The final sardine has been plucked from its tin. With a bit of Iberian panache, the residual fish-infused olive oil is mopped up by the glutamic sponginess of a warm, crusty piece of sourdough bread from the farmer’s market. Should I open that tin of mussels? Eh, I’m feeling full. Perhaps just a nip of amaro and a bite of dark chocolate for now. There’ll always be more tomorrow.
Cueva Nueva Conservas Club never had big money-making aspirations. It started as a means to explore, connect, learn, and stay sane. The complete shutdown of travel during the COVID-19 pandemic was wild and hollow. Going from being able to hop on a plane to Bangkok or Rome at the drop of a pan, to then experiencing a reluctance to get into a car and drive to a grocery store was stark.
I was lucky. For so, so many reasons, but one is that I found an interest and a hobby just before the world shut down—a hobby that brought me around the world from within the comforts of my home. Tinned fish, or conservas, offers a taste of place. Similar to the way we talk about terroir with wine, seafood has its own merroir—a term I haven’t yet gotten to stick.
After hitting some modest virality on the first of many tinned fish articles, I was inundated with samples and an urge to try as many tins as I could. Sardines from Portugal, cockles from Spain, tuna belly from Italy, mackerel from Japan, mussels from Canada, scallops from France, sprats from Latvia, salmon from the U.S., and so much more. It became a trove of flavors that offered excitement during a rather bleak time.
Quickly, readers and friends became interested, asking what to buy, how to eat it, and where to order from. That’s when the conservas club was born. Like the wine clubs I had been exploring at the time, there was an opportunity to bring joy, culture, and deliciousness to people’s homes. Working out of an apartment in Pittsburgh, my in-law’s home in Buffalo, an Airbnb in Mexico, and finally, for the bulk of it in a 4th-floor walkup apartment in Brooklyn, I managed to ship out 88 different products to over 150 subscribers. Not a massive number, but still a lot of boxes to carry down 4 flights of stairs.
The category has grown, and I like to believe I’ve grown with it. Not that long ago it was difficult to find good cheese, charcuterie, or chocolate in the U.S., and like those categories, I don’t see the tinned fish trend dissipating into the graveyard of viral consumer trends. That’s because tinned fish isn’t new, rather it’s just new to many of us.
So what’s next for Cueva Nueva? Long term, I’m not too sure, but I do know that I am done fulfilling boxes out of my apartment for now. In the short term, I will be throwing a Conservas Party at Huerta’s in New York City’s East Village on Wednesday, January 18th.
If you’re in the city, come through, hang out, and let’s connect. You don’t even have to like fish.
