September 15, 2026 — Aperol spritzes. Dubai chocolate. Dill pickle, well, everything. Thanks to Instagram and TikTok, food trends have never been more of-the-moment, with even seemingly mundane ingredients like cottage cheese enjoying a sudden resurgence.
Why not the flounder? The first-of-its-kind “Flat is Back” campaign, spearheaded by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, aims to build buzz around the plentiful yet underutilized flatfish called flounder, better connecting what fishermen already catch to what ends up on consumers’ plates. The hoped-for result would be a more economically and environmentally sustainable fisheries model, MassDMF Director Dan McKiernan — one he plans to replicate for all kinds of underappreciated fish.
But first, customers have to bite.
In 2023, over three-fourths of all seafood Americans consumed came from just 10 species, with shrimp, salmon, and canned tuna topping the list. In general, American diners tend to consume fewer species of fish than Europeans and Asians, McKiernan said. That can drive up demand for a few key species while leaving plenty of other fish in the sea.
Cod, for example, remains one of the most popular catches, even after its numbers have drastically declined. Flounder, on the other hand, is abundant and cheap.
“We hope that this program can help people get an appreciation for some of the other species of fish, so that seafood can be, surprisingly, fun,” McKiernan said.