Podcast Episode Summary

Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher
Guest: Graeme Rigby
Episode Title: Graeme Rigby, "Rigby’s Encyclopaedia of the Herring" (Hurst Publishers, 2025)
Date: November 3, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features author Graeme Rigby, discussing his book Rigby’s Encyclopaedia of the Herring: Adventures with the King of Fishes. Host Dr. Miranda Melcher delves into the wide-ranging historical, cultural, culinary, and ecological narratives surrounding the humble herring, considered the "king of fishes." Rigby shares deep insights, amusing anecdotes, and little-known facts from over 27 years of research—revealing why herring has shaped European economies, societies, and even popular culture for centuries.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Genesis of the Encyclopaedia — A 27-Year Project

• Motivation and Background ([02:17])
  • Graeme Rigby recounts being inspired in the 1990s after producing a BBC Radio 4 program on Bombay duck and later red herrings. Dissatisfied with the depth he reached, he aspired to create a comprehensive reference about herring—eventually encouraged by his agent to go all in with a true encyclopedia.
  • Research became “irresistible,” leading to incremental progress over decades, from blogging to podcasts, culminating in a print offer from Hearst.
  • Quote:

    "The kind of logic of it just became irresistible really. So I started to work on it... And it's been sort of 27 years in the making." (C, [04:25])

2. Red Herrings: Real, Not Just a Metaphor

• The Meaning & History of "Red Herring" ([06:18])
  • Red herrings are Atlantic herring preserved through heavy salting and smoking, which physically turn the fish red. The process made them storable for over a year, critical for long-distance and historical provisioning.
  • The metaphor of the "red herring" as a distraction comes from literal practices of using the smoked fish to confuse scent hounds, and was popularized in literature from the 16th to 19th centuries.
  • Production declined in the UK but persists for Caribbean and West African markets.
  • Quote:

    "Red herrings are Atlantic herrings... heavily salted and very heavily smoked, so they become red." (C, [06:19])
    "Anything that smells is funny, just like farts, really." (C, [08:27])

3. What Counts as a Herring? Sardines, Pilchards, and More

• Taxonomy and Legal Definitions ([11:03])
  • Sardines can be herring (especially juvenile herrings), depending on geography and legal battles. In Europe, a 20th-century lawsuit restricted the name to pilchards, but global naming remains less strict.
  • Quote:

    "Everywhere else in the world, sardines can be a whole variety of fish, and they kind of can again in Europe, as long as you give the taxonomic binomial..." (C, [12:10])

4. Why the "King of Fishes"?

• Economic & Cultural Dominance ([13:30])
  • Herring earned its royal title due to its overwhelming numbers and economic significance—spurring vast trading networks and shaping the development of European economies and societies.
  • Folk stories reflected and popularized the fish's royal status.
  • Quote:

    "Basically, because of their economic importance. It was without question the most important fish from medieval times, just because of the sheer numbers caught..." (C, [13:35])

5. Enormous Shoals & Impact on Industry

• Scale and Stories ([15:40])
  • North Atlantic herring populations have been estimated in the trillions; shoals up to nine miles long and five miles wide were recorded, sometimes capsizing boats due to sheer volume.
  • Quote:

    "There are stories of fishing boats capsizing because of the weight of herring they were trying to pull up in the nets." (C, [16:34])

6. "Herringism" and the Amateur Historian

• Role of Enthusiasts in Herring History ([17:33])
  • Rigby coins "herringism" to describe the amateur passion that preserved herring history before academia caught up. Amateurs like A.M. Samuel wrote key texts remembered for their enthusiasm and endless rabbit holes.
  • Academia has since entered a “golden age” of herring research, but the foundational work came from hobbyists.
  • Quote:

    "I'm a herringist. I'm not a scientist, I'm not a kosher historian... that the role of those amateurs has been really important in opening up that history." (C, [19:00])

7. Dutch vs. British Herring Trade: Efficiency & Innovation

• Industrialization & Global Trade ([21:53])
  • Dutch innovation: development of factory "herring buses," mastery of salting methods, and quality control made them dominant until the Anglo-Dutch Wars.
  • British and Scots, initially lacking quality, supplied lower markets or slave plantations, but eventually improved methods via government subsidies (bounties) and the railways, with Scottish women ("herring lasses") becoming essential laborers renowned for their speed and skill.
  • Quote:

    "The Dutch... developed factory ships called herring buses and they were gutting and salting the herring on board these factory ships..." (C, [25:15])
    "Women have always been in land based curing... some of the women could gut up to 60 herrings a minute." (C, [36:56])

