Hot Dog Of The Sea

Alright people, it's time to settle one of a life's greatest mysteries . . . what is in imitation crab from the grocery store? Clearly, it's been established that what we are eating is not crab meat . . . and tbh for years I have been hesitant to research this topic and find out, in fear of ruining cheap crab substitute for the rest of my days.

Living in Florida, one would think that all of our seafood is fresh considering there's the ocean right down the road. No literally like ten blocks that way from where I'm typing. But alas we too have imitation crab.

So let's find out what exactly this crab imposter is made out of.

There is 100% NO Crabmeat in Imitation Crab

Sadly dear readers, it has been confirmed via Mash that there is literally no crab meat in your imitation crab. Not even a hint, a sliver, nothing. Chris Rock used to say,

There's no sex in the champagne room.

Well, if Chris Rock was here to help write this piece. He would also say,

There's no crab in the imitation crabmeat.

So, If Imitation Crab Doesn't Have Crab In It, What IS In It?

That dear reader is a little mashed up fish paste called surimi. It's like the hot dog equivalent of the seafood world.

WTF Is Surimi?

So sirimi is a paste that is primarily made up of Pacific whiting fish and Alaskan pollock but can be any assortment of fish that goes through a mashing process that turns the fish into a gel-like paste.

Once the gel like paste consistency is achieved, in order to make the sirimi taste better and to improve the texture, food manufacturers add sugars, artificial flavorings, starches, and even MSG to make the paste more palatable. All which dramatically decreases the nutritional value of sirimi.

Who Invented Sirimi?

Surimi was first made in Japan by a group of chefs who wanted a way to use and repurpose their leftover fish. Let me say that again, the leftover fish. Like the rest of the fish the chefs didn't use in real recipes. Yep imitation crab meat is sounding more and more like the hot dog of the sea. I'm going to let you all use your imagination on this one.

Imitation crabmeat is a fan favorite of restaurants because it is so much cheaper than real crabmeat which makes sense considering it's essentially mashed up fish guts.

Real Crabmeat Is Way Healthier

This shouldn't come as a surprise considered we reviewed the manufacturing process of the imitation crabmeat but I feel we should cover the fact that real, authentic crabmeat is way better for you health wise.

Real crab meat has less sugar, more protein, more B12 and zinc vitamins, and more of the good Omega-3 fatty acids that are good for you.

The only part where imitation crab meat has the advantage other than price is that imitation crab has less sodium than real crabmeat which is surprising.

Environmental Concerns

Imitation crab meat is super popular and relies on harvesting a tremendous amount of pollock which has environmental experts concerned about potential overfishing.

Additionally, the production process of the sirimi paste requires a lot of water in order to improve the texture and appearance of the meat. So another concern is that this manufacturing process can potentially lead to water pollution if proper precautions are not observed.

Final Thoughts

So this overall was a very disappointing experience as someone who in the past purchased imitation crab meat. After reviewing the production process, the nutritional deficit, and the environmental impact, I officially vote that

Imitation crab is the hotdog of the sea.

I feel like this should be on a tshirt or at least hashtagged somewhere by many people.