Millennials are terrified of ordering fish

“Give me a quarter and a half of clams and that horse mackerel that has such bright eyes.”

I will never utter that phrase, which my mother or my grandmother (non-generic feminine) could have said. Neither me, nor my sister nor surely anyone of my generation. We are millennials and we do not make such a thorough diagnosis of the condition of a fish that we probably would not know how to recognize without a label.

Mercadona knows it and has made a move: since this year has changed its fishmongering system to leave behind, or at least reduce it to a minimum, the traditional display of fresh fish from the market at customer demand to increase the presence of its packaged and ready-to-go products.

The company explains that fish consumption is in free fall with at least a 20% decrease and that with this change they seek to offer a simpler, faster and more comfortable experience for the customer, by avoiding queues and waiting. Although it is not specified, this change also implies reducing the presence of staff, streamlining sales, simplifying supply and logistics processes and raising the unit prices of the fish: it does not cost the same to order a sea bream as it does a couple of packaged sea bream fillets.

This migration, which began in 2024 and which they already did previously with the butcher shop, represents an adaptation to consumer habits where the purchase of the finished product prevails over the classic display. Different, but in line with your bet for ready-to-eat dishes. Leaving aside the obvious benefits of the change for Juan Roig’s supermarket chain, there is a reality: there are compelling reasons for it to work.

Another fishmonger system for new clients with other habits

The new generations are illiterate when it comes to fish and meat. Thus, we have lost species- or part-specific terms (from the flank or neck of fish to the stifle of beef) for something much more generic like “fillets for the oven.” But it is not strange either: with some exceptions, we prefer ready-made parts to dealing with the entire animal. It is worth remembering that viral video of a young man disgusted and nauseated by having to clean a chicken.

However, this applies more to meat than to fish, where historically in the fishmonger it falls apart to then be able to use that hake in its entirety: the head for a broth, the tail for the oven… In any case, the gutted, boneless and perfectly arranged appearance on a tray feels much more aseptic.

Between one thing and another, we don’t know what to ask for: this tiktoker account How because of “not knowing how much to order I ended up buying 25 euros of hake“. Other She directly appears looking at the butcher shop counter with the same scared face that cows look at the train and the phrase “My biggest fear as a semi-adult: not knowing how to buy in a butcher shop.”

In the answers, someone says that he did not know that salmon was sold by the piece: “I ordered a salmon thinking it was a kilo, he gave me the whole salmon (€64). How embarrassed I was I didn’t tell him anything and I took him away“. And yet another talks about ordering 50 grams of cheese at the delicatessen and leaving with all the shame and the only slice in the package.

Of course, all the ingredients are in place for bulk personalized attention to disappear in the fishmonger, as long as there is a professional advising on which cut to buy based on what you were going to cook or what species is in season, these are increasingly less frequent scenarios and will disappear as the old generations give way to the new ones in the supermarkets. Mercadona has already anticipated its landing.

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Cover | Mercadona and Jeremiah Lazo