Seafood in recipes 'narrows over last century'

The variety of seafood presented to people in recipes in the UK has "narrowed" over the last 100 years, new research shows.

Dr Ruth Thurstan, from the University of Exeter, studied the range of seafood recipes published in Good Housekeeping magazine from 1923 to the present day.

She found dishes over the years gave way to today's "big five" – cod, haddock, tuna, salmon and prawns – which now make up about 80% of seafood eaten in the UK.

Dr Thurston said the results reflected "decades of interacting changes in fish supply, trade, and supply chains," which had shaped what people cooked at home.

She said: "Recipes are not a direct measure of consumption or preference, but they show what people were expected to recognise, access, and want to cook at a given time."

Within the study, a total of 1,192 fish and shellfish recipes from selected Good Housekeeping issues over the course of the century were analysed.

Thurstan, from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation on Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall, found a diverse mix of species in recipes prior to the 1970s, with flatfish, herring and oyster all then prominent.

Recipes before the 1970s also emphasised domestic skills, economy and preparing whole fish.

They included oyster soup and halibut steaks in milk (1920s and 30s); fish pasties and jellied herrings (1940s); and tuna soured cream quiche, herring snips and salmon trout in aspic (1970s).

A post-1970s shift saw a decline in diversity of fish species in published recipes, with increased focus on the "big five", Thurstan found.

In this period, catch in UK waters declined and imports increased, alongside the rise of supermarkets, frozen foods and standardised products, according to the study.

From the 1980s to now, it noted the "big five" presented in well over half of recipes, with a decline of other species.

Thurstan said: "The results reveal a striking story of change.

"This wasn't simply a case of fewer species being available – herring, oyster and lobster can all still be bought – but it reflects a genuine narrowing of what readers were being shown and encouraged to cook, at least within the pages of this magazine."

She added the work shows current diets were not "fixed or inevitable" – but could change and were shaped by multiple factors, including supply, price, history and culture.

Thurstan's study was funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and published in the journal People and Nature.

Follow BBC Devon on X, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk.