FASTING
On herrings and fasting, fish-based fasting on Fridays and in Lent and its origins in earlier religions, cults and/or alien contact
FEEDING
On when herrings feed, their favourite foods at different points in their life cycle and the effect of what they eat on their own oiliness
FIFIE
On the development, nature and adaptability of the sailing and steam drifters, the Fifie; its unsurprising origins on the Fife coast
FISH FINGERS
Birdseye Frozen Foods, Clarence Birdseye, Captain Birdseye and the original herring prototype for fish fingers
FLEAS
A brief, possibly unnattractive account of fleas and their use in a Norfolk fisherman's ability to predict herring catches
GERMAN SPIES
An dubious account of the use of herrings to identify German spies pretending to be Dutch during World War II
GOLDEN HERRING
On the golden coloured, more lightly smoked version of red herring, once sold extensively in the Mediterranean, together with recipes
GRANDMOTHER’S RECIPES
The self-indulgent inclusion of two herring dishes appearing in my Sussex grandmother's hand-written collection of strangely intermingled poems and recipes
GREEN HERRING
A very short entry explaining what green herring is, together with a visual explanation of why the silver darlings may have acquired that name
HARENG SAUR
A French-speaking smoked herring of Normandy and Belgium, le hareng saur can mean red herring, bloater (le bouffi) and kipper (le kipper)
HARENG SAUR MONOLOGUES
The hareng saur of the Siege of Paris inspired poems by Cros, Huysmans and Richepin and, with them, the modern French monologue
HERRING BHURTA
Cross-cultural creation or adaptation of some genuine Indian recipe to the fish available to returning ex-pats? A dish from Harvey Day.
HERRING BUSS (TUNE)
A jig from 1750, The Herring Buss, is found and played for you by the excellent English concertina player Rob Harbron
HERRING INDUSTRY BOARD
A child of Ramsay MacDonald’s National Government, the Herring Industry Board was shaped by his Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries the Scottish Unionist Walter Elliot, MP for Glasgow Kelvingrove. The... Read More
HERRING LASSES
On the herring lasses and the work they did, following the fishing around the coast of Britain, but particularly from Shetland to Great Yarmouth
HERRING UNDER A FUR COAT
Various recipes explored for this classic Russian dish, together with a photograph of one I made earlier
HERRING’S HEAD
On the traditional song, collected across the British Isles, celebrating the ways the herring underpins everything of social importance
ICELANDIC FISHERY
A brief history of the brief history of The Herring Adventure, in which our hero transforms an economy and emancipates womankind
IDDIKETTS OR IDDIS
An historical journey through the extraordinary world of Norwegian sardine can labels, known and collected in Norway as iddiketts or iddis
JANSSON’S TEMPTATION
A description of this Swedish dish; consideration of when he was actually tempted and how this might impact on the authenticity of some recipes
JEWISH RECIPES
A selection of fine recipes reflecting the love of herring in the Jewish diaspora (not including ones treated individually in this encyclopaedia)
KIPPER
Oh! The kipper! One of the greatest inventions of the Railway Age! Its Northumbrian origins, preparation, variety and history explored
KLONDYKING
On the development of klondyking, its changed meaning over time and thoughts on associations between herring fisheries and gold
LIFE CYCLE
An account of the herring's life cycle, its eight identified stages and a brief history of the development of that classification
LOCKMAN, JOHN
He had his flaws, he may not have been the poet herrings so richly deserve, but he was The Herring Poet - let's celebrate him anyway!
LOCKMAN’S VAST IMPORTANCE
John Lockman's 1750 pamphlet: the herring's importance to the National Wealth, our Naval Strength and, of course, dealing with the Highlanders
LUGGER
A description of the boat which replaced the herring buss and increased the alternative income opportunities for fishermen
MARTYRED SAINT
The irreverently wonderful C15th northern French poem, The Life of Saint Herring, glorious martyr, introduced and translated into English
MIGRATION & MOVEMENT
An account of the herring's long misunderstood migratory travels, the pursuit of abundance and factors that enable or would inhibit this
MONKEY BUSINESS
Discovering The Marx Brothers in kipper barrels on a liner may not have been so improbable, but the dialogue makes up for any accidental plausibility