The case for a ban on eating fish in the office

July 15, 2026 — 11:30am

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

Let’s ban tuna in the office. I can smell it in the sink. It stinks up the drain. I can whiff it after someone drains a tin or rinses a plate. It lingers in the hall, like a guest who won’t go home, and it trails on clothes like perfume.

A colleague has said suggesting a ban in the Herald office is going to start a war. Another reported working in an office in London where it nearly did. After colleagues from South Asia brought in fish and curries, his boss put a note out “banning” fish and curries at lunch. “There was nearly a revolt, and he had to reverse the ban.”

Wondering if it was just me – and a few others in our office who are equally repulsed by the smell of fish in the office – I contacted some experts on food science. Professor John Prescott, an academic and the author of Taste Matters: Why We Like the Foods We Do, said many people had a strong response to the smell of fish. But a ban on fish in the office? “No – no banning of canned fish!” said Prescott, a director at TasteMatters Research & Consulting.

He posed: “What if your office colleague demanded that you not use Vegemite........

© The Sydney Morning Herald