Call me Ishmael. Or don’t. But like the narrator from Moby Dick, I fell for a white beast. 

For the past several weeks, I have searched for my white whale. But rather than hunting the seas for a whale, I’ve scoured eateries in town that have spruced up the noble tuna fish. 

The tuna salad sandwich is a staple of American diets. It’s easy to prepare, but there are a million ways to make it. It’s cheap, but you pay for it by stinking like tuna the rest of the day. 

You can easily make a large batch, but if you eat a lot of tuna, you supposedly are at risk of getting mercury poisoning and turning into the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. 

Tuna salad isn’t hard to find. Any corner fast food sandwich joint has a sandwich for cheap, but if cheap but still safe for the stomach is your quest, the many Dari Marts can fill you up. Life’s otherwise too short to eat fast food sandwiches. 

It’s worth acknowledging the stellar tuna salad melt at Lovely in Springfield, an experience that transcends tuna with house-made pickled onions and pickled cucumbers and onions. But what about the places where tuna salad is in the shadows? So I started with two Eugene sandwich staples: Barry’s Espresso, Bakery and Deli in south Eugene and Scribles Bistro and Deli in the Washington-Jefferson neighborhood. 

Both sandwiches dive into the tuna melt world, a rich and cheesy, wonderful mess. Scribles’ tuna melt — served on a toasted hoagie roll — is an antidote for a continuing homogenized eating experience. So many modern restaurants are designed to be minimal, pristine and lacking character, but the Scribles interior is a trip to a different type of eatery: a neighborhood haunt. 

Like Scribles, Barry’s is probably one of the most important spots for its south Eugene neighborhood. As a way to not overpower the light rye bread, Barry’s tuna salad is minimal, with bits of green and crunchiness. 

After these visits, I realized I’d need to hear straight from the minds behind tuna salads to learn what makes a good sandwich. And the best way to think of tuna salad is what Kiva Grocery head cook Mickey Bersch says: Tuna is a blank slate. 

The Kiva Grocery’s deli is a treasure trove for tuna salad lovers. The deli carries four different types of tuna: curry, lemon zest, Tunisian and the classic recipe. And tuna salad in general is a popular dish at the deli — Kiva goes through about six pounds in a typical week. 

For Bersch, what makes the tuna salad special is the spectrum of soft bread with a little crunch from a pickle. And Kiva’s tuna salads are designed to not be boring, both for cooks and diners. 

“Tuna salad doesn’t always sound appealing, or something that my grandma would make,” she says. “As cooks, we get bored. So let’s throw in some Mama’s Lil’ Peppers and lemon zest.” 

For the past 20 years, Marché’s Provisions stores have been in Eugene and now has three locations in town — including 5th Street Market, south Eugene and the recent addition in the University District. But what’s been a constant for Provisions is the tuna salad recipe has remained the same. 

In a world of mayo-based tuna salad mixture, Marché uses a classic aioli instead, Jessica MacMurray Blaine, the Marché Restaurant Group chief executive officer and creative director, tells Eugene Weekly via email. 

“It has a bright lemony-garlic flavor that makes the salad extra delicious,” she says. “The other thing we do to tweak the traditional tuna salad just a little is adding diced green olives. There was a Portuguese bakery in New York that I used to frequent that put olives in their tuna salad and it was so, so good — they add a little extra salt and flavor without overwhelming the tuna or the aioli.”  

Not satisfied, my hunger for tuna salad pushed me to the Eugene Foodies! Facebook page, one of the only reasons to keep a Facebook account these days. Like any Eugene Foodies! post, my questions spawned a large response. For some, the tuna salad crunch factor is important. That might mean red onion, celery, but it’s also an opportunity to throw in fruit and nuts, like apples and pecans. And the tuna salad is a blank enough canvas that it’s an opportunity to throw in strong layers of flavor: cranberry sauce on the bread, capers, harissa or horseradish. 

Tuna salad may pale in comparison to sandwiches that carry a little more hit with spice and flavor, but the mother of invention for food sparks when the base is bland. 

For The Kiva Grocery, the whole story is its pantry, Bersch says. Not everyone has a world of spices at their disposal like the Kiva, but Bersch recommends throwing a little celery salt in tuna salad recipes to give it a “Je ne sais quoi.” 

The secret to a good tuna salad, Bersch says, is to aggressively strain the tuna, squeezing out every ounce of liquid from it. Then you add in the oil or fat so it soaks into the tuna. 

Marché’s Blaine agrees. 

“It’s all in the moisture level — if there’s too much liquid from the tuna itself, it can get runny and make the bread soggy,” she says. “If you don’t use enough aioli, it can be dry. Draining the tuna, and then being generous with the aioli is key — and tasting it.” 

But a good tuna salad also uses a sustainable fish like Oregon albacore, she adds. Fresh off the Oregon coast, the fish has been approved by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program.

“In the summer, the fresh albacore season is the best to grill or sear rare — that’s when it shows up on the Marché menu — but the pouched and canned Oregon albacore we can get all year is great, too,” Blaine says. “It’s got loads of omega-3s, it’s delicious and firm. That’s what we use for our sandwiches and Niçoise salads at Provisions.”

Scribles Bistro and Deli is at 1123 Monroe Street. Hours are 11 am to 10:30 pm daily, ScriblesBistroandDeli.com. Barry’s Espresso, Bakery and Deli is at 2805 Oak Street. Hours are 7 am to 4 pm Monday through Friday, 7:30 am to 4 pm Saturday and Sunday, BarrysEugene.com. The Kiva Grocery and Deli is at 125 11th Avenue. Hours are 9 am to 8 pm Monday through Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm Sunday, KivaGrocery.com. Marché Provisions has multiple locations: 296 E. 5th Street, 747 East 32nd Street and 871 E. 13th Avenue. Hours vary, go to ProvisionsMarketHall.com for specifics.