Bettered by a Dead Crustacean

A new Chinese restaurant opened up on Holiday Island, and they served all you can eat crab legs. So my best friend, Justi, thought of me (bless her). I went down to have the last of two visits with her before i move. I love crab legs, but rarely find it all-you-can-eat for around $12.

So I was all about it.

Problem is, I usually get hurt.

Is it just me, or do you really feel like you've earned it when you get that delicious meat out of the shell? I am usually bleeding before I'm done. I know the picture doesn't look all that bad, but that was 5 days after the injury. A crab-cut hurts like hell when it's in the fold of your finger. Got one on my thumb too. It did cause me some consternation that I was bettered by a dead crustacean, but I guess I'll get over it.

But the process hearkens back to the old days when people had to get their food from the source. It's the closest I'll come to hunting, i suppose. You'll notice in the photo that it takes two big strong, color-coordinated men to hold this crab. I don't feel so fragile, now. (And I bet they were embarrassed when they showed up for work wearing the same outfit).

Crabs are arthropods, which means they have segmented appendages. I guess I'm an arthropod,
too, then. I got the cut in one of the creases of my appendage.

Crabs are also decapods, meaning that have ten legs. I am not a decopod, though that might be fun....(now I'll probably have a nightmare tonight. Me, with ten legs, running down the street screaming that my appendages are bleeding...) Anyway...

Crabs are also crustaceans, and I am not a crustacean, either....I can't imagine having an exoskeleton. How would you like to have your skeleton on the outside instead of the inside? I suppose it would be easier to spot a broken bone. But...really quite strange when you think about it.

Worldwide, humans eat over one and a half million tons of crab. Two or three ounces of crab meat will supply a whole days' worth of vitamin B-12



I wonder who was the first person to look at the bony, spidery, horror-movie-type creature and think,

"Man I bet that tastes good" ?

I mean really.

Even crazier, is the fact that I have a healthy repulsion and fear of spiders.

And crab--they look like spiders.

And YET...

I EAT THEIR LEGS
and go nom nom nom.

How sick is that?

Bettered by a Dead Crustacean