Move over cottage cheese! Apparently sardinemaxxing is now a thing. Maxxing seems to be a thing more generally. I wrote about nonnamaxxing , but there is also looksmaxxing, proteinmaxxing and mommaxxing, and probably more. Sam even sent me a poster of Guelphmaxxing from the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences at University of Guelph. Canada’s intermittent cottage cheese shortages are attributed to the proteinmaxxing trend.

Now sardines are all the rage on places like TikTok and Instagram, and a friend tells me that there are shortages in Portugal (possibly because the trendiest sardine brands are from Spain and Portugal). At least sardines are a good source of protein and fatty acids, and are relatively inexpensive.

This was a silly trend I could happily jump on as I learned about sardinemaxxing the same week as a friend posted her weekly crazy recipe (usually something vintage with terrible food photography). It was Sardine Stuffed Lemons.

The recipe comes from New Creative Cookery with Davis Gelatine (an Australian company), published in 1985.

I love experimenting with ridiculous vintage recipes and I like sardines and horseradish. I skipped the gelatine and cream, choosing to use mayonnaise instead.

As I was finishing up, I realized I had eaten the last of my bread at lunch. Undeterred, I dumped the contents of half a lemon into a bowl full of greens. It was actually quite tasty and I would eat it again. It did remind me of the green salads topped with cottage cheese or tuna or chicken salad that were popular in the 60s and 70s.

I’m going to call my effort a gimmick because it was more effort than it was worth. But simplified a bit? That’s a trend I could get behind.