Chinese legend about first person to eat crab

[Kent Wang]

I heard this legend from parents. In the old days, know one ate crab because they were scared of it -- either because it was quite fearsome or they thought it was inedible or poisonous. One day, some famous Chinese general decided to eat one because he was such a brave guy.

Can anyone else corroborate this legend and possibly fill in the details?

[wesza]

I heard this legend from parents. In the old days, know one ate crab because they were scared of it -- either because it was quite fearsome or they thought it was inedible or poisonous. One day, some famous Chinese general decided to eat one because he was such a brave guy.

Can anyone else corroborate this legend and possibly fill in the details?

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Kent:

I question the veracity of this story based upon my conclusion.

I have visited Zoo's all over the world with many Chinese friends and their children and invariably heard comments that were different from most other children and adults. My kids were different being brought up in Asia able to speak Cantonese and some Shanghai dialect.

Everyone admired and enjoyed observing all the animals but,

The Chinese kids and adults were commenting, and curious about how they would taste. I feel this is a inherited instinct since the people I visited with were originally from Peking, Shanghai, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Canton.

My kids agreed, but other kid's thought it was "SO GROSS" to even think that way.

Another incident that happened recently was my friends daughter was dating a Chinese student who was from Hainan Island who was very curious and interested in the proliferation of Canadian Geese in Seattle. He proudly served them a soup he prepared that would be very special that was made from a Goose he caught chasing along side Lake Washington at night with his jacket.

It was reported as being very tough, but tasty but they lost contact with him after the daughter recovered from shock.

With the popularity of Rice Worms, Jellyfish, Sea Slugs and everything else edible being consumed Crabs never stood a chance after first being discovered is my conclusion.

Irwin

[hzrt8w]

Can anyone else corroborate this legend and possibly fill in the details?

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This ithe first time I have heard of it.

It seems so far fetch. I think human from all coastal regions (or inland... there are rivers) had discovered millennia ago that most shellfish - crab, shrimp, clam, etc. - were edible. So why would the Chinese be an exception?

[origamicrane]

yeah that doesn't ring true to me either.

I think most of the wierd things we chinese eat was probably due to famine and desperation in the olden days.

We eat bugs and insects

but crab and most seafood I think would have been staple diet of fishermen who probably observed birds and otters and thing like that eating them.

[Kent Wang]

Well, that's why it's a legend. I'll have to ask my parents about the details next time I call them.

[Kent Wang]

I called my mom today and here is her version of the story.

A long time ago, the rice farmers in an area were plagued by freshwater crabs, as the crabs were eating the rice crops. General 霍去病 (huo4 qu4 bing4) decided to take matters into his own hands and eat one of them, being the first one to ever do so. Afterwards, he commanded his soldiers to hunt and eat the crabs and the pest problem was resolved.

Does the name, 霍去病, ring any bells for anyone?

My mom claims that it is a widely known legend, having heard it from her dad. Our family is from Shanghai. She thinks it's an old legend and it's possible that the younger generations may not be familiar with it.

[jo-mel]

I called my mom today and here is her version of the story.

A long time ago, the rice farmers in an area were plagued by freshwater crabs, as the crabs were eating the rice crops. General 霍去病 (huo4 qu4 bing4) decided to take matters into his own hands and eat one of them, being the first one to ever do so. Afterwards, he commanded his soldiers to hunt and eat the crabs and the pest problem was resolved.

Does the name, 霍去病, ring any bells for anyone?

My mom claims that it is a widely known legend, having heard it from her dad. Our family is from Shanghai. She thinks it's an old legend and it's possible that the younger generations may not be familiar with it.

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Huo Qu-Bing -- Suddenly Go Sick?

Which came first? The name or the illness? LOL!

I googled the good general and found this:

A name with 3 character is very popular nowadays. It was rare only at the time before, especially during Han dynasty.

One of my favorite generals in Han dynasty has a name with 3 characters--Huo Qu-Bing (140 BC~117BC), qu means get rid of, bing means sickness or some shortcomings. He and his uncle Wei Qing (his mother's elder brother) fought against the Hun several times, broke them into two, one surrender to Han and became part of Chinese, the other part escaped far far away to the northwest, and finally another general Chen Tang drove them out of Asia, the Huns gradually moved to Europe, caused the famous domino effect.

After his first fight against the Huns, he was granted the Marquis of Champion (guan jun hou), for his bravery showed in this battle make him the top one in the whole army--with his 800 cavalryman, killed more than 2000 Hun soldiers, the prime minister and many other major officers of Hun as well, and captured some VIP of Hun.

I think the most impressive thing about Huo is the following: After one main battle, the emperor built a luxuriant palace for him, and decided to marry him the princess, but he refused and said, "Since the Huns haven't been destroyed, it's not the time to settle down the family yet"---"Xiong1 Nu2 Wei4 Mie4, He2 Yi3 Jia1 Wei2".

