Recently I picked up a jar of Vita brand herring in sour cream. Which I've done dozens (hundreds?) of times before, dating back at least 20 years, if not longer. But, this time I happened to read the label, and saw that while it was an American company, the herring was from Canada. So I decided to write about it, finally.
Regarding the history of the Vita company, this time the problem wasn't a lack of information--it was that there was too much, and some of it was conflicting. I'll include both of the major accounts, and the readers can decide for themselves which seems more plausible. According to the Vita's official website, it was started by two (unnamed) immigrants in 1898, in the town of Cornerbrook, Newfoundland, which is now part of Canada. Then we jump to 1968, when Brown and Williamson bought up the company. In 1978 Dean Foods acquired Vita. In 1982 the business was sold to an unnamed private investment group. In 1997 Vita became a publica company. Moving on, in 2001 Vita Foods bought up the Virginia Honey Company (which sold honey and salad dressings), and then a year later they bought The Halifax Group Inc. Also in 2002 the Vita Specialty Foods, Inc., (which I think is a division of Vita Foods) was started to combine two acquisitions, and was headquartered in Virginia. Finally, in 2009 Vita Foods became a private company again, and the headquarters were moved to Chicago, Illinois, where they still remain. However, another website noted Vita's founding date as being 1911, not 1898. Then I read a post on "The Herring Maven" blog/website, which bills itself as "Your source for all things herring." This post had a different origin story for Vita's. According to it, two young Czech men, Victor and George Heller, immigrated to New York City in the early 1900's. They got employment at a Yorkville delicatessen, which catered to the neighborhood's largely German, Polish, and Jewish population. By 1915 the Hellers opened their own deli. Noting how well herring sold, they decided to start a packing business, selling the fish in kegs, baskets, barrels, and finally, jars. World War I slowed things down significantly, since Victor went off to fight, and their usual herring sources were otherwise occupied as well. In the 1920s their company rebounded. The brothers bought up the former Richard Schnibbe Company's facility in Brooklyn, and started smoking their fish. And in 1930 they founded the Vita Foods Company, with "Vita" being Latin for "health." (According to the translating website I used, it means "life," but maybe they used the ancient Latin meaning, or something.) By the 1950's and 60's their business boomed. The Hebrew word "Maven" was incorporated in their advertising campaigns for quite some time. (The article maintains that "maven" means "understand," but I was unable to confirm this.) Overall, the "Herring Maven" version did seem more detailed, but it obviously was different than the official Vita website one. As for the conflicting founding dates, the Hellers bought up some other companies over the years. Maybe one of them had started in 1898, so that's why this date is used. Anyway, whichever story is the accurate one, Vita has several brands under its umbrella. The basic Vita one is various jarred seafood, mostly herring. Vita Classic is packaged, but non-jarred salmon offerings. Elf is more pickled and jarred herring types. Grand Isle is smoked salmon.
Vita herring in sour cream. It looks like chunks of silvery fish with sour cream on them, along with occasional pieces of onion. There is a fishy odor, but the sour cream muffles this a little. The taste is strong, and very sour, not shockingly. A soft, slightly chewy texture. It's very nice. Although in fairness I'm a major fan of eating pretty much anything that lives in water, so it would be more surprising if I didn't like it. If you like heavy, oily "fishy" types of fish, you'll probably enjoy this, too. It seems to be especially popular in the Midwest, as I've seen it as a common choice at salad bars. I've surely consumed hundreds of pounds of this in my life so far, and plan to eat still more. High recommendation.
I was very amused to discover that there is an entire blog/website devoted to herring. In an odd way, I admire someone who can be so interested (perhaps even obsessed?) with one food or drink. "The Herring Maven" post I consulted for this was from 2011, but it's still active as of late 2025. Good for you, Howie "Herring Boy"--I salute your endearingly weird focus on one kind of fish. Keep it up!
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