Dutch pensioner Riet van der Toorn, 83, gazed on with nostalgia as the season's first barrel of herring landed Tuesday at Scheveningen port, winched ashore from a traditional fishing boat.
"We grew up with herring," van der Toorn told AFP, as the fish heads are removed and the rest swallowed whole with small chopped cubes of raw onion.
But the traditional Dutch delicacy is less to the taste of the young generation and the industry is now turning to social media influencers and top chefs to net new herring fans.
Herring is one of the most popular fish downed in the Netherlands, with around 25,000 tonnes -- or 175 million fish -- expected to be produced in 2026, according to the Netherlands Fish Bureau.
"When I was little, my parents ate nothing but herring. My grandparents as well," said Michelin-star chef Yornie van Dijk, as he oversaw frantic herring preparation quayside.
"But you could say that this tradition has skipped a generation. It's up to us to revive it and show young people how delicious herring can be," van Dijk told AFP in an interview.
"You can eat it in many different ways, in a sandwich or just raw. We Dutch should be proud of this product," said the chef.
Social media influencers were invited to sample the herring and spread the word to younger generations.
Content creator Emily Levert, who moved to the Netherlands two years ago from Vietnam, said herring should be seen as a sort of "Dutch sashimi".
"It's a typically Dutch product and I want to spread this beautiful culture" via social media to her 90,000 Instagram followers, the 33-year-old, who runs an online travel guide, told AFP.
Her husband Clement Levert, also a content creator, said social media could be a vehicle to promote the traditional Dutch dish "and also share the fun side of it."
Clutching a silvery white herring in her hand, van der Toorn said the tradition was also borne out of necessity when she was younger.
"Back then, our parents gave us herring when we were hungry. Now, almost no one goes hungry any more, so children do not learn to eat herring," she said. – AFP
