little bitty girl

I have had this unquenchable craving for crab lately. It all started about two months ago when I decided to switch my parent's treat of lobster to try some Dungeness crab. I must admit that it was a little selfish on my part as I had not yet tried this crustacean. We all discovered that we much prefered the crab to the lobster as its meat was far sweeter and more fun to eat. That is, all of us other than Kelvin, my lazy eating brother, who prefers all food to be easy and scoopable. Although to his defense, he was happily picking the claws himself this last time.

Yesterday, I had decided to treat myself to one whole crab, not having had enough when I had gotten together with my family on the weekend. Happily, I trotted down the street with my wriggling 3lb crustaceous friend until I arrived home and came to the abrupt conclusion that I had no idea how to kill the darn thing. Even though I am a pretty fearless eater, I am not a fearless cook. I usually leave the killing of larger seafood to my mother while I watch television or bother my siblngs. Now, before I get bombarded with hate letters by members of PETA, I would just like to say that I respect their stance to choose not to consume or wear any animals. They should likewise respect my choice to be a leather wearing carnivore.

Anyways, Stefan was no help as he doesn't eat crustaceans and refused to help while he kept on muttering,"Poor thing..." What about the chicken that I stir fried for him for dinner? No poor chicken? Crossing my fingers, I quickly dialed my mother and luckily enough she was home and walked me through the steps.

What a sobering moment it was and yet filled with such satisfaction. I felt in some ways that I had taken another step toward adulthood, managing to accomplish something that I usually rely on my mother for and of course a certain sadness at taking another creature's life. I know it's just a crab, but still, I have feelings.

Which brings me to think that Native Americans have such a healthy perspective to this whole cycle of life and death. I had watched a documentary on the lifestyle and traditions of the Innuit living the "old ways" in Nunavut. Hunting was and is very much a matter of survival for these people. However, animals are never killed in abundance but only hunted when the need arises and the whole animal is used. Usually a blessing is said over the animal for sacificing it's life for another.

I think that in our time of mass production and saran wrappings, that children often grow up thinking that food just miraculously appears in our supermarkets. We, living in this society are often desensitized to the actual workings as to how our food makes it to our table. If we all had to kill an animal at least once a year, perhaps we would be less wasteful of our food. We would be so much gratedul and aware that something had to die to give us nourishment. Either that, or be vegetarian.

If anything, I myself am now more aware and won't take my food so much for granted.

Thank you, crab. I am sure that I will enjoy the second half of you just as much today as I did yesterday.

For you foodies, the crab was sauteed in a spicy black bean sauce with julienned pieces of green onions, ginger and garlic.