Why aren't shrimp called ocean bugs?

"Rainbow" (rainbeaux) 08/06/2018 at 13:54 • Filed to: None

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And speaking of shrimp, why do we eat their butts?

His Stigness > Rainbow 08/06/2018 at 13:56

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Finally someone asking the questions everyone has been afraid to ask. 

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Rainbow 08/06/2018 at 13:58

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We* eat their butts because there isn’t much nutritional value elsewhere on the creature probably

*not me

Tekamul > Rainbow 08/06/2018 at 14:00

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Shrimp ARE ocean bugs. Which is why I do not eat them. They can F right off, along with l obsters, crab, and the rest of their many-legged brethren .

What a ridiculous idea.  “That? Oh, that’s the line of poop in their back. Just scrape it out a little, it’ll be fine.”

TheRevanchist > Rainbow 08/06/2018 at 14:00

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You do know that you can order a whole shrimp and eat the entire thing, right?  It’s a little harder to chew, but quite good.

CalzoneGolem > Rainbow 08/06/2018 at 14:01

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Mainers often refer to  lobsters as bugs .... so there’s that.

gin-san - shitpost specialist > Rainbow 08/06/2018 at 14:04

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I think the same about all edible ocean crustaceans - crabs and lobsters included. Mussels kind of freak me out because they’re basically ocean Brita filters.

Yet I still eat all of them, although not on a regular basis.

This is why I kind of find it funny that people don’t eat land insects. If they were actually tasty, I might eat them. I remember trying a bug once and while the taste was inoffensive, the fact that it was like getting popcorn shells stuck all over your teeth really pissed me off. Great part about ocean bugs is that you remove the shells (except maybe on shrimp).

jimz > Rainbow 08/06/2018 at 14:07

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down Louisiana way the method of eating crawfish is “pinch da tail and suck da head.”

I am not joking.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > Rainbow 08/06/2018 at 14:12

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For the same reason we call cockroaches “cockroaches”.

Some eat the stuff in the heads. I have heard it is good, but never tried it.

Also, shrimp are delicious, especially when they were just caught. The same is true for all crustaceans I’ve consumed when very recently caught.

TheRealBicycleBuck > jimz 08/06/2018 at 14:12

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As a current resident of Louisiana, I can confirm. I’m not a fan of the head-sucking, but eating the tails is fantastic.

MonkeePuzzle > Rainbow 08/06/2018 at 14:19

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because the name was already taken by the far superior tasting Moreton Bay Bug

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thenus

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Rainbow 08/06/2018 at 14:24

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Ok weirdly this is a thing I think about a lot. We eat a lot of gross stuff, mostly because it is delicious. (And because the alternative was starving.)

Milk. Who looked at a cow’s udder and thought “yes, I am going to drink what comes out of that.” Furthermore, who was the first guy who then went and told other people about it !? “Hey other person, I drank the stuff that came out of that big animal we usually eat ! No not that stuff! The white stuff! NOT THAT WHITE STUFF THE OTHER WHITE STUFF!” I’m surprised he wasn’t stoned to death.

Going on the dairy kick. After that guy was done sucking on the cow’s tit, why the hell would he proceed to let it rot and then eat that too ? Cheese is effing GROSS.

How about eggs? Why would you see a chicken lay an egg, crack it open and think “yeah that seems like a thing I should put in my body!”

Oysters. I’m going to crack open this thing that looks like a rock, scoop out the thing that looks like snot that lives inside, and eat it. WTF?

The answer to all of those questions, probably, is “it was either that or starve to death.” I can only imagine all the weird stuff (that is now quite mundane) was because that was one of the few options available back when a supermarket and overnight shipping weren’t a thing.

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > Rainbow 08/06/2018 at 14:24

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because their butts is tasty.

as to why not bugs.. eh.. no idea.. im quite fond of the italians idea of calling them fruit

i suspect italians liking wine and italians thinking shrimps are fruit are related:p

frutti di mare all the things

Textured Soy Protein > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 08/06/2018 at 14:33

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I eat none of those things.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Rainbow 08/06/2018 at 14:38

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We frequently eat animal butts, it’s the largest muscle on most animals.

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 08/06/2018 at 14:46

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i think the answer lies closer to humans breeding faster than our stupidity can kill us... some people decide to eat something dont die and get seen as geniuses for coming up with the idea.. others eat stuff keel over and die and become bad examples that should have know better hurrdurr...

and then you have the ones that see a plant and think.... hey... i’ll put that in my pipe and smoke it

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Textured Soy Protein 08/06/2018 at 14:57

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Realistically that might be the correct approach.

nerd_racing > Rainbow 08/06/2018 at 14:57

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If you think shrimp are gross but taste delicious, you haven’t tried Monkfish. I had it in Iceland twice. So delicious, but so ugly!Nicknamed poor man’s lobster. 

nerd_racing > jimz 08/06/2018 at 14:58

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mmm, mud bugs! I’ve got to try a proper crawfish boil someday... 

My bird IS the word > Rainbow 08/06/2018 at 15:02

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Because shrimp is the best of the seafoods.

btw bugs used to consist of a large portion of your ancestor’s protein sources.

