The Opinions - Uninspired by Plant-Based Foods? Add Some Anchovies.

Episode Date: September 2, 2024

Anchovies can help make plant-forward eating more delicious and appealing, argues Christopher Beckman, an archaeologist-turned-anchovy-lover. He is the author of “A Twist in the Tail: How the Humble Anchovy Flavored Western Cuisine,” and he makes the case for why we should all embrace the small, oily fish.Thoughts? Email us at [e-mail]. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This is The Opinions, a show that brings you a mix of voices from New York Times opinion. You've heard the news. Here's what to make of it. I think right now anchovies are having a moment, both in the culinary world and culturally. My name is Christopher Beckman, and I'm an archaeologist working primarily in the Middle East, but I've gotten a little sidetracked last number of years on anchovies. And I wrote a book called A Twist in the Tale, How the Humble Anchovy Flavored Western Cuis. I think people are getting very excited right now about anchovies because as we move towards a more plant-forward future, anchovies have an incredible role to play in this new chapter in how we feed ourselves.

I'm seeing a number of chefs consistently talking about them. For instance, you know, Alison Roman talks about an anchovy almost every week. A beautiful, perfect roast chicken that's been slathered an anchovy butter with a hyperacidic. Nigella Lawson had a whole chapter devoted to anchovies in her last book. Melissa Clark of the New York Times, I always call her the anchovy queen. One, two, three, gorgeous, oil-packed anchovies. And then when you bring in the social media, when you bring in, The new companies like Fishwife.

Fishwife makes tint fish for hot girls. A1 packaging. These companies that are presenting anchovies to a younger generation without kind of the baggage of the past. Rumor has it that even Kamla Harris likes anchovies on her pizza, which I think bodes well for the whole nation. They are a way to bring a dose of flavor and satisfying taste to plants and grains and vegetables of all different kinds.

And this is something anchovies have been doing for 2,000 years. They go back all the way to ancient Rome when they seasoned almost everything the Romans ate. And the form in which they were used was fish sauce, what the Romans called Durham. And from the Roman era, we see it pop up throughout European history. In France, they became the flavor enhancer of French sauces in the 17 and 1800s. Across the English Channel in Britain, they were using it in ketchup.

And nobody's embraced anchovies in Europe quite like the Italians, where anchovies never went out of fashion. When we talk about what makes anchovies so special, what we're really talking about is the taste of umami. And for most of our history, there were four accepted tastes and flavors. There was basically sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. But in 1908, a very astute Japanese chemist named Ikeda, he hypothesized there was a fifth protein-y, mushroom-y, savory taste.

Well, after a lot of chemical experiments and reductions, he basically isolated glutamate, which we now know and call umami. And this is what makes anchovies so special because they are absolutely cocked to the gills with umami. My interest in anchovies really took off when I was younger, living in L.A. in my 20s, flat broke. And I would often eat very, very simple food, you know, ramen, simple pastas with tomato and sauce.

and basically to spruce up the tomato sauce, I would add an anchovy. And one of the interesting things I noticed was that if I had a friend or two over for dinner, and I told them at the end of the dinner that there was anchovy in it, I could see their eyes glazing over. And if I mentioned before dinner, literally a friend or two would just say, no, thanks, I'm not that hungry. So I realized very early on there's something very unique about anchovies, and that they bring immense flavor to our food,

but at the same time, they're loathed by half the population. I think it goes back to the very, very bland diets we tend to give children in the West. Because if you look at what children in Asia eat, they're all growing up, you know, eating anchovies on a daily basis in the form of fish sauce, either dried fish or fresh anchovies. In addition, I think part of the reason why so many people have a bad experience with anchovies is their first experience was as anchovy pizza.

And in the U.S., traditionally, the anchovy pizzas have been terrible. Usually it's a giant bulk tin of anchovies, the lowest quality sitting in the back of the pizzeria. It's been open for months. Then they're lazily thrown on the pizza and it's served. and it's a hot mess, a hot, salty mess, and it turns people off for decades. If there's an anchovy skeptic out there who wants to try anchovies for the first time

and is quite nervous, my suggestion is to saute an anchovy with a little garlic and chili pepper and olive oil, and this trifecta, this golden trifecta of flavor, becomes a background note that can season any vegetable, any pulse, any grain, you can literally add them and it will reside in the background

and people won't even know they're there, but they'll be working their wonders. If you like this show, follow it on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. This show is produced by Derek Arthur, Sophia Alvarez Boyd, Vichaka, Phoebe Lett,

Christina Samuelski, and Jillian Weinberger. It's edited by Kari Pitkin, Alison Bruseck, and Annie Rose Strasser. Engineering, mixing, and original music by Isaac Jones, Sonia Herrero, Pat McCusker, Carol Saburo, and Afim Shapiro. Additional music by Amin Sahota. The fact check team is Kate Sinclair, Mary Marge Locker, and Michelle Harris. Audience Strategy by Shannon Busta, Christina Samuelski, and Adrian Rivera. The executive producer of Times Opinion Audio is Annie Rose Dresser.