For most of American history, early spring meant a feast of shad. That tradition has faded, but young chefs are trying to slip the ritual back onto plates.
The earliest Americans from from Florida to Nova Scotia caught shad by the basketful as they swam back from the sea to spawn in their home rivers. The fresh, silvery fish was most certainly a delight after winter's dreary fare. The American shad's Latin name is clue to its allure: Alosa sapadissima, or most delicious herring.
American shad were a key food source for American Indians and later, colonists. New Yorker writer John McPhee called shad the "founding fish" because it fed so many key figures in American history, from William Penn to Abraham Lincoln.
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