Herrings, those silver darlings.

I try never to miss a chance to tout the culinary and personal health benefits of herring.

ON THE AVENUES: Breakfast is better with kippers (April 17, 2014)

But seriously: Silla Bjerrum’s herring soba noodles!

Here be herrings: the return of the silver darlings, by Alex Renton (Guardian)

Herring once provided millions of Britons with their main source of protein, but overfishing caused stocks to collapse. Now sustainable fisheries are reappearing – and one Danish-born chef is putting the fish on the menu in her UK sushi restaurants.

 ... From the middle ages on, herring and cod provided Atlantic Europe with most of its protein. But now, herrings are one of Britain’s lost foods. We used to call them the silver darlings. They were small and tasty, whether fried, smoked or cured, and full of the healthy oils we now buy in expensive food supplements. They are indeed silver, as slick and bright as mercury. They once existed in unbelievable abundance – the word herring comes from the Old German for “multitude”. In 1913, it was estimated that 10,000 boats from all over Europe fished herring in Scottish waters. At the peak of the herring boom, Britain exported a quarter of a million tonnes a year.