become quite the popular tourist souvenir with shops dedicated to the tinned fish cause. Just pass through Humberto Delgado Airport in Lisbon and you are met with the incredible Mundo Fantástico da Sardinha Portuguesa, A space where the sardine is queen, in a gallery of cans that represent a century of Portugal’s dedication to the tinned fish industry.