🐟💅 Why Gen Z is sardine-maxxing

🥞 We have your breakfast plans on lock: Today, IHOP is offering a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. to celebrate National Pancake Day! You can find your closest IHOP here.

🫧☁️ Consider this your sign for some self care. Tomorrow, our friends at Kelo Steam and Spa are giving away $100 gift cards to six lucky B-Side Members! Interested? Start a 30-day free trial to enter when it drops. Open to Mass. residents 18+. 

👀 What’s on tap today:

Up first…

Gen Z’s newest hyperfixation: Sardines. We’re serious! One scroll down your FYP can land you in a rabbit hole of influencers and foodies raving about the snack’s benefits, from protein to skincare, according to the Globe.

Here’s what to know:

🐟 Sardines are the ultimate Gen Z snack. And by that, we mean they’re “fast, cheap, and high in protein,” Abhi Konduru, the founder and recipe developer of ThaliMethod, told the Globe. For a generation that’s entering the workforce with very little money and time, a dish that requires little more than popping open a can and toasting some bread is basically the ideal working lunch. “Sardines check every box,” she said.

💅 An internet-friendly rebrand has helped their case. Trendy brands like Fishwife Co. with its bright, Gen Z-coded branding, did a lot of heavy lifting to help consumers see tinned fish as a trendy bite. “Not only did TikTok make sardines popular, but it also changed how people think about them,” Nicole van Zanten, the co-president and chief growth officer at ICUC.social, told the Globe. “Things that were once considered old-fashioned or niche are now being described as ‘elevated,’ ‘protein-forward,’ and ‘effortlessly European.’”

💄 Some influencers even tout its beauty benefits. As wellness influencer Ally Renee told her 1.4 million followers, “You say you want to glow up this year, but you’re not eating sardines. What are you doing? This is skincare in a can, y’all.” Of course, tinned fish alone won’t fix everything, but it is true that sardines have long been thought to promote skin and hair health. Everything in moderation, people!

🎣 That said, Gen Z didn’t discover sardines. They’ve long been a staple of South Indian, Mediterranean and Iberian cultures, particularly in Portugal and Spain. Here in Mass., Portugalia Marketplace in Fall River sells tons of tinned fish that range from $5 per tin to more than $60. “This isn’t anything new. I think the Spanish and Portuguese have known this for centuries,” Johnson & Wales assistant dean TJ Delle Donne told the Globe. 

🌎 But fish lovers are happy they’re getting a moment in the sun. TikTok trend or not, sardines are considered to be more sustainable than other types of fish. Travis Beckan, a product sustainability engineer, sees the trend as a “great example of clever marketing driving sustainable, positive food systems change.” Or, as Jade Taylor, the owner of Angel Oak Smokehouse, put it, “any trend that gets people excited about seafood and its health benefits is a win.”

😋 Wanna know more? You can read the whole story here.

🌷🖼️ Everything is waking up again (including your calendar). Nowruz — the ancient festival which signals the beginning of spring — is taking over the MFA on March 19. Expect live music, dancing, art, and traditions that make everything feel a little more alive again. It’s joyful. It’s meaningful. It’s exactly what March needs. And with $5 admission after 5 p.m., it’s also cheaper than your usual Thursday drink. Drop by and start the new season surrounded by culture. 

💬 Local politicians didn’t mince words about the U.S. attack on Iran. ICYMI: Over the weekend, President Trump launched an attack on Iran, marking the start of what could be a long war. Here in Boston, Iranian-Americans took to the streets in both celebration and protest, but local politicians made it clear they’re not fans of the move. Sen. Warren called it a “war built on lies,” Sen. Markey called it “illegal and unconstitutional,” and veteran Rep. Seth Moulton called Trump a “draft dodger.” Keep up with the latest here.

📈 Boston’s racial life expectancy gap is growing. Boston’s first-ever report analyzing Black Bostonians’ life expectancy had some grim findings: Over the last decade, their life expectancy gap grew from 3.3 to 7 years fewer than other racial and ethnic groups, and Black women and men were expected to live six and nine years less than others. Why? Drug overdoses, preventable cancers, and heart disease and diabetes were the leading causes. Thankfully, the city is taking steps to close the gap, including expanding cancer screenings and funding for Black men’s health outcomes.

❄️ Is this winter worse than Snowmageddon? Long story short: No. So far this season, Boston has racked up an impressive 61.5 inches of snow — the most the city’s seen since the winter of 2014 to 2015, a.k.a. Snowmageddon. Buuuuut according to Globe data, Snowmageddon still blows this winter out of the water. That year, Boston received a whopping 102 inches of snow, including nearly eight feet between Jan. 24 and Feb. 22 alone (see: snow up to our shoulders). If nothing else, let this be a lesson in gratitude.

🎸 Boston’s spring concert scene is HOT. The proof: Boston.com’s roundup of 15 must-see spring shows. If you’re not willing to drop $300+ to see honorary Masshole Cardi B at TD Garden, we’d recommend trendy alt-pop band The Last Dinner Party’s show at Roadrunner on April 18, which will run you $120. Or, for a truly budget-friendly ticket, $42 will get you to Zillennial singer-songwriter Madison Cunningham’s April 4 show at the Wilbur. Here’s the full lineup.

This stretch of Route 2 in the Berkshires is straight out of a Disney movie. After all, where else would you find dozens of giant, rainbow-colored icicles hanging off a rock face on the side of a highway? 

Lately, the rainbow icicles have caused a stir on social media, so Boston.com decided to investigate. Top theories included ice melt, minerals, and … colorful pee. Turns out, the real culprit is food dye.

Apparently, the rainbow icicles are a decades-long tradition around the Hairpin Turn in North Adams. Every year, residents go out of their way to dye the icicles using water balloons and the occasional Super Soaker.

“Grew up on that mountaintop and this happens every year. I participated once and it was thrilling,” one commenter wrote. Thrilling indeed.

— Written by Gia Orsino

🌈 Thanks for reading! That’s a lot cuter than the pee theory.

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for supporting local journalism and bringing culturally rich experiences to our city.

🏅 The results are in: 40% of readers said they prefer the Summer Olympics to the Winter Olympics. One reader said: “I was so obsessed with Olympic gymnastics as an infant in '96 that my mother recorded them on VHS to keep replaying all year.” Awwwwww.

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