Can a fish change its status?

History of mackerel gourmetisation in Portugal, processes and protagonists

Abstract

This article will try to discuss the inversion of a stereotype associated with a food product - mackerel (Scomber colias) - a fish whose consumption was connoted with popular and poverty contexts, and its revitalization that has taken place especially since 2011, concomitant with the worsening of the economic crisis in Portugal. This process of revitalization and resignification, initially put into practice by renowned Portuguese chefs, also entered the lexicon and practices of nutritionists who try to promote the idea of "healthy eating". Parallel to the economic crisis, another factor contributed to the revitalization of mackerel in Portugal: the imposition of fishing quotas on sardines, a fish recognized as a symbol of national food practices, associated with summer and its festivities. This brief analysis shows us how the process of gourmetisation of mackerel took place in a very specific context - an economic crisis in Portugal - a process that, as we will try to demonstrate, did not last over time.