Starved of ideas for dinner? Forced to delve into the box of fish fingers normally reserved for the under-12s? You are not alone. A staggering 33,000 tonnes or 1.3 billion of these breaded sticks are consumed in the United Kingdom every year, according to the Association of Frozen Food Producers.
When fish fingers were invented they revolutionised western food production and eating habits. Never mind fishies on little dishies - they are history on a plate. So popular is this humble meal that the UK’s marketing men and women have identified a “fish finger generation”. These addicts now face a stiff test as Cap’n Birds Eye attempts to wean them off endangered cod and on to less threatened white fish such as coley, hoki or pollack.
There was a real-life (beardless) Clarence Birdseye. Many people were experimenting with food preservation in the 1900s when this keen biology student turned government naturalist made the crucial discovery that led, nearly a century later, to a pound;50 billion global frozen food market.
Born in Brooklyn in 1886, Birdseye was posted to Labrador in 1912. There he saw native Americans eating fish that a ferocious climate had frozen virtually instantly. This “flash” freezing prevented the formation of large ice crystals which would have damaged the fish’s cellular structure and robbed the food of nutrients. In other words, it still tasted good.
In 1922, the naturalist proved himself a natural businessman. He set up his own company in New York and began processing chilled fish fillets. Two years later, he developed a system of packing fish and vegetables into waxed cardboard cartons which were rapidly frozen between metal plates under high pressure.
But what really made his rivals green around the gills was his marketing strategy. Birdseye was an inventor who held nearly 300 patents. As well as his frozen food process he came up with a recoilless harpoon gun (the ideal Christmas present for whale-hunters with weak shoulders). Then in 1930 he developed refrigerated shop display cases for his - and only his - products. He followed these up with refrigerated freight wagons for trains. These ensured that he had a finger in virtually every kitchen in the land.
And in this land, too. The British, some of Europe’s keenest defrosters, on average eat about 40 kilograms of frozen food each, every year. This translates into annual sales of about pound;4.6 billion, with fish accounting for about pound;650 million of that total. For fish finger, read goldfinger.
