I am a Basque from Mexico. I just want to comment that angulas are very expensive in Mexico; however, the last time I bought a can of angulas at Wal Mart in Chihuahua, Mexico, where I live (I am on Sabbatical now, in Oklahoma), I realized that it was written in very small print "surimi". That means it is a common whitefish, minced, added with gums and other food additives, and then SHAPED as angulas and canned in oil. They even put a small black dot resembling the eyes of the angulas, but they aren't angulas at all, and are sold as if they were. These fake angulas disintegrate and are completely tasteless. I just write this to warn consumers out of Spain who want to buy angulas, read the label, and if it says "surimi", don't buy it! If you look at the ingredients list, it'll say white fish and no angulas are mentioned.

Antonio Anzaldúa

A follow up by Unai Markaida:

About the advertisement "A Warning about Angulas in Mexico" from Antonio Anzaldúa appeared in your "Basque recipes" page, I would like to add that since at least 6 years, if no more, the Basque enterprise "Angulas de Aguinaga" began to commercialize such "surimi angulas" in the Basque Country, after they learned the technique to do that from the Japanese. Such new was well know, as I tell you, several years ago in the Basque Country and it was just the way to offer cheaper "angulas" than those fresh and "real" angulas which price was (is) unreachable for most people. Note that they clearly put "surimi" in the can box, so nobody is expected to be misleaded.

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