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Mon 26 Apr, 2010 08:59 am
I don't know. These are thoughts that strike me at the oddest times.
A couple of nights ago, I'm watching one of those "Most Dangerous Jobs" programs about the guys who go out in the North Pacific and fish for Giant Crabs and it hits me. You never see those guys eat any of those crabs. Wouldn't think every once in awhile somebody would snag a couple of big'uns and take them below to the cookshack? But no, they never do.
Then I thought "Wait a minute. When was the last time you saw anybody eat fish on television or the movies unless it was some kind of joke. (The mother makes her vegan daughter a nice sea bass because the kid doesn't eat meat...ha ha.)
Really.
Woody Allen chases lobsters with Annie Hall (a little statement in there about what's kosher and what's not.) but I can't think of a single date scene where the leading man orders the fish. Can you?
Sally does not order the fish when she is with Harry.
Seinfeld and his crew never took a serious bite of crab or cod. In "How I met your mother" they sit every night it seems at the bar, no one orders even one plate of fried clams.
Glee? Those people don't eat anything.
Law and Order, they order the steak.
What actor or actress has delivered the line "How's the Swordfish?"
There is, at least that I can see, no cultural élan towards eating fish. Then, it hit me again. Wait a minute! The oceans are just about empty, right? They have been saying since 2000 that 90% of all the big fish are gone so, we ate all those fish without any, or not much, cultural influence. So, who ate them all and if fish is such good brain food, why aren't we smarter?
Huh? You got answers because I don't.
And did you ever notice that the fish section in the supermarket is the smallest one. You see acres of chicken and pork and beef,and then theres is the nice display on the end of some pinkish tuna and some big buckets of shrimp. meh.
Now back to the crablegs. They are not in the supermarket.** We are not eating them in New York. Yes, they are on the menu at Docks and (natch) City Crab, but City Crab uses most of theirs in it's dip. No crablegs on the menu at the Blue Water Grill.
Maybe they eat a bunch of them out on the West Coast because they are deprived of the food of the gods -Maine Lobsters, but when I think about how many crabs go down into the holds every week, I wonder who cracking 'em all?
And before anyone says it:
I started to think about this for the halibut because my life has no sole.
Joe(Bess' Man never ordered the Porgy)Nation
** Yes, they are. But at $16.99 a pound cooked and flashfrozen, how many pounds a week are you going to eat?
@Joe Nation,
by the pound, how much does chopped liver cost?
The last time I looked, about $6.00 a pound.
You can buy a sandwich at Artie's with pastami and chopped liver for about $12.00 (comes with cole slaw and pickles, drinks extra)
I can't buy a pound of chopped liver because that night I will eat a pound of chopped liver.
Joe(on crackers)Nation
@Joe Nation,
The first thing I thought of was that erotic lobster eating scene (Alex wearing only a tuxedo front) in Flash Dance.
Oh! What a feeling!
Oh, boy, Joe. I'm so sorry this thought has tormented you so this morning.
If only you had asked Bear and me. The answer is... our daughter. Our cubette eats all of the crab legs those guys living on the edge of death haul in weekly.
We save all year to afford her birthday dinner. At 5'8" and only 105lbs., she meticulously picks every nanogram of crab from several pounds of crablegs in one sitting. She would likely continue if we were to agree to remain at the table past two hours.
So there you have it. Who eats all that crab? Kylie Cubette.
I am guilty of consuming more than my fair share of crab.
Mo can eat his weight is salmon daily.
We also have an awful ot of people 'round here wearing "I Got Crabs at Dirty Dicks" t-shirts. Whether or not they ate them....
Allergic to dem things
Cycloptichorn
You get better stuff (from the fridge in the back) if you flirt with the fish guy and friend him on Facebook.
I'm just sayin'.
Yeah, he's old enough to be my son.
But I get good halibut.
@jespah,
Not me.
Chai(crabs & lobsters are cockroaches in disguise)Tea
@Cycloptichorn,
Cycloptichorn wrote:
Allergic to dem things
Cycloptichorn
My mother is allergic, as well. Sympathies to you both.
@Irishk,
Irishk wrote:
Cycloptichorn wrote:
Allergic to dem things
Cycloptichorn
My mother is allergic, as well. Sympathies to you both.
Don't worry about it - I don't miss 'em and mostly agree with Chai, that the practice of eating Sea Roaches is a little gross.
Now, Clam chowder... that I miss.
Cycloptichorn
@Irishk,
There's a lobster scene in Flash Dance? Really? The only thing I remember is the scene at the end where she is supposed to be just wowing the judges and I was sitting there thinking "This dancer has a real future as a welder."
Joe(tuxedo front....MMMmmmMM)Nation
@squinney,
Life is grand.
Other parents have to suffer buying their kids motorcycles, trips to DisneyWorld or a drum set to replace the one they smashed up three months ago at the Valentine's Day dance.
You get to buy crablegs. Terrific.
Doesn't really explain the other 245 tons of legs removed from the icy water, but, you're right, it's a start.
Oysters. How come there aren't more film references to the power of oysters?
Joe(It used to be every weekend at my place)Nation
@Irishk,
I had a bad allergic reaction to lobster once at my mom and dad's house. My whole system went boingo....huge dose of Benedryl (always have a mother who knows her drugs) calmed things down.
Years go by, I haven't had any lobster since. My new wife and I are on the Cape in a little place down by the beach in Wellfleet and ......lobsters are on sale. (Before the tourist season and the weather is awful...you could take a nap in the middle of Main Street..we are the only ones on the Cape with out of state plates.)
It's a sale. they are on special. ..
So.....knowing that there is no Bendryl around, what do I order?
Yep.
A two pounder.......
Figgered if I was going to die, that would be a good way.
Ah
Didn't die.
Joe(mebbe it was something in Mom's drawn butter??)Nation
@Joe Nation,
Seasonal allergies can trigger other allergies. I ate lobster and shrimp my whole life until I broke out in hives one day.
I would caution you however that once an allergy develops, it never really goes away - if you're not experiencing current problems, that's a good thing, but don't be surprised if it comes back later.
Cycloptichorn
I'm allergic to fish-fish but I can eat the shelled ones. I grew up thinking I was unable to eat any sea creatures, when I found out I could indulge in shellfish, my first bite was a terrifying yet fantastic.
As for crab... Love it. Sweet. Creamy. Yummy.
We cook 'em over coals, covered with wet blankets. They steam in less than 20 minutes. To die for or to get slightly burned digits...
@Joe Nation,
Joe Nation wrote:
...Oysters. How come there aren't more film references to the power of oysters?
Joe(It used to be every weekend at my place)Nation
Blue Oysters require more cowbell.
@chai2,
chai2 wrote:
Not me.
Chai(crabs & lobsters are cockroaches in disguise)Tea
The Spanish word for lobster is langosta.
The Spanish word for locust is langosta.
What else you wanta know?
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