Overseas
If you say stockfish, your mind likely travels to Veneto — to kitchens scented with patience and tradition, to dishes like baccalà alla vicentina or baccalà mantecato, symbols of a culinary culture that turned a northern fish into an Italian story.
Yet today, surprisingly, the new gravitational center of stockfish in Italy is Milan.
According to Nielsen data, Lombardy was the Italian region with the highest growth in stockfish consumption in 2024, with Milan leading the trend. This says much about how the meaning of tradition is changing — from nostalgic memory to rediscovered ingredient, now interpreted through an urban lens that speaks to contemporary audiences.
Behind this evolution lies not only a market figure but a cultural shift. Milan is a city that welcomes and blends influences: Venetians, Ligurians, Calabrians, Campanians — communities that brought their culinary habits with them — have made stockfish part of everyday life, even far from the coast. And when tradition moves, it changes shape.
In this context stands Daniel Canzian — a Veneto-born, Milan-adopted chef renowned for combining technical precision with modern sensibility. Recently named Stockfish Ambassador in Italy by the Norwegian Seafood Council, Canzian embodies an ideal synthesis of skill, geography, and vision. His cuisine, often described as “subtractive,” refocuses attention on the essence of ingredients — simplicity elevated to elegance.
At his Milan restaurant, stockfish isn’t a relic of the past but a living ingredient — relevant and renewed without losing its memory. His version of stockfish stewed with carrots and ginger is a statement of intent: a perfect balance between the natural flavor of Norwegian fish and the lightness of a modern touch.
Beyond the recipe lies a deeper theme. In a market where overall stockfish consumption has slowed — hindered by rising cod prices and evolving eating habits — the real goal for Norwegian producers and exporters is to reposition the product. The challenge is to strengthen its perceived value, keeping consumers willing to recognize its quality even in a higher-price context. Choosing an ambassador like Canzian is part of a medium-term strategy focused on major cities, where the greatest potential for growth and cultural renewal lies.
Milan, in this sense, is the perfect laboratory. Here, consumers are more open to ready-made recipes, gourmet products, and dishes that merge roots and innovation. Here, stockfish can once again become a star — not only in restaurant kitchens but also on supermarket shelves, where demand for traditional products reimagined for modern life is growing.
Norwegian stockfish, then, is no longer just a symbol of the past. It’s a raw material suited for a new culinary and cultural narrative — one that connects two extremes of Europe: Norway’s Lofoten Islands, where it’s born from the cold Barents Sea, and Italy, where for centuries it has been transformed into culture, identity, and collective memory.
And if we say stockfish today, perhaps it’s time to think not only of the past, but of how this ancient product is finding, in Milan — and across Italy — a new sense of modernity.
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