CRABBY REACTIONS TO BILLBOARDS ABOUT NOT EATING CRABS IN MD.
Animal rights group PETA put up large billboards in parts of Baltimore urging Marylanders not to eat crabs. The state is well-known for its crabs, often served with Old Bay seasoning.
The signs got plenty of reaction on social media.
A man whose Twitter handle is @iSingForTheKing wrote, “Y’all tripping.” Another Twitter user, @LaurenMcIntyre, wrote “Bushel of crabs with Old Bay, some Natty Boh’s! Let’s get to pickin! These people @peta don’t know what they just did!”
Another message on Twitter from @taytwofeathers read, “You going to ask Philly to stop eating Cheesesteaks? ... Give me a break. ... CRABCAKES AND FOOTBALL THAT’S WHAT MARYLAND DOES!”
Crabs often are cooked by putting live crabs in a pot of boiling water and steaming them. People spend hours at crab feasts picking them. The meat tastes sweet and is sometimes compared to lobster.
Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, which has slightly salty water, is a perfect habitat for blue crabs, and generations of families have harvested them. There are regulations on harvesting male crabs, which have to be a certain size and are often called “jimmies,” but there’s no size limit for a mature female, which is called a “sook.”
The scientific name of the blue crabs — Callinectes sapidus Rathbun — translates to “beautiful swimmer that is savory,” according to Maryland’s government website.
@Hatcher1ET on Twitter, wrote, “I didn’t spend 200,000+ years climbing up the food chain to be a vegetarian! #OldBay #NattyBoh #MarylandCrabs.”
A PETA spokesperson told The Baltimore Sun the group launched the billboard campaign in that city before the annual Baltimore Seafood Festival, which is in September. “We want people to look up and hopefully change what’s on their plate that day,” Amber Canavan, a PETA spokesperson, said to The Sun. “Our ad, it reminds people that crabs are not inanimate objects. They’re living, feeling individuals.” ●●●