I’d never thought of canned sardines as a gift item, nor as an art form, but that was before I visited Portugal recently. I discovered that not only may sardines be attractively packaged, but they can also make an interesting and unusual gift item, and they can be surprisingly delicious.
My wife and I came across several sardine “boutiques” while visiting Lisbon, one of which is documented in this post. It was the “Mundo Fantastico da Sardinha Portuguesa”, shown below.
Its exhibits were interesting, such as this “2023” sardine throne…
A miniature Ferris wheel, each of its car being created by a duo of sardine cans….
A pillar created by an assortment of canned sardines (and other fish)….
There were even some sardine cans designed to look like gold bars….
A large number of the sardine cans displayed highlighted a century in fish….
Some of the cans featured photos of Portugal’s most famous cities….
As I’ve mentioned, the cans not only contained sardines but a variety of other seafood. For example, Bacalhau is Portuguese for cod, Linguado is sole…
Cavala are mackerels, Robalo and Petinga are other species of fish.
And Gambas are shrimp. All available as a delicious canned treat.
What can’t be adequately described is the interesting assortment of oils, chiles, tomato sauces and other flavors that make each can an interesting gustatory experience — these aren’t the canned fish your parents bought. We discovered that sardines indeed make an interesting gift, especially when opened on a picnic and enjoyed with a variety of crackers and your adult beverage of choice!
What fun!