Tuna Sandwiches and a Revelation
Oppor-tuna-ty In New Ideas
This started out as an ode to my sandwich: a tuna-free tuna fish sandwich (say that 5 times fast!). Its final destination was set for my dusty, not-oft-updated food blog and I did end up publishing it there. As I was typing up a short blurb for Instagram though, it hit me: here, in this open-faced sandwich, was a sustainability success story, staring me right in the face!
Before I dive into the meat of this story (hehe, puns), I’ll attempt to address the question some of you may be thinking straight away: if you’re not using tuna fish in your sandwich, what are you using? Why call it tuna fish at all? Both excellent questions! For starters, here’s a homework assignment you can do right now: go to your web browser and type in “vegan tuna fish sandwich.” Watch the results roll in. I’ll wait…
Lots of hits, hm? At last count, there were over 15 million. The best part? They’re all generally saying the same thing: mash up a bunch of chickpeas, add something that resembles mayo, maybe some spices, throw in something to give it crunch, and voila — you have a perfectly healthy and delicious substitute for the classic tuna sandwich.
Why ruin a good thing?
Tuna fish sandwiches were a staple in my house growing up: on weekends, I loved nothing better than to warm up a pot of soup, toast two slices of bread, and whip up a batch of tuna fish spread. If I’m being real here, that “soup” was usually a can of Campbell’s Vegetarian Vegetable – don’t judge, it was and continues to be the tastiest of all the Campbell’s soups and a fantastic last-minute-I-forgot-about-lunch stand-in. O:-) This was one of the earliest meals I learned how to make and I have fond memories associated with the stuff. Thank you, tuna!
But of course, things tend to shift a bit the more we learn about them. For me, it was my marine biology schooling that put a bit of a damper on my beloved tuna. Learning about how industrial fishing operations sweep the seas free of any living thing, coupled with an experience at sea, catching a real, life albacore tuna (no joke! It was nuts!) turned me from tuna lover to only-sometimes-maybe (when I was homesick, I ate tuna fish sandwiches; when all that was in the pantry was a can of tuna, well, I knew I could make lunch – thank you Mom for teaching me that skill!).
Fast forward to the post-college life and I became even more virtuous: I went vegan and eschewed any and all animal-related products. Look at me go. 😉 I even had my first tuna-free tuna sandwich in Burlington, VT (where I was living at the time) and it blew my freakin’ mind – in all seriousness people…if ever you have the opportunity to try one, whatever town or city you’re residing in, doo eeeeet. You won’t regret it! But after this experience, I sort of forgot about the mock-tuna thing until recently…when I really wanted the flavors of a tuna fish sandwich, without the actual fish. Which brings us back to the 15 million hits on Google and why the f*ck am I actually talking about this?
The Revelation
It’s a SEA CHANGE (more puns! are you laughing??) people!! We’re watching it unfold before our very eyes. There are 15 million places on the Internet talking about how to make a classic sandwich, without the classic ingredient! We’re living in a time where there are more options than ever before. It is truly amazing!
Now, there’s nothing wrong with tuna. It is a beautiful fish, heart-healthy and delicious and full of those Omega-whatchamacallits, but think about it: when you walk into your local grocery store, Costco, or Sam’s Club, and see the stacks or pallets of tuna cans, where do you think that’s all coming from? Sure, the pallets of canned chickpeas are also quite astonishing but somehow don’t make my stomach as queasy as imagining the hundreds of millions of pounds of fish sitting in every single grocery store on the planet, right now.
The hard truth: one day, there will be no more fish. We all know it but we hate to admit it because fish are soooo tasty and because we assume there are measures in place to prevent our greedy fingers from scooping up every last one. OK, so there are, but there are also way more greedy fingers on this planet and at some point, Mother Earth is just going to throw up her hands and cry, “UNCLE!” because it will all be too much to handle…and if/when that happens, we’ll probably be screwed anyway and mock-tuna will be the least of our problems. In any event, my idealist brain imagines a wave of tuna-less tuna sandwiches taking over grocery stores the world over. Because here it is: a solution to our problem!
Why don’t we…allow tuna populations to take a serious, much-needed breather?
Why don’t we…calm down about the Omega-whatevers already and munch on a tuna-free sandwich. After all, is it the actual tuna you’re craving? Or is it the texture, flavors, and emotions that go along with it? Because I’m sure a tuna-free experience could elicit all those things, too. 🙂
Moral of the story: sometimes, trying something new leads to all kinds of insights and ideas…and sometimes, new things can be beneficial for the planet, and ourselves. Sustainability success starts with people thinking outside the school (of fish) and I think that is just fin-tastic (last pun, I swear).
Of course, if you’re allergic to beans…that’s another story but I’m sure culinary minds the world over see that as a challenge worth accepting – any takers?!
