Eating Shrimp with your mate

[DarrenJew]

Your at a restaurant and you help serve your boyfriend/girlfriend some shimp. Do you peal the shell before serving it or do you serve it to them with the shell on it?

[trevelyan]

I like eating the shell. I'd be sort of irritated if someone took it off.

[gougou]

How about giving you just the shell, then?

[David W Jackson]

Neither one. Since shrimp are heavy-metal scavengers you avoid them like the plague if you value your health. Should you be unable to resist their considerable charms however, a gentleman always peels before oral insertion, doesn't he?

[simonlaing]

Hi Darren,

This is an interesting question as it also touches on some Sino-US culture issues on eating. The big issue could be on eating bones.

In the US and other western countries to my knowledge we try to eat food without bones or with big bones that are easy to cut the bones off. Usually when we have fish we eat them in fillets with the bones more or less out, there is even a specialized fish knife to help get the meat without the bones. If we do happen to pick up a bone and eat (say a drumstick) we like to put it on a plate or other container not on the table directly. Also if shrimp is served with the shell on it will not have the head.

In China many dishes (espicially chicken dishes) have the bones in them with the meat and the bone marrow is consider an important part to the flavor. When they finish with taking the meat of it in their mouth they will take the bones with their chopsticks or directly spit the bones on to the table next to their plate. (usually this is the case though some chinese use a plate.)

When it comes to shrimp, already shelled shrimp is not common. And usually comes with the head on it. In Jiangsu it is a common dish. (Lots of Fish farms) . But I have seen two ways of eating shrimp for chinese people.

Some chinese as with most US people like to take all shell, legs, heand and tail off before eating . (Sometimes dipping in soy sauce which is tasty.)

Other Chinese people take the head and l legs of but then pop it in their mouth and use their dexterous tongue to remove the shell and tail. (Then chopsticks out these onto the table.)

So if it is possible to find out the eating style of your mate you can do that. Or you can put the whole shrimp in the person's bowl and let them take it apart how they like.

The whole serving to others is a symbolic sense of generosity and caring, also if you take of the shell and tail they won't be mad either.

Be ready for this kind of stuff when you go to dinner at the inlaws, mother-in-laws love this kind of stuff, and you can protest somewhat but don't take what they put in your bowl and give it back. It's like returning a present, a bit insulting. Shrimps are fairly easy, When you get to the frog's legs, dog and stinky tofu you will have more issues.

Don't you love chinese food,

have fun,

Simon:)

[tigidy]

we have fun when we are eating shrimp with the shell on it!

[skylee]

I don't eat shrimp or crab with shell on them.

[DarrenJew]

Simon... I see that your experience does closely resembles my own.

I was raised in the US and have also notice this. Usually people from the older generations enjoyed getting the flavor from the head and often chewed the shell and all before discarding the shell. I have also adopted this habbit. But during my younger days while I was dating... I used to date girls that did not have a taste for the shell or even the head. If I served my girlfriend who prefered not to have the shell, they often really appreciated the effort I made to remove the head, legs and shell for them. (don't use your teeth, atleast on the first date... lol) I was just wondering if the kids today performed the same courtesy.

Im older know and my wife is from GuangZhou, I don't have to de-shell or head of her shrimp because she prefers the flavor from it.

[heifeng]

I usually just play with the legs and rip those off one by one, then proceed to disect the rest of the lil' feller, shell, eyes, head, brains...etc and pile it up on my plate. (this is usually just a result of people repeatedly trying to place food in my bowl, even though I told them not to and that I dislike seafood)....at first I thought I was just being rude, but now I know I'm also saving myself from mercury and other heavy metal poisening.

Oh wait, just reread post....your title says mate, then your text says boyfriend/girlfriend....ok, so if it was a significant other, I would just fling it back in his bowl and let him figure out how to eat it..hehe. Then I wouldn't really care how it was eaten as long as it was somewhat quietly and didn't squirt out any shrimp juices when breaking it open....eww

[Lu]

If I were the girlfriend in question I would tell you I don't eat shrimp, as peeling them is such a mafan. You would then first offer to teach me how to peel it, and after seeing me butcher one you would peel the others for me before offering them to me :-)

[HashiriKata]

I usually just play with the legs and rip those off one by one, then proceed to disect the rest of the lil' feller, shell, eyes, head, brains...etc and pile it up

Heifeng has been watching horror movies