Sardines, Onigiri and Some Family History

My own creation: Fruit and Onigiri with black rice and sardines for breakfast

While I have a serious sweet tooth, I have liked certain savoury things since childhood, like dill pickles, pickled herring, sauerkraut and sardines. Dad had a hankering for similar foods, but his savoury tooth extended to things I did not enjoy, like Limburger cheese, caraway seeds, and licorice flavour.

I was 12 years old in 1967. I remember going to the World Exposition in Montreal, PQ, with my parents and oldest brother in June of that year. My mother's best friend, Ruth Johnson, lived in Montreal at the time, and we stayed at their house. I bought my first camera that year with babysitting money, and I still have black-and-white prints from Expo '67. It was either the summer of 1967 or 1968 that we packed up a new Nimrod tent trailer and all of us, two adults and five children, took a two-week road trip to New Brunswick. I cannot find any photos of this holiday, which is strange because Dad always took pictures. My photo-taking was limited to when I could afford film and processing. I remember my brother, Nathan, staying in a pup tent while the rest of us slept in the trailer. Mom cooked all our meals on a two-burner Coleman stove.

A picnic in High Park, Toronto, on July 11, 1965. I was 10 years old in this picture

We spent some time in southern New Brunswick on the Bay of Fundy in Back Bay and Black's Harbour, not far from the international border with Maine. My father was sent here in the summer when he was a school-aged child because of his severe seasonal allergies in Toronto. I remember visiting with the family he used to stay with, 20 or more years earlier. The main industry in the tiny village of Black's Harbour was the sardine cannery. We toured it, and my lasting impression was seeing scores of women chopping the heads and tails off mounds of tiny fish. All the women had bandaged fingers covering cuts from the scissors they used. I have a few other memories, including visiting the Barrett family, who had moved back to New Brunswick from Toronto the year before. (They moved back to Toronto shortly afterward.) I  also remember Dad fly-fishing and catching a big salmon on the Miramichi River with Arden Bustard, visiting Magnetic Hill, enjoying the ocean and looking for shells when the tide was out.

Our family in Toronto, ON- Easter 1968- I was 13 years old

I bought a case of Brunswick Sardines at Black's Harbour Cannery that summer and kept them for myself after we returned to Toronto. I loved eating them on toast. Almost sixty years later, sardines are still a grocery staple at our home. I just discovered that sardines are having an "influencer moment" and have gone viral in the recent protein craze. Black's Harbour is now a major international processor of all types of seafood, and continues to produce its signature sardines. Sardines are not as plentiful as they used to be on Canada's East Coast, and imports from the Baltic and North Seas are required to meet demand. Some varieties of Brunswick Sardines are now processed in Poland.

My latest food discovery is Japanese Onigiri, triangular, filled rice balls wrapped in nori that are increasingly available in grocery and convenience stores. My daughter took the picture on the left at a shop that had an extensive selection in Toronto's Union Station. I bought one at a local Asian grocer and really liked it as a substitute for a sandwich.

Onigiri is cheaper to make at home and is not difficult, especially if you have an onigiri mould. I have filled them with egg and with sardines, but any sushi filling could be used. Gochujang sauce is my preferred flavouring right now. I haven't perfected the nori wrap yet, but that will come with practice.

I noticed the picnic lunch my mom packed for us in 1965 was the same food we had every day at noon: sandwiches on 60% wholewheat bread with a rotation of fillings. We would have a cookie or muffin for dessert and had a small cup of Kool-Aid from the modest-sized thermos. We must have been dehydrated all the time! We never had personal water bottles or large fountain drinks. The food wasn't as important as the fun-filled family memories of these childhood years. Our food choices have increased exponentially, and while I am happy to try new dishes, simplicity is still the best option. Onigiri is one of my new, simple meals.