Wordplay aside,

I found this item at a grocery chain local to Western Massachusetts called Big Y.

Noting the >250% markup on sockeye variety over the standard pink salmon, it’s a bit of a hard sell…

But it did manage to snag my curiosity. Guilty as charged! Guess their daring marketing plan worked on me!

So. I waited about a week before actually trying it to give myself some time to kinda ‘forget’ how much more I paid for this one than the other one. I did have in mind that it was “more” but I had managed to divorce my thoughts from “how much” more. That said, I can state for the record, you can tell by the flavor that there’s distinctly more going on here. I don’t know if it’s actually 2.5x better than the alternative, but it most certainly makes an impression: the flavor profile is broader and the texture is discernibly richer. The coloration is more pronounced as well.

This is some bougie fish, friends. But I think it is in fact worth more. Just, perhaps, not worth THAT much more. I believe that once the novelty wears off, it would be acceptable at no more than 1.5x to 1.75x markup.

Both are definitely nice enough that I enjoyed eating them STRAIGHT outta the can. Honestly I don’t even know what further preparation I’d even bother with. When I want canned salmon, this hits the spot and scratches the itch. The sockeye version in particular, to be fair.