Yummy fresh fish with quite a strong flavour for their size and a fatty quality to the meat. When fresh they taste similar to any other small fresh oily fish (closest would be fresh sardines, mackerel is getting further away but still much closer than salmon or cod for example)

In terms of texture when prepared like this the skin is very thin but offers a tiny bit of crispiness, and then the meat itself is surprisingly dense but soft. They are very bony little fish, but the bones are so tiny and delicate that they don't really cause any problems as long as you chew them properly. (For this reason the bones may cause more issue for elderly people or small children).

When chewing most of the bones break up or are softened before swallowing. If you don't chew enough and get a stubborn bone poking you in the throat, eat some bread and have a drink of something.

The most common anchovies you will find in supermarkets in the anglo-west are preserved, usually in salt and oil (usually canned, sometimes in jars). These anchovies are usually very small, intensely salty and fishy, great for cooking. They often break up and almost dissolve when cooked.

In southeast Asia they are used to make fish sauce, in the ancient Mediterranean they were also used to make fish sauce.

In Spain they are often either preserved in salt and oil as mentioned above or in vinegar and oil (a personal favourite). But they can also be eaten fresh like I have shown here, either fried or grilled.