Swimming with the Crayfish. 坠入小龙虾的海洋。

Eating meals at night may not be a popular activity everywhere in the world, but it is very popular in China. Even past midnight, a quick look at the take out food app shows a plethora of night time delicacies on offer. The most eye catching is the deep red, lobster like creatures. At first, they may look like Prawns, or even Lobsters, but alas, they are Crayfish. Their prevalence has brought Crayfish all the way to London where you can now order Crayfish from take out too. In just 20 years Crayfish has defeated provincial borders, local customs and discriminations, they are now enjoyed by the majority of the population, whether it's in North East China or Hainan.

如果想要描述中国人宵夜有图腾，那么必然是小龙虾莫属。凌晨打开国内各种点餐app，满目都是鲜红的麻辣小龙虾。现在在伦敦的中国人饮食圈，夜晚的时候也可以送餐小龙虾拉。从来没有一种食物能像小龙虾这样，在短短20多年的时间里打破一切地域歧视和习俗差异的阻隔，占领从东北到海南的胃口。

A restaurant in Hubei Xiangyang district, bringing out a dish with 8 different styles with a total of 25kg worth of Crayfish!!! A true feast!

湖北襄阳餐厅推出8种口味50斤全虾宴

Credit tokankanews.com

In Chinese, Crayfish are colloquially known as Little Lobsters, afterall, they do look like mini lobsters. Fresh water crayfish have 540 different species. The main species (taking up 70% of the worlds proportion of crayfish) come from North America. In China, the one most commonly consumed is called Procambarus clarkii. Originating from North America, they have strong survival skills, and breed very easily. They are the most successful breed of fresh water crayfish thus far. The earliest crayfish in China were brought in from Japan and were not consumed by humans for food. They were fed to Bullfrogs as food.

小龙虾是中国人对淡水龙虾的称呼。而淡水龙虾（英文名叫crayfish）在全世界有26个属、540多种，其中大部分自然分布在北美洲，占世界种类的70%。现在正在被中国人大吃特吃的，叫做“克氏原螯虾”。它是原产北美洲，它们适应力强、生长繁殖快，是目前商业化最成功的淡水龙虾品种。最早从日本人引进中国的，用来给牛蛙当饲料。

I pay a visit to this famous Crayfish restaurant, I walk in and was immediately impressed with their western style decor. I definitely got the feeling that this restaurant is not just an average restaurant, but i'll let the food make that decision..

走进这一家装修的像是西餐馆小龙虾店。从整体设计到角落的小装饰品，都能看出这家店的品质和店家的用心。

Behind me is a painting of some beautiful scenery.

背后风景墙的美丽图案。

White Curtains like from a dream vacation.

梦幻的白色度假式窗帘。

The Crayfish served at this restaurant are fit for nobility. Their bright red colours and careful preparation are the focal point of the dinner table. Each crayfish has been prepared such that the head and intestine trail have been removed. The back has also been cut open for ease of consumption. All the crayfish at this restaurant are female, the meat is more ample and plump. The waitress told us that the Crayfish are airflown here each morning from another city. Before serving the crayfish, the chef conducts two more checks. Any poor quality crayfish are removed, and any that are damaged during the cooking process are also removed. The crayfish are prepared to such detail that you can really taste the difference. They are so delicious and at the same time, so nuitrious!

这里提供的是小龙虾中的贵族，所以那些色泽红亮的小龙虾无疑成了餐桌上的亮点无数。这里的每只小龙虾都是去了头，抽了虾线，开了背的母虾，因为母虾比公虾的虾黄丰厚，虾肉饱满。餐厅服务员说她们家的龙虾都是每天早上从别的城市空运到西安店里的。在上桌前会有2次筛选，选掉劣质的虾，再除去烹饪过程中破损的虾。每一只虾都刷洗得很干净，开了背，抽了筋，经过精心烧制而成，最终呈上来的膏黄非常多，味道鲜美。

These are the specialities, the iced fragrant crayfish. Each are very large, and the meat is soft and yet plump. It goes without saying they are also very fresh, each have been hand picked. These iced crayfish have been pre marinated with Maotai and Shaoxing Yellow Wine, as such the taste carries a slight alcoholic fragrance which along with its chewy texture makes the taste worth of the Chinese saying "So tasty i'm drunk".

招牌特色的冰镇飘香小龙虾，个头很大，肉质饱满而新鲜，一看就是经过了精心的挑选。冰镇龙虾是提前用茅台酒和花雕腌制过的，所以口感里带着一点淡淡的酒香味，配上Q弹得虾肉，真的可以配得上“好吃醉了”的称号。

Salted Crayfish. These are a tender red that look very attractive to the eye, from far, I can already smell the Salt and freshness. One serving is around 15 crayfish or so.

椒盐小龙虾，鲜红色诱人的小龙虾，还没有吃就已经闻到椒盐和海鲜碰撞所带来的浓浓香味，一份大概15只左右。

Edamame Beans are my favourite.