LongbowMkII > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 08/06/2018 at 15:16

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Considering that everyone at that time was breastfed, it’s not that far of a stretch to cows milk.

The really wild thing was domesticating cows. What was the first cow thinking? “I’m going to let this human get close to me. Wait what are you doing? Well, okay then” *chews cud*

Then not having instant second thoughts when they saw their cousin get turned into a steak dinner.

VajazzleMcDildertits - read carefully, respond politely > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 08/06/2018 at 15:17

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Cheese came about when milk was carried around in animal stomachs that contained the substance rennet, which is responsible for assisting the cheesemaking reactions for curds and whey. From there it is a natural extension as the cheesemaking process continues that someone is going to try the curd that results.

Fermentation, bacterial and fungal development and other types of rotting are inevitable in a pre-refrigeration pre-microscope era, so it’s pretty inevitable that civilizations would try to play the hand they’re dealt.

Also, since animals often eat the eggs of other animals, (or oysters for that matter) any human observing this might think it is also worth a shot.

Pre civilization survival was a zero-sum game, as you say. The average life expectancy used to be in the 30's. “Try or die” might have some merit, but ultimately I think they just examined the world around them, and made a few slightly educated guesses, and food development evolved from there. 

MrDakka > Rainbow 08/06/2018 at 15:31

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Why wouldn't you eat their butts?

AfromanGTO > nerd_racing 08/06/2018 at 15:38

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Poor man’s lobster that cost over 17 bucks a pound....

AfromanGTO > Rainbow 08/06/2018 at 15:42

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Have you heard about sea lice???

nerd_racing > AfromanGTO 08/06/2018 at 16:00

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holy carp that’s expensive. 

Your boy, BJR > Rainbow 08/06/2018 at 16:47

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Hey man, my motto is “Smoke grass and eat ass”, so it stands.

Your boy, BJR > My bird IS the word 08/06/2018 at 16:51

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Fuck outta here like blue crabs don’t exist. Shrimp is the methadone of seafood.

My bird IS the word > Your boy, BJR 08/06/2018 at 17:00

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Something I still gotta try

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Tekamul 08/06/2018 at 17:59

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Don’t worry - I’ll eat your share.  Should you encounter any, feel free to send them my direction.

Tekamul > BaconSandwich is tasty. 08/06/2018 at 20:43

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Deal

dsigned001 - O.R.C. hunter > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 08/06/2018 at 22:46

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This is such a first world conversation. Try walking around in some wilderness and start looking around at stuff and start wondering “can I eat that?” Most stuff you can’t, and the plant based stuff you can tends to be really calorie poor. As in, you have to gather a ton of it, it doesn’t fill you up, and it doesn’t taste very good. Try eating wild versions of any currently domesticated plant. They’re generally speaking not good.

So, as a starving person, finding any source of nutrition that’s calorically dense is going to be a big deal. So if you find a duck’s nest, you could the duck, and figure “might as well try cooking the eggs too... Those aren’t bad!”

The milk thing only seems word because you’ve grown up so disconnected from historic humanity . Just about every human who’s ever lived has subsisted solely on milk for the first several months of their lives. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that any animal that suckles it’s young is probably producing a similar substance. While cow’s milk is relatively rare (because of lacrosse intolerance), just about any domesticated (vegetarian) animal that gives milk has it’s milk consumed traditionally. Camel, goat, sheep, donkey.

dsigned001 - O.R.C. hunter > VajazzleMcDildertits - read carefully, respond politely 08/06/2018 at 22:48

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To add to the cheese and fermentation thing. We eat more fresh food than any society in history. Why? Because without a refrigerator, very few of the things we eat keep more than a few days (eggs being an interesting exception). So trying to come up with ways to store food is a huge deal. Store meat, vegetables, grain, fruit, dairy for a period of months without a refrigerator or freezer. Turns out that's actually pretty hard for most foods. The milk is going bad anyway. And again, if you're starving, and theres some curdled milk that's somehow still edible, you're going to take advantage.

dsigned001 - O.R.C. hunter > Tekamul 08/06/2018 at 23:17

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I take it you haven’t ever gutted/cleaned any other animal either? I’d much rather devein a shrimp than clean a fish.

dsigned001 - O.R.C. hunter > Rainbow 08/06/2018 at 23:26

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We eat the equivalent of their spinal muscles , which makes up like 99% of their muscle. Most people don’t eat the “head” which is where the rest of their organs are. Deveining removes pretty much the entire intestinal tract.

Tekamul > dsigned001 - O.R.C. hunter 08/07/2018 at 08:34

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No, I have. The difference is the more complex the animal, the clearer the delineation . I have no issue with getting dirty, I just want to make sure my food is clean.

Fish are awesome, they’re designed to be fillete d. Birds and mammals are well segregated bet w een organs and muscles.  Bugs are too intertwined. 

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > jimz 08/07/2018 at 10:52

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That’s the way I do it. =)

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo 08/07/2018 at 15:39

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And you’re just listing the weird stuff we eat in America! The weirdest thing I ate in China was beef stomach. Once was enough. Chicken feet - also gross.