Before Fishwife became one of the most recognizable names in modern tinned fish, it started with a semester abroad, late nights in tapas bars, and a feeling that tinned seafood in America had somehow been left behind. 

A College Semester in Granada

Long before she started Fishwife, Becca Millstein spent a semester studying abroad in Granada, Spain. In Granada, a drink came with a surprise. Order a glass of wine or a beer and, along with it, came a little plate of food. Maybe jamón and bread. Maybe olives and potato chips. Maybe sardines or anchovies. You didn’t have to overthink it. You just snacked, snipped, and enjoyed.

And then there were the conservas: beautifully packaged tins of seafood that were treated less like emergency pantry food and more like something you’d proudly put on a table with a loaf of bread and a bottle of wine. 

Throughout her travels in southern Spain and Portugal, she became fascinated by the culture of conservas and the elegance surrounding tinned fish. The packaging was artistic and beautiful. The range of species and flavor profiles felt expansive compared to what she knew existed in American grocery stores. Most of all, the food itself was deeply woven into the culture, rather than viewed as a survival food.

Tinned Fish Was Not on the Menu

Back in the United States, the tinned fish landscape was entirely different. Becca grew up in what she has described as a very average American household where canned tuna was familiar but uninspiring and undesired. The variety, artistry, and culture she had experienced abroad simply didn’t exist in the same way in the American market.

After college, she spent several years working in marketing in the music industry. While the role was far removed from seafood, it shaped the instincts that would later define Fishwife as a brand. She learned how storytelling, visuals, community, and identity could transform the way people related to products. At the time, though, tinned fish was not yet part of the plan.

The COVID Light Bulb Moment

Then came 2020. Like many people during the pandemic, Becca began relying more heavily on shelf-stable foods to limit grocery trips. Tinned fish naturally became part of that routine. At the same time, she noticed subtle cultural signals that the category might be shifting. And the more she looked at the category, the more obvious the problem became: why did something this delicious still feel so stuck in the past?

Friends started showing an interest in tinned fish online. Pantry cooking became more creative and visible on social media. Foods that once felt undesirable or old-fashioned suddenly felt practical, interesting, and even aspirational.

Then came the moment that turned simple observation into a groundbreaking idea.

While on a hike during the early months of the pandemic, Millstein realized the canned fish category in America had remained almost entirely frozen in time. People were suddenly reading ingredient labels, obsessing over olive oil, buying natural wine, and caring where their food came from. Meanwhile, the canned fish aisle was still stuck in another decade. 

People already ate canned fish regularly. The market was enormous. Yet most of the category still felt defined by commodity products, minimal storytelling, and decades-old branding. There was room in the industry for a shake-up.

A Unimaginative Market Ready for an Imaginative Change

At the time, Becca didn’t fully understand how large the canned seafood market actually was. What she did understand was that people already loved fish. They just didn't have a brand that made them excited about tinned fish.

In Europe, conservas had long been treated as something flavorful, social, and worthy of attention. In the United States, canned fish had largely remained a commodity product. That gap was the whole opportunity and foundation for Fishwife: make tinned fish in America something people actually wanted to eat. The goal was to create tinned fish that captured America’s attention and excitement. That meant treating the category with the same level of attention that consumers were already giving to specialty coffee, natural wine, olive oil, and other pantry staples that had undergone cultural reinvention in recent years.

Flavor mattered. Design mattered. Storytelling mattered.

Building Fishwife From Scratch

In April 2020, Becca began building Fishwife from the ground up. The early months were experimental, as with any good startup. They began building relationships across the supply chain while simultaneously shaping the brand's visual identity. From the beginning, Fishwife was meant to be more than a seafood company. It was supposed to be visually distinct, culturally aware, and deeply rooted in community. 

Before the official launch, Fishwife released 100 beta boxes online featuring sample products from several early production partners. The boxes were packaged with custom-illustrated branding and sold directly to customers to gather feedback on flavors, preferences, and positioning.

That early feedback loop helped shape the company's direction while also proving there was a real appetite for a more modern tinned fish brand in America.

Where “Fishwife” Came From

As the company was taking shape, Becca called a friend who owned a small business and described the idea she was building. Fully invested in Becca’s idea, the friend started researching maritime terminology and came across the word “fishwife,” a historical term that literally meant “loud-mouth woman.” The name immediately clicked.

“Fishwife” was perfect. A little loud. A little unruly. Definitely not beige. The name also came with the added bonus of literally meaning a woman who sold fish and historically, a woman known for being loud. In other words: exactly the energy they were looking for. It also reflected the tone that would later become one of Fishwife’s defining strengths online: playful, opinionated, approachable, and unafraid to stand out.

The First Products and the First Customers

Fishwife’s first commercial products reflected the same ideas that inspired the company in the beginning: bold flavor, thoughtful sourcing, and products people genuinely wanted to eat. The original lineup included smoked albacore tuna and smoked salmon, as well as preserved-lemon sardines, which remain staples of the Fishwife catalog today.

From the beginning, the products were designed to feel different from supermarket canned fish. The packaging was vibrant and illustrated. The flavors felt modern and layered. The products themselves were intended to be eaten proudly and shared socially rather than hidden away in the pantry.

At a time when many Americans still did not fully understand how to eat tinned fish, Fishwife leaned into creative education, recipes, serving ideas, snack boards, rice bowls, and pantry meals became part of the company’s social media messaging.

From Commodity to Craveable

As Fishwife grew, it became part of a much larger shift happening around tinned fish culture in the United States. Consumers became more interested in pantry cooking, ingredient sourcing, snack-centered meals, and globally inspired foods. Tinned fish began appearing on restaurant menus, social feeds, charcuterie boards, and home dinner tables in ways that had once felt unusual.

Fishwife was certainly not the only brand participating in that movement, but it helped shape the cultural energy surrounding it.

The company approached tinned fish differently from the start. Sustainability mattered, but it wouldn’t use it as a primary marketing hook. Instead, Fishwife focused on delivering flavorful tinned fish and on building a tinned fish community.

The goal was simple: make tinned fish craveable. And now, six years later, Fishwife has helped thousands of consumers see tinned fish not as a compromise, but as an exciting addition to their pantry.

The Story Is Still Being Written

Today, Fishwife products can be found in kitchens, grocery stores, wine bars, dinner parties, and snack spreads across the country. But the company's core mission has remained consistent since the beginning: to make premium, delicious, responsibly-sourced tinned seafood a staple in every American cupboard.

The products that helped launch Fishwife are still part of the lineup. The visual identity remains rooted in stunning illustration and storytelling. And the original inspiration from Granada still quietly shapes the way the brand approaches food: simple ingredients, shared socially, with flavor and pleasure at the center.

Fishwife didn’t invent tinned fish. Conservas had been around for generations. What Fishwife did was bring the flavor, the artistry, and the irreverence to a category that desperately needed it in the US.

Six years later, the tins are still opening. The bread is still being poured. And the story is still being written.