British domestic cooking has narrowed to a handful of seafood species over the past century, according to an academic review of more than 1,000 fish and shellfish recipes published in a lifestyle magazine.
Ruth Thurstan, of the University of Exeter, examined seafood recipes printed in the British edition of Good Housekeeping from 1923 to the present. Her study found that 67 species appeared across the century of recipes, but that since the 1970s the “big five” — cod, haddock, tuna, salmon and prawns — have taken over, making up more than 60% of all mentions.
Recipes built around oysters, flatfish and herring have dropped sharply over the same period.
The Marine Stewardship Council states that the big five account for 80% of the fish and seafood eaten in the UK.
Thurstan said the pattern carried environmental costs. She pointed out that cod, haddock and shrimp fishing can damage valuable habitats, while salmon farming has come under intense scrutiny.
She said: “For decades, British cooks have turned to published recipes for inspiration about what to put on the dinner table. I wondered whether these everyday sources could tell us how our relationship with fish has changed over time.”
Thurstan, whose research is carried out at the Centre for Ecology and Conservation within Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall, described the findings as a striking story of change. “This wasn’t simply a case of fewer species being available — herring, oyster and lobster can all still be bought — but it reflects a genuine narrowing of what readers were being shown and encouraged to cook,” she said.
The study sets out three broad phases. Before the 1970s, recipes drew on a diverse mix of species, with no single group dominant, though flatfish, herring and oyster were prominent, and the writing stressed domestic skills, economy and preparing whole fish. The 1970s brought a fall in species diversity and a growing focus on the big five. From the 1980s onwards, the big five appeared in the majority of recipes as other species declined, although not all vanished entirely.
Among the earlier recipes Thurstan found were oyster cocktail, lobster canapes and halibut steaks in milk from the 1920s and 1930s. In the 1940s, when rationing was in force, the then Ministry of Food published recipes that explicitly encouraged the eating of fish and other protein sources, including one for curried whale meat.
The 1960s yielded recipes for plaice véronique and chilled prawn soup. Cooks in the 1970s were invited to consider cod roe on toast and tuna soured cream quiche, and recipes mentioning tinned fish rose sharply. The 1990s featured dishes such as herb-crusted salmon and prawn and peanut noodles, while the 2020s have offered more “aspirational” options including golden hasselback salmon, gochujang sticky cod and miso prawn skewers.
Thurstan has cooked some of the recipes herself, among them “Fish baked in custard” from the 1920s. She said: “I tried it with pollack. While the recipe calls it a custard it isn’t sweet, so I think, perhaps with a name change, it has potential.”
She also plans to attempt two 1930s recipes: oyster soup and kipper cream. The second involves parboiling a kipper before pounding it with melted butter, lemon juice or vinegar and cayenne until it reaches the consistency of a cream. “I think it would be similar to today’s mackerel paté, and just as delicious,” she said.
The magazine researched by Thurstan was originally published as British Good Housekeeping and is now Good Housekeeping UK. Her paper, titled “Declines in the diversity of fish represented in British domestic recipes over the past 100 years”, will be published in the journal People and Nature.
COMMENTS