SThere is one thing that can be eaten on this earth, as absurd as it may be, know that by venturing onto the social network TikTok, you will inevitably come across, sooner or later, a video of someone filming themselves eating ingest it. The other day, between watching a tasting of expired combat rations (#militaryrations, tens of thousands of views) and that of a tutorial for making medieval cheese (@henry_le_magnifique, 1.1 million views), I discovered yet another culinary curiosity. My thumb reddened by the back and forth movements on the screen of my cell phone, I plunged into a world just as confusing and fascinating – but much more comforting: that of canned sardine influencers.
It all started with an episode of the series Tinned Fish Talk published on Mei’s account (@daywithmei, 163,000 subscribers). In this 55-second video, the Chinese-American TikToker, who specializes in recommending canned fish (tinned fishin English), gets down when opening a can of spicy sardine roe from the Portuguese brand Nuri. “It is one of the rarest and most expensive sea cans in the world, she specifies in the preamble. This is a seasonal product, available once a year in only 100 copies. I bought it directly from the cannery for 40 euros. »
The camera lens switches to “point of view” (POV) mode and its eye becomes ours. Mei unwraps the box from its paper wrapping as if opening a precious gift, then wedges the lid ring between her thumb and index finger. The lid slowly rolls up on itself before revealing around twenty glistening brown gonads, tangled on top of each other in a tangy olive oil marinade. “Now, time for tasting”, exclaims the fine gourmet, carrying a first bag filled with tiny viscous beads to her mouth. Then come the tasting comments: first, the texture of the dish (“Similar to that of cooked cream: very fine and almost grainy ») and then its taste and aromas (“Very distinct fishy notes – and a bit of minerality, something like that metallic, earthy taste you find in liver”). “All tastes are natural and I still have an immeasurable number of preserves to try! »she finally announces with relish to her community.
Still on TikTok, @thesardinfluencer delights its audience (6,800 subscribers) with style videos unboxing (“box opening”) in which he comments on (and cooks) the fruit of his latest discoveries: here, line-caught wild Alaskan salmon; there, herrings from the Baltic Sea; further on, lobster meat infused with lemon and olive oil.
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