Rigby's Encyclopaedia of the Herring: Adventures with the King of Fishes

Shortlisted for the Nach Waxman Prize for Food & Beverage Scholarship.

Graeme Rigby set out to write about preserved fish for BBC Radio 4 and emerged, some years later, with an encyclopedia. The subject is the Atlantic herring, and the scope is essentially everything: biology, history, literature, warfare, espionage, economics, gastronomy, and the high-pitched flatulence that Soviet submarines mistook for enemy vessels.

The format is alphabetical, from "A Beginning" to "Zuiderzee," and each entry is a self-contained excursion. Herrings appear in four Shakespeare plays and one Ben Jonson comedy. Multiple wars have been fought over them, including Scotland versus the Holy Roman Empire. Their spawning events are visible from space. During the Second World War, they helped expose German spies posing as Dutch fishermen. Van Gogh's ear makes an appearance, as does sixteenth-century Bavaria's documented complaint about stinking herrings.

The book does not neglect the practical. The true history of kippers, bloaters, reds, chopped herring, and shuba are all addressed, along with sustainable fishery genetics and some recipes.

Rigby wears his research lightly, but there is a great deal of it. For anyone who has ever wondered why a small, oily fish became one of the most consequential creatures in the history of the North Atlantic, this is a thoroughly enjoyable place to find out.

Hardcover. Black and white and color illustrations.