腌制过的毛豆，我的最爱。

Garlic Crayfish, the aroma of garlic combined with the fresh crayfish still gives unique taste that doesn't overwhelm the natural flavour of the crayfish. After we finished eating these crayfish, we ordered some noodles which we added to this bowl with the remaining garlic sauce.

蒜茸小龙虾，蒜香味道浓郁，却也没有盖住海鲜本身的鲜美味道。吃完盘里的小龙虾我们还加了一份清汤挂面在汤里，混合剩余的蒜茸。

On the side of the pot, are some fried dough sticks served with aubergines. You can eat the friend dough bread alone, or with the Aubergines together.

锅边是一圈吃起来香而不腻的金黄色油饼，中间是茄子料汁，香甜浓郁，口感清爽。可以配饼吃，也可以单吃。

Come to think of it, this was my first time eating crayfish with my own hands, admittedly I was quite nervous. The waitress showed us exactly how to eat the Crayfish, showing us how to open up the shell and take the edible part out to eat. I tried this myself very carefully, to be honest, it felt I was a doctor giving the crayfish some operation. Because the Crayfish has already been pre-prepared for your convenience, the head has been removed and the tail cut open. This makes eating the meat much easier. In the pictures you can see that the front part of the body is where the nutritious bits are, often they are yellow. This is why in Chinese it is literally called Shrimp Yellow. You eat the rest of the body along with the 'Yellow' part together. The taste is delicious, not greasy or offputing at all. This restaurant doesn't supply pliers, so eating the claws will requiring biting down with your teeth to break the shell open. It's quite tough but worth the patience!

说起来，这是我第一次亲手拨龙虾，第一次拿在手上还有点紧张。服务员认真地教我徒手拨龙虾技巧，我专心的一点点去试，感觉好像在给龙虾做手术，哈哈。因为龙虾是已经去头的，所以把身体上半部分和尾部的虾壳从中间掰开，就可以把整条的虾肉抽出来。图中虾肉前半部分是丰富的虾黄。虾肉和虾黄一起入口，味道鲜美，一点也不腻。这家店步提供钳子，可能害怕不好管理，所以虾爪子里面的肉就需要用牙咬，手拨，通力合作了。

This restaurant is now super popular, I had to make special reservations in advance. For those that didn't, the queue was humongous. Some people even brought out cards to play poker whilst they wait. For those thinking about visiting, make sure you book in advance!

这家餐厅的生意超级火爆，还好我提前预订位置。走进这家餐厅的时候，看到排队等位的人非常多，有的人已经开始玩扑克牌了。想来吃的人要记得提前订位哦！

In this last part, I want to briefly show you how some Chinese people fall into the ocean of Crayfish.. This is HangZhou's crayfish eating activity. In HangZhou the summers are blisteringly hot, often temperatures can reach up to 42 degrees celcius and the ground itself can be up to 70 degrees celcius. To make eating Crayfish more comfortable and relaxing, they've prepare the Crayfish in buckets upon buckets and put them on a floating table on the water. People then sit in the water eating the Crayfish. This means people can now eat whilst staying cool, and fill their hungry stomachs!

文章最后，就来描述一下中国人是怎么坠入龙虾的海洋。这是在杭州举行的吃小龙虾活动，因为杭州的夏天非常炎热，当地气温接近42度，地面温度达到70度，进入“烧烤模式”的天气，吃起小龙虾来会冒汗。所以呢，他们准备了一筐筐小龙虾，在水中吃，这样又解暑又可以品尝美味。

Credit to 163.com

The wooden tables are buoyant, the whole table is surrounded by people who eat the Crayfish, and drink alcohol at the same time. They also play games whilst eating. The whole scene is spectacular, very lively and everyone is having a good time. There's even girls who cosplay as Crayfish.. really cute!

水上放着超大的浮力桌子，然后一群人围着吃小龙虾，畅饮鸡尾酒，清凉解暑，吃的过程中还有各种游戏，边吃边玩，场面又热闹又壮观。女生COS小龙虾的样子非常可爱。

Credit to 163.com

On this day, the person who organised this Crayfish eating event also provided prizes. The attendees were given much to be excited about, the huge amount of delicious food, the drinks and even prizes. Many foreigners were excited to attend and all had a terrific time.

当天举办方还贴心的准备了大礼，让参与的群众有吃有喝还有奖品了。不少的外国友人还是被这空前的场面所震撼。

Credit to 163.com

Credit to mydrivers.com

Of course, the Americans have been eating crayfish for many centuries, infact Louisiana State, the home of the Procambarus clarkii is where 70% of the Crayfish of the world are consumed.

Looks as though the whole world is into swimming with the crayfish.

当然小龙虾在欧美国家早有几百年的历史。在克氏原螯虾的故乡，美国路易斯安那州人民吃掉了全世界70%的小龙虾。

看来全世界都深爱着小龙虾的海洋。

Credit to mydrivers.com