Growing up and for most of my adult life, I happily ate sardines/sprats in the under $3/can range (Season, Polar, Brunswick, TJ’s, King Oscar and whatever I was eating as a kid). Thanks to YouTube and this subreddit, in the past several months, I became aware of a vast universe of canned sardines well over the $3/can range – some ridiculously well over (a few of which I have eaten or are waiting for me in my pantry!).
I’ve discovered that within what I’ll call the mid-range of $4 – $8 (Nuri, Bela, Yurrita, Angelo Parodi, Jose Gourmet are among my favorites), there’s a huge leap in taste, appearance and texture compared to the under $3 range. In fact, now that I’ve discovered Nuri and Bela, I have difficulty going back to my old $2 favorites unless they are just mashed up into salad.
This morning I tried an $18 can of Ar de Arte small sardines in olive oil, and they were gorgeous and delicious (I just made a separate post about them). I also recently had a $13 can of La Brújula Sardinillas, and those were similarly lovely and delicious. Although I thoroughly enjoyed both cans, I can’t say they were so much exceptionally better than the mid-range sardines that I would consider springing for them again.
Still waiting for me in my pantry are a couple of cans that are more than $25 each (one is vintage, and one is “special” in a different way), which I admit, is ridiculous for sardines, and yet, here I am. Although I have no doubt that I’ll enjoy them, my guess is that they, too, will not be exceedingly better than the mid-range (or better at all, though I’m hoping the vintage one will be different enough to make it worthwhile).
I have (or have had) a couple of hobbies in which I clearly hit a point of diminishing returns: Products increase in quality as their prices increase, but at some point, the quality stops, even though the price continues to increase.
So all of this is leading up to these questions to those of you who have tried sardines/sprats in a full range of prices: Do you find that there’s a point of diminishing returns? If that point is higher than, say, around $8, which specific sardines would you say are worth crossing that line for? Or have you found the point to be even lower?
Thank you for staying with me for this long post!
by Grouchy-Cat1584
6 Comments
u/dreweyD You seem like you enjoy sardines in a wide price range. Your opinion on this…?
I agree that you’ve identified a point of diminishing returns. I also think it’s almost always worth it to me to try something more expensive – once. And something I especially like, occasionally as a treat. But as a daily driver? Never. The World Market near my house has Nuri for $6; I can frequently get Fishwife for about $7; and Jose Gourmet for $8. Given those prices it’s hard to justify buying large amounts of anything more expensive.
Yes, my story is pretty similar to yours as far as being a fan of tinned fish for a long time and only in the last couple years becoming aware of the wider world of tinned fish. I like trying new tins and I’ve found some new favorites but the sweet spot seems to be in the $5-10 tins. These seem to be a noticeable bump in quality from the common grocery store tins but still affordable. I have had great tins that cost more, but not in any defineable way better than the mid range tins. They are still fun to try and that’s what it’s mostly about for me. It becomes more an entertainment expense than a food item and in that perspective $15-$20 isn’t that unreasonable.
I agree wholeheartedly.
When the cost of one can starts to become comparable to an appetizer in a restaurant I have a hard time justifying it.
The $8 point seems totally fair because yeah there is a jump in texture and quality to me
Completely. I’m totally down to have fun or try fancy tins every now and then, but the higher the $$, the less justifiable it seems. Tbh it’s hard for me to stock $3-4 sardines tins. I do buy nuri on sale for $4, but for most of the other tins in that range, I’d rather just get Wild Pacific yellowtail.