Only a few years later, Huo died of disease at the age of 24, what a pity.

[hzrt8w]

Huo Qu-Bing -- Suddenly Go Sick?

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jo-mel: Huo is just a surname with no special meaning. (Like mine: Leung has no special meaning). The word Qu in use is a transitive verb, means "to get rid of". So his name means "to get rid of sickness".

I have used Google last night to search based on 霍去病 and 蟹. There were many documents returned. But of the dozens that I scanned through, none of them tied Huo to eating crabs.

I can't quite understanding this legend... whether it's the famer losing the crops because there were too many crabs, or the farmer were afriad of eating crabs because they thought the crabs carried disease? If it is the former case, why not just kill the crabs (not have to eat them)?

[Dejah]

Huo Qu-Bing -- Suddenly Go Sick?

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why not just kill the crabs (not have to eat them)?

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AHEM, Ah Leung, Really!

Do we, Chinese, ever throw anything away that can be eaten!???

[jo-mel]

Huo Qu-Bing -- Suddenly Go Sick?

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jo-mel: Huo is just a surname with no special meaning. (Like mine: Leung has no special meaning). The word Qu in use is a transitive verb, means "to get rid of". So his name means "to get rid of sickness".

I have used Google last night to search based on 霍去病 and 蟹. There were many documents returned. But of the dozens that I scanned through, none of them tied Huo to eating crabs.

I can't quite understanding this legend... whether it's the famer losing the crops because there were too many crabs, or the farmer were afriad of eating crabs because they thought the crabs carried disease? If it is the former case, why not just kill the crabs (not have to eat them)?

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I understand about surnames. (I was given Mei 梅 by my language teacher.) But the literal translation struck me as funny because of his early death. Even his given name seems odd -- even if it was not his birth name.

Last night I googled, also, but came up with nothing about the good general and crabs. Crabs have been around since really ancient times, so I can't imagine their not being accepted - and eaten ------ but then again, tomato was considered poison in fairly modern times.

I did find this, but it doesn't mention China:

According to the Encyclopedia Americana [1995 edition] there are approximately 4,500 different species of crabs living on Earth. They are distributed throughout the world. This means? It is probably impossible to tell for sure who (much less where!) ate the first crabs. Food historians tell us crabs were known to ancient Greeks and Romans. How do they know? Art and literature. Historians also tell us crabs were not well liked by these ancient Mediterranean people as food.

"Crab, group of water creatures characterised by their hard, round, flat shells. Several of the larger kinds are very good to eat, but ancient sources do no suggest they were eaten enthusiastically. The various classical names cannot be confidently attached to individual species; they varied in their reference across the ancient world and through time."

---Food in the Ancient World from A to Z, Andrew Dalby [Routledge:London] 2003 (p. 105)

[Pan]

[...]Crabs have been around since really ancient times, so I can't imagine their not being accepted - and eaten ------ but then again, tomato was considered poison in fairly modern times.[...]

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Yeah, but that was because they were unknown foreign things from across the ocean, as far as Europeans were concerned. The same cannot be said about crabs vis a vis China, I don't think.

[hzrt8w]

Do we, Chinese, ever throw anything away that can be eaten!???  

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True. But the original post said people were afraid of these crabs. What I am not clear is whether they were afraid of the crabs because the crabs destroyed the crops, or they were afraid to eat these crabs thinking the crabs carried disease. If they thought the crabs carried disease, then they defintely would not eat them.

[...] Food historians tell us crabs were known to ancient Greeks and Romans. How do they know? Art and literature. Historians also tell us crabs were not well liked by these ancient Mediterranean people as food.

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Perhaps it's because they have not experienced crabs cooked with ginger and green onions and oyster sauce! Yum! I can eat that everyday...

[Dejah]

These posts about crab had me hungering for same! So, this is what we had for supper tonight.

We had 3 small crabs, cut into segments. I stir-fried these with lemongrass, ginger, Thai chilis, cilantro, and a few fermented black beans. For stock, I used one of my favourite standbys: Campbells Thai Broth. It is lemongassy, peppery and has a light coconut fragrance.

We had a simple stir-fry of baby bak choi with ginger and garlic along with the crab.

[hzrt8w]

We had 3 small crabs, cut into segments. I stir-fried these with lemongrass, ginger, Thai chilis, cilantro, and a few fermented black beans.

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Fantastic! Save some for me please! Oh, no, seafood cannot last... Looks like I am not the only one who cooks with lemongrass in this forum!

[Dejah]

I can't get fresh lemongrass in Brandon, but whenever my son comes in from Winnipeg. I tell him to bring me afew bunches. Then, it's cook, cook, cook with them!

When I don't have any on hand, the Campbells broth and some dried lemongrass will do. It's just that chewing on fresh stalks gives such a burst of flavour and aroma.

Supper was great. Threw down some newspapers on the table and clean up was so easy!

Tonight, it'll probably be BBQ salmon fillet with lemongrass...so healthy!