Chilean Seafood At A Fishmonger Stall In Puerto Montt’s Market, Chile Editorial Photo

Chile has a long coastline of more than 4,000 km counted as a straight line but actually reaching up to more than 80,000 km, once the myriad of fjords and inlets in the far south are accounted in. There is an impressive marine biodiversity, including plenty of edible species such as piure Pyura chilensis, an tunicate that externally resembles a sponge but is actually an ancestor to vertebrates. Piure and other species were important components in the diet of the pre-columbian peoples. However, despite this seafood wealth, modern Chileans consume on average barely more than 8 kg of seafood per capita. Although this partly explained by the high price fetched by some of the most coveted species, such as hake, there are also cultural reasons: Chileans of European descent tend to despise consumption of cheap, nutritious and readily available small pelagics such as sardines and anchovies, which are fished to be made into fishmeal. This constitutes a stark contrast with Southern European countries such as Spain, France, Portugal and Italy, where sardines and anchovies are highly regarded as delicacies, and often fetch high prices in local markets.