Canned sardines were, for a while in the middle of the 1800s, an exotic and high status food, with their very own serving dish and a role at the table during the soup course.

Really.

The last sardine cannery in the U.S. located at Prospect Harbor here in Maine is facing closure, not so much because they are less popular, but because of the herring fishery’s hard times. Sardines were among some of the earliest canned foods produced in America, and they were also imported from France, and carried an exotic aura. Besides they were a bit pricey.

As a result, a homemaker was proud to present them at table, and in the later 1860s, silver and glass makers created little baskets or dishes that actually held an opened sardine can for formal presentation on a properly set table. Additionally, silver forks and tongs, even named “sardine forks” appeared during the last quarter of the 19th century.

Recipes for the elegant presentation of sardine salads, sardine sandwiches fit for ladies luncheons, and of course, simple sardines as a side dish crop up in cookbooks from 1870 through the early 1900s.

Sardines had a proletarian side as well. They were offered at saloons as a snack. Prohibition hit sardine sales very hard. No question they are handy for portable lunches – a can of herrings, some crackers, and you are all set. But now we will have to content ourselves with fish from Norway, Canada, and Chile.

Sandy Oliver is a Food Historian, Author, MF&L columnist: The Way Things Were.