Bela Sardines
May 28, 2008
The blog never suffers for lack of testers. You’d be amazed at how many people willingly accept gear samples, even though they have to actually wear and use the gear and then tell what they think about it. You’d think that the obligation would drive people off, but the Geargals are dedicated to our mission and will dutifully accept what comes along with it, even if it’s gear samples from the best outdoor gear manufacturers around. It’s touching, really, our commitment to this blog. We know that our willingness to take one for the team helps other women figure out what gear they need.
Our latest venture was to find out whether or not women need sardines. I have to give it to Verde PR out of Durango, Colorado for shamelessly inserting a few cans of Bela sardines into one of their gear shipments to us. As if we’re going to let gear go untested, even if it is tiny, intact fish stuffed into a can with only marginal relevance to our blog mission. And test we did, gathering around with crackers and our highly toned palates to have what one Geargal called a “perfect balance of carbs, fat and protein” (note: that includes the crackers).
We sampled several flavors: the Sardines in Tomato Sauce, the Sardines in Olive Oil, and the Boneless Skinless Sardines in Olive Oil. You will note that there is one constant in all of the above flavors: SARDINES! If you don’t like sardines, you won’t like these sardines. Fair enough, right? But even if you think you don’t like sardines, you might like the boneless skinless version of them, which are really quite tasty and allow the eater to avoid unsettling glimpses of spines and other bony structures. They kind of taste like packaged tuna, only better. See what I mean about highly toned palates? Sometimes it all just comes down to “no icky bones in this kind!”
Even if you love sardines, the downside to taking them on trips is that they’re accompanied by an aluminum can that, once opened, will undoubtedly a) smell like fish for the rest of the trip and b) have to be packed back out. It would also be difficult to carry around leftover sardines since the can isn’t resealable, so you’d have to eat them all in one go. And that might be a chore, because sardines are not as little as I thought they would be. Who knew? People who have tried sardines, that’s who. Anyway, after giving it a little thought, I realized that these little packets of sea life have their uses beyond mere nutrition. You can bring them along on backcountry trips with overamorous partners and not have to worry about ways to repel them – your sardine breath will take care of that. If you really dislike your partner you can stuff the half-empty can into his backpack and just make sure to run faster than he can, or at least get him in between you and the next bear. Just kidding about the bear thing. But after having been on a few trips with that type of partner, I am starting to think that sardines belong in my emergency kit. Unless anyone out there has a “How To Pick Non-Sleazy Backcountry Partners” manual we can review.
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