Sardines Vs. Anchovies: Round 1
I am all over officiating at this fight, except that I can’t find anyone to answer the question.
What I know:
- “Sardine” and “anchovy” are used interchangeably in some parts of the world. (FWIW, so are “which” and “that,” and that doesn’t make it right).
- Sardines are sometimes said to be part of the herring family. Anchovies are also sometimes said to be similar to, if not part of, the herring family.
- Sardines travel in large schools similar to those you see in nature films. Anchovies also travel in large schools similar to those you see in nature films.
I asked our waiter at Zuni Cafe what the difference was, and he had no idea. He said Judy Rodgers was still there, though, and said he would ask her. Apparently when he asked her she ducked out. I don’t think she knows the answer. I told the waiter to have her call me. I am still waiting for her call.
I don’t think anyone knows. The best I can get is that sardines are thought to be larger, and anchovies smaller.
Google yields no results. My friend Aida Mollenkamp, Food Editor at my old client CHOW, also couldn’t really tell me.
My conclusion is this: while there might be a subtle technical difference between the two terms they have colloquially come to mean the same thing, except perhaps on the size issue. And thus sardines can be thought of as large anchovies.
I am sure someone somewhere knows the difference, but she might be a very old woman in Sardinia (parent island to the term “sardine”!) and this might be Lost Knowledge. My gut is that the answer is what I have inferred: the two terms have come to refer to the same types of fish, excepting only the difference in their size.
I want to find the precise, this-is-not-a-guess-answer. But I think I am close.
