The Rise of the Can

Abstract

After its rise and decline during the late medieval period and the Renaissance, the modern tuna era began in the nineteenth century, silently but persistent as an inseparable consequence of an industrial era that changed the world. Just as the steam engine was at the core of this change, it was the tin can which returned tuna to the global consumer’s plate as a popular fish. The concept was not much different from the salted tuna, garum, or dried mojama. The key was shelf life, an innovative preservation technique for the larder, assuring the consumer of healthy protein which would keep for a long time. The tin can made an underestimated contribution to the world population, enabling a definitive, worldwide breakthrough for tuna as a popular staple. As so often in the history of tuna it was also directly related to war.

Before you finish eating breakfast this morning, you’ve depended on more than half the world. This is the way our universe is structured…we aren’t going to have peace on earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of reality.

Martin Luther King Jr.