MashedUpFish

I've always loved crab sticks. They are real treat on 'Seafood Sunday'. I first came across them when I'd popped into a pub with my dad one Sunday afternoon. Back then, almost all of the pubs we went to had some kind of white port-a-cabin style van outside with a plethora of seafood available on a chilled ice display. I wasn't so adventurous so I'd end up with 10 crab sticks or stix whilst my dad would get a pint of prawns and some whelks.

As I've grown I continue to love them but the humble crab stick has come in for a real hard time over the years. Now we all know that crab sticks actually contain no crab don't we? Do we also know the red dye is actually made from insects? Cochineal in fact. The crazy gang down at the food labelling department have actually stopped them being called crab because they don't contain any, they are actually made from surimi. Below is a good article from the American TV show 'unwrapped' which details how the product is made.

So why am I telling you all this? Well I have noticed a vast difference in the quality and taste of surimi products but they are all still just surimi. When discussing this fact with my niece once I recall her saying "Ain't it all just mashed up fish? Its all the same." No it's not.

I have decided that I will create this post as my homage to surimi. During my time on this post I will be sampling and reviewing all the surimi products I can find and detailing them here. From the good, the bad and the ugly, this will be my no holds barred surimi tasting platform.

Watch this space...