There is something strange and offputting about seeing a tin of seafood in and amongst the shelves of dollar store items. Indeed, this nearly looks like a plastic toy replica of a tin of sardines; The ominous “SEA CHEF” branding, the bland and dated looking labelling. It is something I might expect to find as a film prop or in a particularly sophisticated play kitchen. Not something with real food within it. No Dollarama should be selling tinned fish, let alone tinned fish under their own seafood label for a single dollar.

Broken and mushy, the fish loosely jiggled in a solution of watery sunflower oil. These sardines were certainly not packed in like the canonical sardine. There were only three fish of varying size, their texture slimey and soft leaving behind a concerningly fishy aftertaste. A flavour that one who has never tasted a sardine might expect from a sardine but one that is, in the end, not an indicator of a good sardine. It tasted distinctly of fish market in a hot country. The kind in which you would find Jeremy Wade prowling about. I could only mush the flesh between my teeth and wonder about the concerning origins of the poor sardine who found itself half an aisle down from the party balloons and the off-brand Barbies.