Last night, I took mum to a crowded restaurant which is famous for its authentic crawfish, with a variety of flavors. The crawfish, commonly called as ‘Mini Lobster’, is definitely the top midnight snack especially for the China’s youth. With an annual increase of 500 new restaurant in metropolises, the number of crawfish restaurants nationwide is nearly 1800, three times that of KFC in 2016.
To be honest, it is troublesome to peel and eat a crawfish considering the portion of meat pulled out from the shell is less than nothing. Also, it is not cheap. The price of cooked crawfish is roughly $40/kg on the average in fancy chain stores, rising from $20/kg a year ago.
‘I can not imagine that so many Chinese are obsessed with crawfish even though it seems niggling and costly. ’ Mum muttered to herself while struggling with the heads and shells of crawfish.
So why is it?
Government Policy: An Unexpected Boosters
At the very beginning, the most popular midnight snack is outdoor barbecue selling at a cart or a street stand. However, the government decided to reverse the worrying rising numbers of barbecue stalls line streets driving an increase in emissions of air pullutants. Outdoor grills in several provinces were banned by law (Atmospheric Pollution Prevention and Control Law) in 2015, leaving blank spaces for crawfish-night-outs in warmer months.
Previously, crawfish was a regional authentic dish after they first appeared in the Jianghan Plain, located in eastern and central China thirty years ago. Crawfish is often served in hot and spicy chili sauce as well as innovative recipe such as garlic and ‘thirteen flavors’. As savory and spicy food ranked first and second respectively the most popular flavors among Chinese consumers, it’s not surprised that crawfish has taken China by a strom.
Urban Competition: the 'Crawfish Capital in China' Makes Sense
It’s not easy to make sure which city owns the compliment of the First Country of China’s Crawfish as several countries have alleged so.
Xuyi country, located in eastern Jiangsu Province and five hours from Shanghai, is noted for its sound history of production of crawfish. One in eight residents has engaged in the crawfish-related industries which worth more than 7 billion yuan ( $ 1.1 billion).Further more, thanks to the crawfish-related industries, more than 50 Xuyi residents become millionaires every year, according to Ministry of Agriculture. Titled with ‘the First Country of China’s Crawfish’, crawfish was mentioned 17 times on the Report of the Work of Xuyi Country, which indicated the crawfish industry has grown to become a pillar industry gradually.
Jianli country in Hubei province is working to gain the upper hand during the competition of winning the Crawfish Capital in China, taking the form of holding Jianli Annual Crawfish Festival as well as expanding the farming area. The advocacy strategies of Jianli to attract the attention to a specific country or city isn’t original. Xuyi and Qianjiang, considered as Jianli’s competitive rivals, both own their international crawfish festival selling up tons of crawfish and beers.
Capital-driven Growth: An Irreversible Trend
Meanwhile, several listed companies have gone crawfish crazy. Following the official launch of crawfish products, Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic signed a lure investment framework agreement with Honghu City to invest 500 million yuan ($77.5 m)for further development of crawfish business in the way of phased investment.
In order to enter the crawfish market rapidly, Fu Jian Anjoy Foods announced that it would invest in Honghu Xinhongye Food Co., Ltd in January this year after having frozen crawfish on sale last year.
Today, including Jingdong, the leading domestic e-commerce firm, more and more Chinese e-commerce giants show their strong interest in crawfish and its related business. Jingdong Fresh, aiming at sale and delivery of raw sea creature, signed an agreement with Jinazhou Bureau of Agriculture, establishing strategic partnership with local crawfish brands.
Even the business of Galactosamine, an amino sugar, has something to do with crawfish. A Chinese biotech company aims to sell galactosamine and the derivation products collected from crawfish’s shells.
Social Connection: Don't Need No Smartphone
Interestingly, the reason why the young feel a utter bliss of crawfish is not that complex, even though it's pretty trony to peel the critters, especially donning awkward plastic gloves. It's said that the duration of eating crawfish is three times more than that of having a normal dish.
' Why do we consider crawfish as the best dish for social connection? Because foodies have no chance to play cellphones while they are peeling the shells and digging out the tail meat intently'. Xiaoqing Chen, a famous Chinese gourmet said. At this point, crawfish is highly expected to be a handy prescription to cure people's smartphone addiction.
Besides, food delivery app boosts the trends of snacking on crawfish with friends at home, especially for the young. Pre-cooked crawfish in chilly and other flavors can be ordered through several delivery apps so as on food websites conveniently. What's more, cater for the needs of the football fans, some fresh supermarkets provide special night time delivery services for crawfish during the World Cup.
It seems the last reason is the most attractive one for mum. With the unconventional dinning experience, mum and I had talked about some stories that we would not mention before as we all had a lesson learned from eatting crawfish: be patient, then you will dig out something deserved.