8. Women’s Labor, Agency, and Social Change

• Empowerment of Herring Lasses ([38:02])
  • Curing was predominantly women's work, traveling ports by train—earning significant, sometimes greater, wages than men and even forming their own unions.
  • In Iceland, the herring industry is connected to early feminist advances.
  • Quote:

    "I mean in Iceland... the herring gutting seasons provided the first opportunities for women to have independent... money of their own." (C, [38:57])

9. Herring in Songs, Poems, and Folklore

• Art, Literature, and Rituals ([41:30], [44:37])
  • Old Norse poems, Elizabethan jokes found in Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, and widespread folk tales.
  • Estonia’s song "The Herring Lived on Dry Land" humorously explains, through myth, how herring came to inhabit the salty sea.
  • Quote:

    "It's a lovely. It's a 19th century song which everybody in Estonia seems to know." (C, [44:37])

10. Festivals, Processions, and Enduring Humor

• Rituals from Medieval Lent to Modern Drag Queens ([45:53])
  • Historical processions in France and Ireland marked the end of herring-heavy Lenten diets, sometimes parodying the fish.
  • Modern celebrations like the Faicon Herring Queen event in Normandy blend tradition with contemporary joy and humor.
  • Quote:

    "It's this sort of. It's like pantomime dame, sort of drag event. Fantastic. Really funny. Really, really joyful." (C, [48:55])

11. Eating Herring Today: Recipes and Culinary Traditions

• Rigby’s Recommendations ([49:35])
  • Fresh herring: fried in oatmeal, ideally in bacon-flavored lard, with potatoes and lemon.
  • Salt herring: "Herring under a fur coat" (layered with potatoes, carrots, beetroot, mayonnaise, dill), popular in Russia/Ukraine.
  • Caribbean cuisine: red herring, peppers, Scotch bonnet, and herbs in dumplings.
  • Quote:

    "If you've got fresh herring. It's very hard to beat herrings fried in oatmeal... Potatoes on the side with a little jersey potato, bit of butter and bit of lemon juice over the herring. Fantastic." (C, [49:41])
    "Herring under a fur coat... It looks fantastic." (C, [51:19])

12. Continuing Fascination & New Research

• Herring Reduction Plants and Archaeological Digs ([53:24])
  • Even now, new historical evidence is coming to light—such as the first archaeological digs of herring reduction plants used for oil and fertilizer, illuminating more about the industry’s supply chain and environmental impacts.

Memorable Quotes

• On the nature of red herrings:

  "Anything that smells is funny, just like farts, really." (Rigby, [08:27])

• On the pull of herring research:

  "I suppose I've stayed with the herring for so long, is that it just never stops opening up these rabbit holes." (Rigby, [19:30])

• On the role of women in the industry:

  "Some of the women could gut up to 60 herrings a minute... it was hard work, your hands were in salt all the time." (Rigby, [36:56])

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:17] - Rigby describes the origins of the encyclopedia and his lifelong fascination with herring
• [06:18] - The true story of red herrings (the fish and the metaphor)
• [11:03] - Are sardines herrings? Regulations and naming
• [13:30] - Why herring is the "king of fishes"
• [15:54] - The staggering size of herring shoals
• [17:33] - "Herringism" and the passion of amateur historians
• [21:53] - How the Dutch built an empire on herring—and why the British lagged behind
• [32:45] - The industrial process and the crucial role of the "herring lasses"
• [38:02] - Herring lasses’ social and economic significance
• [41:30] - Literature, jokes, and poems about herring
• [44:37] - Folk tales, e.g., Estonia’s “Herring Lived on Dry Land”
• [45:53] - Processions, rituals, and comedic tradition
• [49:35] - Modern and historic recipes for herring
• [53:24] - New archaeological research and continued discoveries

Episode Tone and Takeaways

Rigby brings warmth, humor, and a keen sense for detail, seamlessly blending rigorous research with stories from the margins of history. The interview vividly illustrates that the story of herring is not just about fish—it’s about economic empires, gender, class, and the ways in which food becomes culture, myth, and memory.

The episode is brimming with quirky facts, contagious enthusiasm, and practical culinary advice—making it a goldmine for anyone interested in food history, maritime trade, women's labor history, or just a great fish tale.

Recommended for:
Historians, food enthusiasts, cultural scholars, and anyone curious about how a humble fish can change the world—and still taste great with oatmeal and potatoes.