Rigby’s Encyclopaedia of the Herring

aka The Herripedia

Themes is for...

FASTING

On herrings and fasting, fish-based fasting on Fridays and in Lent and its origins in earlier religions, cults and/or alien contact

FEEDING

On when herrings feed, their favourite foods at different points in their life cycle and the effect of what they eat on their own oiliness

FIFIE

On the development, nature and adaptability of the sailing and steam drifters, the Fifie; its unsurprising origins on the Fife coast

FISH FINGERS

Birdseye Frozen Foods, Clarence Birdseye, Captain Birdseye and the original herring prototype for fish fingers

FLEAS

A brief, possibly unnattractive account of fleas and their use in a Norfolk fisherman's ability to predict herring catches

GERMAN SPIES

An dubious account of the use of herrings to identify German spies pretending to be Dutch during World War II

GOLDEN HERRING

On the golden coloured, more lightly smoked version of red herring, once sold extensively in the Mediterranean, together with recipes

GRANDMOTHER’S RECIPES

The self-indulgent inclusion of two herring dishes appearing in my Sussex grandmother's hand-written collection of strangely intermingled poems and recipes

GREEN HERRING

A very short entry explaining what green herring is, together with a visual explanation of why the silver darlings may have acquired that name

HARENG SAUR

A French-speaking smoked herring of Normandy and Belgium, le hareng saur can mean red herring, bloater (le bouffi) and kipper (le kipper)

HARENG SAUR MONOLOGUES

The hareng saur of the Siege of Paris inspired poems by Cros, Huysmans and Richepin and, with them, the modern French monologue

HERRING BHURTA

Cross-cultural creation or adaptation of some genuine Indian recipe to the fish available to returning ex-pats? A dish from Harvey Day.

HERRING BUSS (TUNE)

A jig from 1750, The Herring Buss, is found and played for you by the excellent English concertina player Rob Harbron

HERRING INDUSTRY BOARD

A child of Ramsay MacDonald’s National Government, the Herring Industry Board was shaped by his Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries the Scottish Unionist Walter Elliot, MP for Glasgow Kelvingrove. The... Read More

HERRING LASSES

On the herring lasses and the work they did, following the fishing around the coast of Britain, but particularly from Shetland to Great Yarmouth

HERRING UNDER A FUR COAT

Various recipes explored for this classic Russian dish, together with a photograph of one I made earlier

HERRING’S HEAD

On the traditional song, collected across the British Isles, celebrating the ways the herring underpins everything of social importance

ICELANDIC FISHERY

A brief history of the brief history of The Herring Adventure, in which our hero transforms an economy and emancipates womankind

IDDIKETTS OR IDDIS

An historical journey through the extraordinary world of Norwegian sardine can labels, known and collected in Norway as iddiketts or iddis

JANSSON’S TEMPTATION

A description of this Swedish dish; consideration of when he was actually tempted and how this might impact on the authenticity of some recipes

JEWISH RECIPES

A selection of fine recipes reflecting the love of herring in the Jewish diaspora (not including ones treated individually in this encyclopaedia)

KIPPER

Oh! The kipper! One of the greatest inventions of the Railway Age! Its Northumbrian origins, preparation, variety and history explored

KLONDYKING

On the development of klondyking, its changed meaning over time and thoughts on associations between herring fisheries and gold

LIFE CYCLE

An account of the herring's life cycle, its eight identified stages and a brief history of the development of that classification

LOCKMAN, JOHN

He had his flaws, he may not have been the poet herrings so richly deserve, but he was The Herring Poet - let's celebrate him anyway!

LOCKMAN’S VAST IMPORTANCE

John Lockman's 1750 pamphlet: the herring's importance to the National Wealth, our Naval Strength and, of course, dealing with the Highlanders

LUGGER

A description of the boat which replaced the herring buss and increased the alternative income opportunities for fishermen

MARTYRED SAINT

The irreverently wonderful C15th northern French poem, The Life of Saint Herring, glorious martyr, introduced and translated into English

MIGRATION & MOVEMENT

An account of the herring's long misunderstood migratory travels, the pursuit of abundance and factors that enable or would inhibit this

MONKEY BUSINESS

Discovering The Marx Brothers in kipper barrels on a liner may not have been so improbable, but the dialogue makes up for any accidental plausibility

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