Caviar, with or without Mom

Last week I went to the wedding of a former student who met his bride on the dance floor. A success story! It was a traditional Chinese wedding, with a ten course meal. One course sticks in my mind because I’d never seen it before, and it was notably disturbing to the Caucasian people at our table. The biggest prawns I’d ever seen, each one wrapped around an enclosed egg sac. The roe turned out not to be stuffing for the prawns, but rather we were being served pregnant prawns with the egg sacs still attached. Caviar plus Mom. I’m not a big fan of caviar, but I love the flying fish roe that comes with Sushi, and this was a lot like that. Not salty but satisfyingly crunchy. I was not totally immune to the somewhat creepy aspect that caused my table mates to forgo the course, but I am a big fan of shrimp so I got over it. Nevertheless, I was fascinated by the question of why we’re comfortable eating prawns, and may consider caviar a great delicacy, but only if they’re separated first. I felt a little guilty enjoying my pregnant prawn, as if it was a tad cannibalistic of me.